 |
Part 2: The Emerging
Early May 21, 2009 |
Emphasis added in bold letters |
“Not only did AA, almost by default, begin to supplant the pastoral
authority of the professional clergy and open the door to
spirituality in the experiencing of a nondoctrinally specific Higher
Power, but it also revived the small group dynamic that would come
to characterize later twentieth-century Protestantism….”
–
Phyllis Tickle, The Great
Emergence (Baker Books, 2008), p. 93.
The fact
that Faith at Work was attempting to start
an
Emerging Church Movement as early as
1970 is quite relevant to the
Emergent/Emerging Church today. The
ramifications of this are quite stunning.
For example, Faith at Work was a
leading sponsor of
Brian McLarens
“Everything Must Change” tour a year
ago. [1]What is Faith at Work? According to its
official website:
- “FAW has always emphasized
practical experience instead of doctrine, ‘how to’ instead of
‘should.'”“Today the emphasis is on
self-discovery through biblical reflection, telling your own
story and trusting the presence of Christ to ‘speak the truth in
love.'” [2]Faith at Work is an
experiential-based group movement that has provided resources,
events and training to emphasize this small group hyper-pietistic
life. In 2009 this organization officially changed its name to
Lumunos, which, according to both
Dr. Dennis
Cuddy and Constance Cumbey,
writers of expertise in the study of New Age Theosophy, is yet
another word play on the name Lucifer.[3] The
Lumunos
website states that its basic mission of relational experiences
will remain the same:“Officially
beginning in 2009, we will be known as Lumunos, with the tagline
‘Faith & Light for the Journey.’ We are excited about the ways
our new name will help us relate to a whole new generation of
people. Our core mission is not changingwe want to invite
people into deeper relationships with themselves, each other,
and God; we want them to hear the Spirits call in those
relationships.” [4]A quick survey of whos who at this
website gives an indication of just how far this organization is
emerging into a head-on convergence with the New Age movement.[5]Faith at Work history describes how In 1927, Sam Shoemaker founded
Faith at Work by publishing The
Evangel, a magazine of faith at work. In the 1930s, Faith
at Work used a format of personal witness similar to AA [Alcoholics
Anonymous]. It emphasized a streamlined system of doctrine that
the only one thing needful is salvation or conversion.Deep
sharing in small groups with emotional intimacy characterized
this movement. In 1959 Bruce Larson, who had a graduate degree in
psychology, took over and expanded the ministry into the lay
witness movement. Under his leadership the small group procedures
blended in state-of-the-art psycho-social-spiritual group
manipulation mechanics, described as“partly the
outgrowth of the Human Potential movement and related behavioral
principles and processes. Transactional Analysis with its
emphasis on personal O.K.ness, the
National Training
Laboratories with their interest in honest and open encounter,
Parent Effectiveness Training which argued for seeing the child
as a person, Esalin, Gestalt and a host of other workshops,
laboratories, strategies and training centers — all put the total
human being at the center and pleaded for a greater awareness of
personal growth and identity.”[6]
Sam Shoemaker deserves to be called the
father of Faith at Work.[7] Shoemaker was instrumental in the
Oxford Group [8] and
founding principles of
Alcoholics Anonymous. [9] Shoemaker was trained by
Frank Buchman
who was instrumental in the Oxford Group (a Christian revolution
for remaking the world [10] which became
Moral
Re-Armament. [11] He was a pioneer in the use of intensive small
groups to effect confessions, conversions and change. Frank
Buchmans role in Faith at Work looms large in its history. He
brought in a special kind of mysticism with an emphasis on quiet
time, which he himself observed listening to God for specific
directives, or guidance. He was said to have been influenced by
a French 19th century mystic,
Alphonse Gratry, who in his book
Les Sources indicates that
this is the way to concretize the divine message in human
experience.[12] Buchman was a Dominionist, in that he thought that
his moral revolution (Moral
Re-Armament) could transform the world by peace and make it
enduring, redistribute the wealth of the world, and build a new
world and create a new culture with peace and prosperity. His moral
theology appealed to all of the worlds religions and was said to be
helpful in re-discovering and re-applying the principles of their
faiths.[13]“Buchman was
a pioneer of multi-faith initiatives. As he said, ‘MRA is the
good road of an ideology inspired by God upon which all can
unite. Catholic, Jew and Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and
Confucianist — all find they can change, where needed, and
travel along this good road together.'”
