We live in an age of theological and ecclesiastic imitation or mimicry.
Let me point to some common examples . . .
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√ Let’s Stand For The Reading Of God’s Word: Church upon church has now convinced God’s people of the need to honor God’s Word by standing during the reading (and even some preaching while reading) of the Bible.
Apparently, the church has failed to honor the Scriptures throughout the past generations of congregants. In fact, apparently, during many of the previous decades of the same pastor’s ministry, God’s Word has been dishonored by him.
Having your Bible in hand, with the Scriptures on your lap, underlining, and/or taking notes is no longer a sufficient indicator that we honor and value God’s Word.
Interestingly, while we “stand and honor the Scriptures,” many do not even carry a Bible with them to church but read it off of a screen.
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√ Liturgical Statements: They come in all forms, but the rote nature of such comments is obvious – “May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of the Word.” “This is God’s Word.” “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
There is nothing amiss with the words, but there is something wrong with the formulaic sound of such pietistic acclamations.
It is much like — “We ask this in Jesus’ name” — at the end of prayers! It is tacked on, repetitively, with the same tonal detachment from any real meaning or sincerity — shallow and vain repetition.
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√ Small Groups: Seemingly overnight, churches are promoting the newly found significance, importance, and necessity of “Small Groups.” It is elevated as the biblical pattern, and it is promoted as vital to the growth of God’s people and the effectiveness of the church.
Small Groups are biblically validated by using such passages as Acts 2:46 — where house churches were the common practice of the early church. Of course, there were small house churches during the earliest days of the church. However, these biblical examples are now prescriptive and not descriptive.
“Small Groups” are not merely a different name for Sunday School and/or Adult Bible Study classes, but are based more on a group counseling model. The focus is inward, and the members are encouraged to share their intimate struggles and questions publicly with other members of the church.
While the worth of small groups is now proclaimed, it is worth recalling that there was a time when small groups did not exist. In fact, some pastors failed to understand that during decades of their own ministries — at least until now! Apparently, the biblical nature and importance of “small groups” was not understood for centuries, and only now that the local church grasps the importance of such intimate groups. [1]
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√ Pastoral Practices: How many have tried to follow the actions and activities of Jim Cymbala and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church?
That approach to ministry has been repeatedly employed by imitating other successful ministries, conference speakers, bloggers, and authors.
A ministry leader writes a book about what he/she is doing, his “deeper life,” a sought-after spiritual discipline, and/or how successful this-or-that has been in ministry, and pastors are ready to imitate and implement! They are going to bring the thinking and/or activities into the life of their church because they believe in them and them!
The question being asked is, “So how did you do it? How have you been able to . . .? What is the “Secrets Sauce?”
Some believe that what worked for another in this-or-that location, in his/her spiritual walk, at this time in the life of his/her ministry, with that group of people, is what the Lord has for them!
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√ “Theological Echoes:” Someone comes out with a new interpretation, elucidation, or explanation of a passage of Scripture, and you begin to hear it repeated over and over! Some love the novel, and others may believe it gives them some kind of intellectual credibility!
Someone preaches, teaches, or publishes a crazy theological position, and it is repeated by other ministry leaders and pastors years later — (check out these two recent ones within reformed circles [2]).
There is much more than can be said on this kind of imitation. . . . . but that’s for another day!
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1 – We called this “personal discipleship,” and it was done “one-to-one” because there were sensitive areas and discussions that were between a pastor (or mature & wise church leader) and a new believer. There are qualifications for a deacon, but rarely for a small group Bible teacher.
2 – Two Examples: How does John Piper link to an insane post by Curtis Chang? Worse yet, there is no pushback when Piper writes this article biblically defending accepting vaccinations!
Or, in recent days, an even crazier book by Josh Butler has been published by TGC, with endorsements by well-known reformed teachers, leaders, and preachers! How does this escape notice from the publishers and those who wrote a public endorsement of it?
Tom Buck/SBC: “I was just shown that John Piper linked to this video in the article he wrote to encourage people to get the Covid vaccine. The linked video teaches the Covid vaccine is like Jesus’ work of redemption. It even redeems abortion. “The vaccine may have a distant origin story in abortion” but it serves as a metaphor of Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross. “What began in death could be reworked into life.”
desiringgod.org/articles/a-rea
Link From Piper’s article: “You have thought hard about the implications of fetal cell lines in the production and testing of the vaccines.”
The Gospel Coalition: Josh Butler’s New Book:
https://churchleaders.com/news/446148-the-gospel-coalition-under-fire-comparing-christs-love-sexual-encounter.html
All Things Church 