Saddleback Seminary

[Robin]

Only an excerpt....Saddleback Seminary launch:

Rick Warren, Saddleback senior pastor, listed six hallmarks of the partnership with Golden Gate Seminary:

Biblical. "œWe are committed to the inerrancy of God´s word. It is the bedrock on which we base everything else."

Christ-Centered. "That is a characteristic of any good seminary. It´s got to he honoring to Christ."

Theological "œIt´s gong to teach the basic truths of scripture. I believe in the core curriculum of seminaries...that give you a breadth and depth, because today we have a lot of churches that are started that really have no idea of how the church has gone in the last 2000 years. They think everything God is doing has happened in the last 20 years."

Purpose-Driven. "œIf the seminary is to equip people to work in the church then we have to equip them for the five purposes of the church. So we´ve got to equip them to be strong in worship, strong in discipleship, strong in evangelism, strong in ministry and strong in how to build a fellowship of believers."

Church-Based. "œIf we could help people see that the reproduction of seminary education does not have to be campus-based, but has to be wherever people are, then we will reach more people, we will be better stewards and we will make better use of the church buildings all over America."

Based on Strategic Partnership. "œThe typical thing is when a church gets this size, they do their own thing. What we need to do is bring to the table what a church of this strength has and bring to the table what a seminary has and take the best of both and make a hybrid that´s never been done before."

Although the partnership is geared initially for lay leaders at Saddleback, Warren and seminary leaders hope to develop a partnership model that can be reproduced in churches around the world "What we´re doing here is trying to model a whole new approach to theological education Warren said. "œThis is a model that can be repeated over and over, city after city, first in America and then overseas... This is going to be big."


http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/maturity//oncampus.asp?id=3398



(not over-reacting...)

Robin

 

[turmeric]

This is where congregational-style, anabaptistic thinking leads eventually. Why are you so shocked? You KNOW it ain't right!

 

[refbaptdude]

Originally posted by turmeric
This is where congregational-style, anabaptistic thinking leads eventually. Why are you so shocked? You KNOW it ain't right!

What?

 

[BrianBowman]

Saddleback = megalomania?

 

[Pilgrim]

This is a partnership with the SBC's Golden Gate Seminary, which has several campuses in the West.

 

[turmeric]

I apologize to any Baptists I may have offended by my earlier post and wish to clarify; this is not about who and how people baptize, not at all; the anabaptistic characteristic I had in mind was a distaste for central authority of any kind, including creeds. Once you get rid of objective standards, it's whatever someone wants it to be. I'm a little put out with congregationalism and biased, perhaps, the church I attended that got infected with Saddleback was congregational; there was no presbytery to insist that elders & pastors had to subscribe to any statement of belief, so we got, well, whatever...

 

[Steve Owen]

If you think Presbyteries can't apostacize, then you are sadly mistaken.
Who expelled Gresham Machen?
A church, or a denomination, is like a dead fish. It rots from the head down.

Martin

 

[Robin]

Originally posted by turmeric
I apologize to any Baptists I may have offended by my earlier post and wish to clarify; this is not about who and how people baptize, not at all; the anabaptistic characteristic I had in mind was a distaste for central authority of any kind, including creeds. Once you get rid of objective standards, it's whatever someone wants it to be. I'm a little put out with congregationalism and biased, perhaps, the church I attended that got infected with Saddleback was congregational; there was no presbytery to insist that elders & pastors had to subscribe to any statement of belief, so we got, well, whatever...

No slight intended, Baptists....

However, you guys will need to (or not) deal with the rampant, smorgasboard-theology Warren is embracing. From "Prayerwalking" - which at its least dangerous is superstitous at its most: Gnostic; to out-sourceing his theology classes to Roman Catholic scholars ...one would hope the SBC would wake-up and smell the coffee!

Read carefully, the statements of beliefs at Saddleback, if in doubt.

r.

 

[Robin]

Originally posted by Pilgrim
This is a partnership with the SBC's Golden Gate Seminary, which has several campuses in the West.

It is a low-point for GG to buy-into Warren's ambition.

Dark and sad.



Robin

 

[Robin]

Originally posted by BrianBowman
Saddleback = megalomania?

Calvin calls it the sin of "ambition."

r.

 

[turmeric]

Originally posted by Martin Marprelate
If you think Presbyteries can't apostacize, then you are sadly mistaken.
Who expelled Gresham Machen?
A church, or a denomination, is like a dead fish. It rots from the head down.

Martin

I know they can apostacize, it's just harder. A member might have a little lead time. (she says hopefully)

 

[Scott]

"to out-sourceing his theology classes to Roman Catholic scholars"

What?

 

[Scott]

"I know they can apostacize, it's just harder. A member might have a little lead time. (she says hopefully)."

Yes, this is one benefit of biblical church government (the presbyterian form). No authority is immune from corruption. Some just have better processes for dealing with it. Heriarchical systems like Catholicism can impose top-down error (the error of the few) with impunity. Independent systems have little effective mechanisms for combating the error many. Presbyterian systems have mechanisms that help combat both the error of the few and the error of the many. Sort of like the difference between a monarchy (Catholicism), a democracy (independency), and a republic (presbyterian).

All forms can be corrupted. Some just have better mechanisms for dealing with different problems.

 

[tcalbrecht]

Originally posted by turmeric
This is where congregational-style, anabaptistic thinking leads eventually. Why are you so shocked? You KNOW it ain't right!

Interesting comment. Can someone explain the organizational difference between Saddleback Seminary and, say, Mid-America Reformed Seminary, Knox Seminary, or Greenville Theological Seminary?

 

[Ivan]

Originally posted by Pilgrim
This is a partnership with the SBC's Golden Gate Seminary, which has several campuses in the West.

This sad, very sad. The SBC for the most part has bought into RW, I think mostly because he is "successful". But there are a small group of reformed, biblical Southern Baptists still in the convention.