The Pot Calls the Kettle Black

This is response to the recent on-line article written by Erwin McManus: http://www.thecronline.com/mag_article.php?mid=1016&mname=June

"I was online the other day and up popped a web site that went into detail about how I am a heretic and Mosaic is a danger to the Christian faith. Honestly in the past this would have brought me great pain but this time I could only laugh." --Erwin McManus

"Tell the truth, but tell it slant." ---Emily Dickinson

Something happens to Erwin McManus when he defends himself. He writes in clear and thoughtful detail. Absent is all that mind-numbing talk of cravings, barbarians, relevance, slow adopters, futurists, architects, etc. You read his latest on-line article and you breathe a sigh of relief that he has avoided all the jargon that only serves to confuse. It is easily the best thing he has ever written. I think you will also find that the information he has given is incomplete. Is he referring to the Mosaic of Pain blog when he writes that he "could only laugh" at it? If so, he did not laugh but got very angry, according to one witness. In addition, he found the blogger so funny that he encouraged some on his staff to make a special trip to his house to encourage him to shut it down. When that didn’t work, he called the cops on him. I suppose a sense of humor goes only so far. Perhaps I am just speculating and he isn't referring to Mosaic of Pain at all but some other blog that considers Mosaic a "danger to the Christian faith."
He also writes that these are Mosaic's 5 Core Convictions:
1) The Scriptures are God’s authoritative word to us.
2) Jesus is the only way through which we come to God.
3) The local church is God’s agent for redemptive change.
4) Every believer is called and gifted to serve the body and seek the lost.
5) Our call is to all the world.

But many of us know that the real convictions that they hold dear are these:
1) Mission is why the church exists
2) Love is the context for all mission
3) Structure must submit to spirit
4) Relevance to culture is not optional
5) Creativity is the natural result of spirituality

Why does Erwin bother to print any convictions at all? Is it because he forced a long-time member to drop her mission trip when she raised objections to the five core values? I know this member well and I am confident that she opposed the five latter values posted here rather than the five former ones. Only the die-hard, true-blue, completely committed Mosaic believers accept the "relevance to culture is not optional" mantra. When I was there, few of the more biblically grounded members quoted it and fewer still seemed to believe it. Values like "structure must submit to spirit" and "creativity is the natural result of spirituality" are so ambiguous that they fail to resonate with biblically sound members. Which structure is being referred to here, and which spirit? What if someone opposed an idea being bandied about the church from a biblically based structure? Does that member must now concede that structure must submit to spirit and be quiet? Similarly, if creativity is the natural result of spirituality, can Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers be considered spiritual? Substitute Oliver Stone into my question, or Steven Spielberg, Marilyn Manson, Eminem, or anyone you find creative. This kind of confusion is inevitable whenever you replace Jesus with a man-centered theology. "Structure must submit to spirit" is a lot less definitive than "I am the way, the truth and the life."

The Pot Calls the Kettle Black
Those who have been harmed by this church sense an irony over the core conviction that "Love is the context for all mission." All churches go through their share of members leaving over a hurt or perceived hurt. Unfortunately, the Church is filled with sinful people, saved but sinful. There will always be some amount of pain and ideally reconciliation is the goal when this occurs. But it is astonishing to see the many great leaders who have been left bleeding at the altar of Mosaic. If this church is considered "special" or "different," recognize that one of its defining qualities is that it has crushed so many. Even if you subscribe to the idea that this is collateral damage or that men of God often "disagree," why hasn’t Erwin McManus done more to reconcile with the dozens of leaders, both on paid staff or lay people? All he has done is bring more pain to his own flock by not even attempting to make things right. Scroll through his recent article and you come across this gem: "Why is it then we who are supposed to be known as His disciples by our love for one another keep shooting our own?" Yes, why indeed? Why does McManus feel the need to shoot down John McArthur? Why does he shoot down the church on Brady and allow the revisionist of its history to fluorish? Why does he shoot down the Christian church by saying it is filled with conformists? Why did he shoot down a pastor and his family by firing him after twenty-five years of service? Why has he sacked multiple staff members and kept his church in the dark about it? For a man criticizing the way the Church shoots his own, he sure seems locked and loaded himself. I say this with all due respect: someone is in need of a mirror.