An update and good
story on the Harvest Bible Fellowship at:
http://bloodstainedink.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/fourth-church-departs-harvest-bible-fellowship/ Who are these guys? What would anyone become involved with them?
Fourth Church
“Departs” Harvest Bible Fellowship
Just over three months
ago, James MacDonald, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, made a decision.
Against the timely and judicious counsel of certain “influential leaders”
within The Gospel Coalition, he decided to
proceed with the theological circus known as the Elephant Room 2. At the time,
he apparently believed that the opportunity to engage Bishop T.D. Jakes in a
public conversation was of such paramount importance that it was worth severing
his official ties to The Gospel Coalition. To no one’s surprise, not everyone
agreed with his assessment.
In the days and weeks
that followed, the churches belonging to the Harvest Bible Fellowship were put
in an awkward position. Under the explicit direction of Kent Shaw, the
Executive Director of the Harvest Bible Fellowship, they were advised as
follows:
“Some, who like to stir
up controversy, may approach you for further discussion and we ask that you
stand with us by stating only the following: Pastor James stepped off the
Gospel Coalition with our support. You should be proud of the battle he is
fighting for grace and truth and seek to emulate his courage. He has our full
support and the doctrine of Harvest Bible Chapel remains and will remain
unchanged.”[1]
Now, this is all fine and
good, except for one small problem. What if a church didn’t “support”
MacDonald’s decision, and what if a church wasn’t “proud” of his actions?
As we have already seen,
one possible course of action, taken by three different churches in Michigan,
Arizona and Illinois, was to publicly disassociate themselves from the ministry
of James MacDonald and the Harvest Bible Fellowship. In all three circumstances,
the leadership teams of the respective churches attest to having repeatedly
voiced their concerns to the Fellowship, only to have their concerns summarily
dismissed.
Now, as of just two days
ago, another church in the Harvest Bible Fellowship has joined the ranks of the
“disenfranchised.” What is interesting and perhaps even instructive to note,
however, is the manner in which they have been “disenfranchised.” For while the
first three churches elected to voluntarily leave the Fellowship after privately
voicing their concerns, Harvest
Bible Chapel of Grayslake, Illinois has reportedly been removed from the
Fellowship in an involuntary fashion. According to reports of a
letter that was read to the congregation this past Sunday, HBC-Grayslake had sought to remain
within the Fellowship even as they privately expressed their deep concerns
regarding the circumstances surrounding the Elephant Room 2. But apparently,
their willingness to stay in the fold was not sufficient for the leadership of
the Fellowship, and they were cast aside.
This, of course, raises a
number of genuinely interesting questions:
Firstly,
if the goal of the Elephant Room 2 was to model “grace and truth” amidst
disagreement, how is this goal being achieved within the internal ranks of the
Fellowship?
Secondly,
if the goal was to model “unity” amidst disagreement, how is that goal being
achieved as churches are leaving and others are being removed?
Finally,
just a little over three months after the conclusion of the Elephant Room 2,
five percent (5%) of the churches that had been planted (or replanted) by the
Fellowship through 2011 are no longer part of the very system that
planted them. Are these churches merely statistical outliers? Or is this the
beginning of an exodus? Only time will tell.
UPDATE:
According to Erin Benziger of the Christian Research Network, Harvest Bible
Chapel of Grayslake, IL has publicly confirmed that it has been “removed
from Harvest Bible Fellowship by the leadership.”
[1] The full text of Kent
Shaw’s email to the Harvest Bible Fellowship can be found at: http://apprising.org/2012/01/24/theres-more-to-the-resignation-of-james-macdonald-from-gospel-coalition/
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Additional Resources on this subject can be found
at:
The Descent: James MacDonald,
Harvest Bible Chapel and the Blurry Road to a Prosperity Gospel
How Steep the Decline: James MacDonald, Bryan Loritts, and Sycophantic Uncle Toms
James MacDonald, the Elephant Room and the “Spinning” of the Truth
Harvest Bible Fellowship Takes Second Hit
A Third Church Leaves Harvest Bible Fellowship
The New Elephant In the Room: Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald and Authoritarian Rule in the Church
Does James MacDonald Possess Too Much Power?
How Steep the Decline: James MacDonald, Bryan Loritts, and Sycophantic Uncle Toms
James MacDonald, the Elephant Room and the “Spinning” of the Truth
Harvest Bible Fellowship Takes Second Hit
A Third Church Leaves Harvest Bible Fellowship
The New Elephant In the Room: Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald and Authoritarian Rule in the Church
Does James MacDonald Possess Too Much Power?
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