Thursday, September 27

This letter from a regular reader I've just met:

Dear Sean...

I've been following (er... "lurking") your blog for months now.

Before this, I've not really had much to say... and even this e-mail
is trivial. But I've always prided myself on my "cross-platform"
ability to understand members of other faiths when they discuss
matters of faith or religiosity.

Must admit, though, that last night's post (Wed 26 Sep) threw me for
a loop: what does it mean to be "seeker driven"; and what is the
"Calvinist/Arminian Distinction", and how does one not subscribe to
it as a pastor?

I'm guessing that being seeker driven has something to do with
proselytes, and that the C/A D has something to do with the
theological differences that entered into the Calvinist theology
post-Arminius.

But as I don't know, I'm asking.

Warmest regards,

sG

PS... "Jon VW" another theologically conservative blogger has an
eponymous site where he occasionally discusses religion from a
Lutheran/English Catholic perspective. Very interesting.

http://www.jonVW.com


My reply:

dear Silus,

thanks for you email. i trust your lurking means my weblog is worth following to you, and i'm glad.

maybe i need to update my post. i definitely used some technical jargon.

'seeker driven' means, like you suspected, putting those who are interested in faith but not yet across the line in the most important position. everything else is sublimated to that goal (to one degree or another). another way of expressing it would be 'having evangelism as the chief goal of ministry and structuring everything accordingly'. 'seeker driven' churches have 'seeker services' on sunday morning because that is prime time - the time a seeker is most likely to come visit church. their services designed to edify believers happen some other time, often wedpms. Willow Creek Community Church is best known for this posture.

i think i simply confused you regarding Calvinism and Arminianism. by C/A D is simply meant the distinction between the two theologies. i think these two views are built on false dichotomies, eg choosing between God's sovereignty/predestination and human free will. i think this is one of those places where the Bible points us to a paradox: God is sovereign and predestines people and human's are completely free to choose whether or not they will follow God and it seems contradictory, but it's simply more than our finite minds can comprehend, and therefore we reconcile it as paradox.

is that any clearer?

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