[Cal]

Originally Posted by Drake

Igzy, that chart is an indictment against denominations not the local churches. If anything, this demonstrates that christians are seeking something other than what denominations are providing. Or to be more precise to the article, more evangelicals are identifying as nondenominational because the thing that dIvides them from other denominations is not resonating as it once did.

I'd agree more or less with that. Christians want the simple gospel. They don't want proprietary, superfluous doctrines (including those of the LCM). Evangelical community churches are providing them with a place where they can just be Christians, and focus on Jesus and the basics of the truth.

That is a case for the local churches or perhaps community churches depending which community church you mean because they are not all the same.

No, they are not all the same. But there is a "flow" now in them and they take cues from one another. Though there are some differences between them superficially by and large many are following the same template. Basically it's about getting back to what's essential, not majoring on the minors, and loving God and people. And, sorry, the LCM is too proprietary, too narrow, too much for Lee and Nee to qualify. Whether you like it or not the LCM is neither general nor really open. It's quite strictured, though it likes to pretend it isn't.

Community churches don't have much trouble having fellowship and cooperating with each other because their emphasis is on the basics and the essentials. You won't find much "deep theology" there. What you will find is a practical, applicable theology that keeps the focus on proper living and mission. The LCM left that for the heady world of "high peak" gibberish a long time ago.

Therefore, you have not made the case for the "Community Church" that which you stated is the happening place for God's work and doings nowadays and the place we should all focus our efforts on. For that matter, you have yet to define what you mean by "Community Church" Do you mean the community churches that are also referred to as the "Emerging Church"?

Well, I think if any movement has the kind of increase the nondenominational community churches have had in the last 20 years we do well to take it seriously and try to understand why. Yes, people are looking for many of the things the LCM once offered: simplicity, generality, an experiential God, unity, love and purpose. The LCM, however, decided long ago to go proprietary with Witness Lee, which essentially made it a denomination--and it became so removed, quirky and contradictory that most people will pass on it. You can count on that. Basically the LCM blew it. I believe God really wanted to use it to help accomplish what he is now working out in the community churches. The LCM has the idea that God can't get along without it. That's a joke. But I guess some have to learn the hard way.

As for the Emerging Church, it's basically a kind of liberal, neo-Catholicism. Very experimental and though I cannot write it off, not for me.

I really think God's move today is with the community churches. That's where the growth is. That's where the Spirit is. That's where the salvations and baptisms are. That's where the seekers are going. Will it be that way in the future? No guarantee of that. None of us have a monopoly on God, though the LCM likes to think it does.