Carl Trueman has a very good essay about the ways in which megachurch and multi-site pastors, along with large-scale parachurch organizations are undermining small congregations and denominations. Here is an excerpt:
I noticed recently one individual marketing himself as someone who had planted numerous churches. This was clearly being presented as an unconditionally good thing. As the chap was a similar age to myself (middle aged but not enough years on the clock to have done too many things of any great importance), I was left wondering what exactly had happened to these churches, that he had apparently had to plant so many of them in such a comparatively short time. Did they fold within weeks? Or was his church planting ministry a form of ecclesiastical hit-and-run, whereby he had the fun of getting the work started and then swiftly headed out of Dodge before the bullets started flying? Either way, the claim to have successfully planted many churches, like the claim to have successfully dated many beautiful women, seems to me far too ambiguous on its own to enjoy automatic unequivocal admiration. It may be praiseworthy but then again….
Alongside this shift to the big box church is the emergence of big tent alliance movements whose stated objective is to transcend the fragmentation of denominations by providing a common front along mere gospel lines. Such parachurch groups have existed for many years and they often work well as minor adjuncts to the work of the church proper. The events of last year, however, have demonstrated that big tents with big ambitions bring with them big problems: there is an awful lot upon which one has to agree to differ in order to hold together an alliance movement which can fill a stadium to capacity; and history seems to indicate that reformations have not usually been built, and orthodoxy has rarely been preserved, by agreeing to differ on almost everything beyond the merest elements of the gospel, and that outside of a proper ecclesiastical context.
One possible objection to Trueman’s article is that he himself is writing for a parachurch organization. He appears to avoid this charge by distinguishing between parachurch alliances with big as opposed to small ambitions. I do think that the Trueman’s Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is different in scope and feel from, say, the Gospel Coalition — though quantifying or defining the difference may be in the eye of the beholder. At the same time, I wonder if Trueman would acknowledge that ACE may have unwittingly inspired the latter phenomena of the Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel. The Alliance was first a 1996 merger between the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology (Jim Boice) and Christians United For Reformation (Mike Horton). Eventually the Lutheran presence in CURE became too hot for ACE to handle, thus prefiguring the alliances between Baptists and Presbyterians at ACE and other agencies.
I am not trying to pick a fight with Trueman. I’d surely lose. But the historical background may be of interest to him and other allies.
Old Life 
Thanks, Darryl. I appreciate the history lesson.
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I think a much more immediate objection to Trueman’s article should be leveled at his postscript. I think it probably perpetuates the problem he describes rather than practicing the wisdom of the liberals that he is preaching. See my post at http://bit.ly/A734Bo.
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As a pastor of a small church in the shadow of a large multi-campus church with a celeberty pastor I feel the pressure of your opening sentence. I would add beyond just the coalitions, the present love affair with “national conferences” is laying the seeds of needing to go to the big tent camp meeting if you really want to experience the moving of the Holy Spirit through preaching. The seems to be an unintentional attack upon the weekly preaching of word and sacrament by an ordinary preacher in a ordinary local church. At least I hope it’s unintentional.
Today, if you really want to grow in Christ, don’t go to your puny unexciting, local church, get to the next really big conference, coalition or otherwise.
The day of a biblical ecclesiology is gone,at least for now. May God bring reformation and revival.
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Re: ACE – don’t forget Pentecostals, ie CJ Mahaney. sigh.
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DJ, precisely, with a Baptacostal on ACE’s board, e.g. CJ Mahaney, the high school graduate. Who made that forlorn decision…to have Mahaney on a theology board? Ligon, like Al Mohler, likes “Ceej” and both exonerrated him publicly and without investigation. Yet, ACE is ACE. They’re Baptyerians. The Confessional Lutherans and even one or two Confessional Anglicans left ACE…although Gerald Bray remains. I’ve ceased to yield support to ACE and Ligonier as well. Baptyerians. ACE has a Baptacostal.
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The masses tend to flock to Walmart, Bud Light and McDonalds. Not that I want to compare beer with spiritual matters (Or perhaps my fear is unfounded and beer is a spiritual matter) but there does seem to be a trend emerging in the culture. For generations yellow, fizzy beer dominated the market but slowly, in these last 5 years craft beer is on the rise. Instead of buying what is cheap people are starting to buy what tastes best. Perhaps this is the start of a shift from mass produced swill to the riches of small, well done batches.
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Attend the church of your choice, and form coalitions with right thinking folks like these good people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhMepzqJvIw
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Mark – thanks for not forewarning us about the content of that video. I hadn’t had my breakfast yet and now I’m not sure I can eat any.
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David – As a pastor and a prolific brewer I both agree with your assessment of the beer industry and have often prayed the same would happen in the church. One can only hope.
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On the eve of his Elephant Room Conference 2, James MacDonald resigns from TGC
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/01/24/james-macdonald-resigns-from-tgc
http://jamesmacdonald.com/blog/?p=11089
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Do resignations get any more curious than this?
“I have always believed in the institutional maxim: “the whole is more important than the part.” I am actually a very small, small part of the work God is doing through the Coalition, and I believe their work will be assisted by my absence, given my methodological convictions. I have very different views on how to relate to the broader church and how the gospel must impact every relationship. I don’t want my minor role on the Council to hinder their work as a whole or to give the impression they agree with all God has called me to do.”
Does anyone care to translate?
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Let’s hope that this resignation is in reaction to his TGC cohorts waking up and finally pressuring him about his poor discernment in the decision to invite TD Jakes and other questionable speakers to participate at his Elephant Room 2 conference.
But, I would suspect that this is in reality a victory for pragmatism & the pursuit of Celebrity over the adherence to sound doctrine. It’s pretty sad when even low bar that TGC sets for membership is too much of a burden to bear.
I wonder how this sets with the other TGC folks that are set to participate in his Elephant Room 2 conference?
Are Driscoll and his Acts 29 buds next?
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