Posts Tagged ‘aog’
Mike Guglielmucci – Hillsong’s Brian Houston Comments
Came across these links and wanted to post them up:
Raw footage of Danny Guglielmucci speaking to journalists outside Edge Church
Hillsong’s Brian Houston’s Response
Also, check out the Today Tonight interview with Mike Guglielmucci
Real-Life Expectations of God and the Numbers Mentality
“Mike” had an interesting comment on the need to “Feel” a distant God for ourselves, how this creates the wrong expectations, and how we place individual celebrities (who in fact are sinners, like all of us) in a place of reverence reserved God:
My heart does go out to the number of young Christians that have or will have been affected by this. But this only shows how there are a number of people out there who base their faith not PRIMARILY on God’s Word but to the ‘celebrities’ of Christian worship.
Unfortunately, that is the problem today where the people seek instant gratification in all walks of life. So when there is a massive concert, people flock to, get saved and then go back to their normal lives. And the fact that human nature to “see and feel” God that they put idols in their lives.
No doubt that Mike G. will be accountable for his actions to God for what he has done and what he has failed to do.
And to those Christians that were deeply affected by this: you need to ask the question – Who do I really believe in – Jesus Christ or the person on the platform?
NV: Youth groups have fun events to get the numbers going. Then numbers fall off when you start getting serious with God and the Word. And then this is viewed as a failure. I think this is a wrong perception prevalent in many churches today – numbers is a measurement of success and growth. God never gave a minimum quota but rather He just said to “GO and make disciples of all nations”
We as a church need to get rid of this “NUMBERS” mentality and focus more on the needs of the individual rather than our own church image.
ACC / AOG focus not on Jesus
Received an email from someone whose identity I promised I wouldn’t reveal, due to the sensitive nature of their position in the church.
I received permission to publish some parts of the email, and wanted to share it with you in a way this person couldn’t themselves.
When the news started breaking last week, my reaction was total disbelief at first. How could such a situation have slipped under the radar? How could so many of the “best and brightest” lights of the ACC movement have gotten caught up in something so awful and so outrageous?
Well, I agree with your question on the blog … Is Church Culture To Blame? … and the answer to that, after much reflection, is a YES. But its much bigger than being a Planetshakers issue. The ACC itself exhibits some characteristics which are unhealthy, some of which you have already documented, such as:
— a “cult of personality” revolving around leaders of big churches
— a “don’t question the leadership or our direction” attitude
— treating all criticism as negativity, and thereby dismissing it
— focus gradually moving from content to presentation style
— a complete obsession with numbers (i.e. how many people, how many churches)The “don’t talk” rule which is in operation, which prevents healthy questioning and criticism from coming to the fore, would have prevented anyone with a question or critcism of the Mike G scenario from coming forward. Nobody would have listened, and would have dismissed the questioner as being negative, pulling down God’s annointed leadership, etc etc.
Healthy critical analysis is essential to preventing us from slipping into error, or falling into a trap. Without it, we are accountable to nobody and are therefore prone to error
WHAT TO DO?
Our National Executive need to take a step back from the particulars of this situation and have a look at our culture. In particular, they need to consider whether the pendulum of “leadership” has swung too far and needs some correction. Such change can only come from the top. So I pray that they will have both wisdom and courage enough to confront ACC culture and take corrective action where it is needed.
If we think the problem (Mike G) is the problem, we’re wrong … its a symptom and a warning shot across our bows.
There is one answer, and one answer only: Jesus!
Any time our focus is drawn away from him and on to “the church” or “numbers” or “leadership” or “worship” or “building the kingdom” or whatever, then we’re missing the point. Our focus is Jesus, and everything else stems from that personal relationship we have with him.
For the most part, I’ve left my own personal convictions out of this blog and taken a questioning and soul-searching approach.
However, I have to agree with this email.
It’s my hope too that focus is no longer on leaders, or numbers, or sound and light shows – but on Jesus, and developing deep personal relationships with Him (in the Trinity) through the Holy Spirit.
Final Note: As I’m pressing “Publish” on this, I’m thinking about Planetshakers being the fastest growing AOG church in history. Perhaps God chose Planetshakers to stumble in order to highlight the problem with focussing on the numbers, and not focussing on Jesus.
Planetshakers Insider 