Grand Prairie, TX

A reader contacted me yesterday telling of how her church has not only gone the way of the CGM but has, in the process, all but abandoned her and her disabled husband. Though she asked me for help in the form of additional information on the church growth movement, as many of YOU have, she DID NOT ask for anything more, but only shared with me their numerous difficulties as they related to her church's tragic transformation into the Purpose Driven paradigm.

Upon MY request, I have received permission from her to share with you portions of her email messages to me, as well as her email address, if you would like to contact her personally by email and offer some encouragement, fellowship, prayer, and if the Lord leads, some financial assistance to help ease their burden.

Here is some of what she had to say in her first email message to me, as well as segments from a follow-up send:
Paul Proctor

===================================
> I have been reading Mr. Proctor's articles about the Church Growth Movement on-line. My husband and I are suffering in a church that is totally immersed in the CGM. We are some of those "pillars of the church who hold things up" who Rick Warren speaks about in his book The Purpose Driven Church. A previous pastor, also devoted to the CGM referred to people like us as "deadwood." The isolation, rejection, and outright shunning after 32 years in the same church are devastating. There is no place for people like us to go, because almost all the churches in our area are involved in CGM.


> Do you ever hear from others in our position? We live in Grand Prairie, TX, between Dallas and Fort Worth. My husband is very stubborn and doesn't want to leave this church; he says he'll not be run out. I knew for a long time that something was very wrong, but it wasn't until I began to read these articles that everything became clear.


>

> I honestly don't know what to do. Right now I just worship at home. I have Christian Email friends and have remained friends with two people in the church. We are under great stress because of some other problems in our lives which I have made the church aware of. We could seriously use some help, but we might as well be on a desert island. I didn't even get any acknowledgement from the church when my father died last October.


>
> My only thought at the moment is to try and find others like us to share with. Could you help?
> Thank you for letting me share and anything you could do,


Follow up email from her:

> My husband is 62, disabled and unable to work, and we live on SSD. I am 57 and there aren't
> many jobs out there for 57 year old women, so we do without a lot and have a hard time getting
> by. Right now we don't even have transportation. This makes being shunned and ignored very
> hard, but as long as i can keep the telephone and computer I will keep writing and talking and
> trying to speak up about things.
> I will be more than happy to keep you updated on things at Inglewood Baptist. The changes
> have been coming in slowly and subtly, but it wasn't until I went on the internet and began to
> read about the CGM that everything clicked into place - the seeker-friendly house to house
> surveys, the vision - a 30 acre campus, buying 10 houses on a side street, a worship center that
> would seat thousands, disbanding the senior citizens choir, ministry teams, a plan to enlarge
> the foyer in front of the sanctuary that would entail tearing out the bride's room and changing
> the direction the entry doors face toward a busy street, turning the church around and making
> members park in the back lot and enter through the back, so that visitors could come in from the
> close parking lot, small groups, putting all the church money into a general fund so that the
> pastor could have more control over it. The church is over $50,000 in debt because of the
> purchase of an old gas station on a lot across
> the street for $100,000.
> Now the pastor wants to take out the pews in the sanctuary and replace them with theater-type
> seats and enlarge the stage area for the music ministry. There has been talk of a dance
> ministry. The music is almost entirely contemporary; people sing praise and worship courses over
> and over and over until they're almost hypnotized. We already have the giant screen up in the
> sanctuary. Our young pastor, about 35 years old, is kind of a tyrant. He's told people that
> the church is not a democracy, and has already tried to "discipline" my friend Rosemary for
> "gossiping about the church" (his words.
> Everyone seems to be under some kind of spell. No one wants to cross the pastor or they want
> to just go away quietly, but I can't do that anymore. There is much more to say, but it can be
> saved for another time. Thank you for caring to hear what I have to say and I really hope the
> reporter will get in touch with me. We would appreciate your prayers for us. We have the
> abandonment by the church, so we must put all our trust in God alone, which can be sort of
> scary. There are the financial problems, car accident we were in last year wrecked our truck
> and we can't get it fixed or any help, house falling down around us to the point it's almost
> unliveable and our son in Houston is about to be deployed by the military soon.
> I will be back with you whenever I have some new development to report.


> Freida McAninch
> afmcaninch@sbcglobal.net

>


"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." -- Matthew 25:35-40