Re: "Theatre of God"

In article <db7655f44d.diggings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Kendall K. Down <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In message <4df427e26ejohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
John M Ward <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Oh yes, very good news! Hillsong is an amazing church

No it's not. It's an amazing Christian theatre or sensory
experience or something, but church it ain't.

[interesting material snipped, for neatness]

Actually, it is a church, and a very useful one in the true
yradition of having different forms of worship for different types
of people. Just as Gospel is a form of church, so is Hillsong.

It is unhelpful to try to constrain forms of worhip and types of
church within one's own narrow band of preferences, as I became
aware when we had a group from a Gospel church visit my own church a
coupe, of years ago. I can see that it is an easy trap into which
one can fall; and on this occasion it was perhaps surprising to find
how inhibited ("British"?) a large number of our own congregation
were.

God is bigger and broader than any human's personal view of Him or
His church; and narrow, selective reading of Him tends to lead us
into blind alleys. It's worth being aware of that trap, so that we
don't get easily led into it.

Hillsong has achieved remarkable things that must surely have the
blessing of God the Father, and Jesus the Son. I have far greater
regard for those responses than for any (of necessity much narrower)
merely human opinions.

I welcome Hillsong to Britain, even though it isn't quite "my
scene": at least I have learned to be broader in outlook, provided
the message is the right one, which it clearly is at Hillsong, as
those who have watched the Australian broadcasts will be well aware.

--
..... Love and wishes for God's Blessings to you, from ...

John M Ward -- God loves you and so do I! <><

Adherent and webmaster of the Salvation Army's Chatham Corps
See the Corps' website at: www.chathamsalvationarmy.org.uk/
.

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