[14]
Faith at Work has a long and
interesting history that connects it to the
Washington Fellowship, the secretive cult-like quasi-religious
political group that is the topic of
Jeffrey Sharlets recently published book
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
(HarperCollins, 2008), which we have
occasionally cited on Herescope
posts. Sharlet described a key meeting between Buchman and Abram
Vereide, founder of The Fellowship, in a subsection of chapter 5
titled Buchmanism. The following brief excerpt reveals not only
how the two men first met, but also gives indications of the
Dominionism and the mystical hyper-pietism that would
characterize both men and their subsequent movements.In the early
1930s, he [Buchman] and Abram [Vereide] crossed paths . The two met,
and Abram suggested to Buchman that he come on with Goodwill as a
chaplain, to infuse the organization with his life-changing
evangelical fervor. Buchman answered by proposing a
Quiet Time.Besides confession of sexual sin, Quiet Time was the core practice
of Buchmanism: a half-hour-long period of silence in which the
believer waited for Guidance from God. Guidance was more than a
warm feeling. It came in the form of direct orders and touched on
every subject of concern, from the transcendent to the mundane….
Guidance meant not just spiritual direction but declaring ones own
decisions as divinely inspired….What did God say to you? Buchman asked Abram when their Quiet Time
was completed. Abram believed he had heard Gods voice several times
in his life, and had even considered the possibility that he might
be a prophet, but he had not yet been exposed to the idea that God
spoke to men regularly and
in detail. He didnt say anything, Abram confessed, disappointed.Well, Buchman replied, God had
spoken to him. God told me, Christianize what you have. You have
something to share.Blander words no Sunday school teacher ever spoke, but to Abram they
seemed like a revelation .Thereafter he transformed his daily prayer ritual into Buchmanite
Quiet Time. And, soon enough, God filled the silence with
instructions: go forth, he said, and build cells for my cause like
Buchmans.When Buchman spoke of Christianitys new illumination, a new
social order under the dictatorship of the Spirit of God that would
transform politics and eradicate the conflict of capital and labor,
Abram took him literally. (pp.
126-8)In other words, the Faith at Work organization is connected to the
cult-like Washington Fellowship (“The Family”). It attempted to give
birth to the original Emerging Church Movement back in 1970. The
ramifications of these pieces of data are far-reaching. There are
many parallels to the modern-day Emergent/Emerging Church, including
the emphasis on small groups that are experience-based, leadership
training, the mystical (contemplative) piety, the all-encompassing
ecumenism, the
Dominionism,… the list could go on and on. The emergence of a
New (Age) Spirituality, a blend of Theosophy and evangelicalism, is
another significant similarity.[15] And yet another interesting
outgrowth of all of this interlocking history is the use of
orchestrated
prayer in
groups, large
and
small (cells).
Praying in an
Emerging New OrderThe connections between the
Washington Fellowships
National Prayer Breakfast and the
National Day of Prayer are many and various. For instance,
J. Edwin Orr, one of
the founders of the National Association of Evangelicals and a
professor at
Fuller Theological Seminary,[16] was a field representative in
the 1950s for International Christian Leadership (ICL), one of
Abraham Vereides early organizations. Orr was an advisor of Billy
Graham’s from the start of that evangelist’s career, a friend of
Abraham Vereide and helped shape the
prayer breakfast movement that grew out of Vereide’s
International Christian Leadership…” [17] and that the “success of
Campus Crusade for Christ was a direct result of the groundwork
layed [sic] by Orr.”[18]Richard Halverson, also worked for the Vereides Fellowship
Foundation from the 1950s on and helped to coordinate the
National Prayer Breakfasts. Halverson, along with Vonette
Bright [Bill Brights wife] was influential in having the Senate
declare the National Day of Prayer.[18]To be continued, Lord
willing. . . .
The Truth:“Who is among you that feareth the
LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in
darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD,
and stay upon his God.” (Isaiah 50:10)
Endnotes:
1.
http://www.FaithAtWork.com/articles/2007/07-4/MontavonT_07-4.html
2.
http://www.FaithAtWork.com/history/index.html
3.
http://www.FaithAtWork.com/articles/2008/08-2/WyJo_08-2.html
4.
http://www.FaithAtWork.com/info/NameChange.html
5.
http://www.FaithAtWork.com/articles/Authors.html#DWyJo
6.
http://www.faithatwork.com/history/HistoryTOC.html
7. Ibid.
8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Group
9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous
10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Shoemaker,
Remaking the World, 29.
11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Re-Armament
12.
http://www.faithatwork.com/history/HistoryTOC.html
13. Ibid.
14.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Re-Armament, Buchman,
Remaking the World, p. 166.
15. See
Constance Cumbey’s 5-part article series, “‘The Family’ and its
Hijacking of Evangelicalism,” posted on
NewsWithViews.com that give more in-depth history of the
interlockings between these early movers and shakers in the
evangelical world, who were also working in Theosophical circles.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Cumbey/constanceA.htm
16.
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/04/early-networks.html
17.
http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/guides/355.htm#3
18.
http://www.jedwinorr.com/bio.htm
19.www.prolades.com/glama/la5co07/overview_1930-1990.htm
© 2009 by Discernment Group
Source article:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2009/05/early-experiential-emergents.html
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