Repentance can take many forms

Walt Kallestad is pastor of what was one of the largest churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Community Church of Joy in suburban Phoenix.  He was a proponent of what was once called "entertainment evangelism," which meant, basically, turning the worship service into a "show" in order to "herd people through the chute" and get their behinds planted in the church. 

In January, 2002, Pastor Kallestad had a heart attack.  The health crisis, in turn, revealed a spiritual crisis.  Their church had packed people in, but for what?  Were their congregants mere "spectators" or where they "disciples"?  Kallestad explains in this article posted at the Fuller Seminary website.  

Ministering to consumers was consuming me—not in the way vision consumes a leader, it was the opposite of that—I was beginning to lose sight of the vision. The institution of Joy was replacing the original vision. Joy was a great organization, and to some degree, a great church. But something was missing. We’d become an organization competing for market-share with other program-driven churches, but that wasn’t accomplishing our mission—we weren’t creating empowered disciples.

We’d put all our energy into dispensing religious goods and services, and as a result we were not empowering our people to transform their community. If our church, with the sheer power of its numbers, was populated with empowered disciples, they would be feeding the hungry and building deep, meaningful relationships with their neighbors. In short, they would be involved with community transformation. We were neither salt nor light—we were mere consumers.

The Greek word we translate as "repentance" is metanoia.  It does not mean--as some people think--getting caught at something and feeling sorry about it.  It simply means "turning"--or, better, "turning and moving in a new direction." 

Kallestad has truly repented.  Community Church of Joy has scrapped the "entertainment evangelism" and, instead, tried to focus on making disciples.  They moved away from the "attraction model," and switched to the "discipleship model."  They promptly lost one-third of their membership. 

A new model meant if we continued to use the same measuring stick for success, we were utter failures—especially since our attendance and the quality of our worship service sharply declined. Those things still matter to some extent, but they aren’t as important to us as producing empowered disciples. What does it profit a man if he builds a great church, but loses community?

Comments

[Rich M]

So I read the whole article. It left me wondering how someone can go through a Lutheran seminary and come out with such a bizarre understanding of ordained ministry. Now that he is born-again, I find myself just as repulsed by his theology and practice as I was before. He seems deranged.

[John Petty]

Don't sugarcoat it, Rich. Tell it like it is!