Thread by @jaredcwilson

I appreciate all the pushback on this critique of mine, and while it might sound like just a nerdy guy taking potshots, I suppose I should take a moment to share some personal background informing my take(s) on this stuff . . .

https://twitter.com/jaredcwilson/status/1117411256347054085

I am *not* one of those guys who thinks everybody should "know who I am" -- or at least, I have no desire to be that guy -- but I hope you'll allow me to introduce some of my journey to followers (or just to those who happened to see my words RT'd) . . .

I was trained for ministry in the seeker-sensitive church movement and served in "seeker churches" for nearly 15 years. I was sold out. Attended Willow Creek Leadership Conf. in '96, back when it was more concentratedly about church models, not just leadership . . .

I was not just a practitioner and minister in the attractional paradigm, I was a staunch defender. Why? Because reaching the lost was something I perceived evangelicals were not doing with any urgency. I was "all in" for rethinking church that would orient around that goal...

When anybody would criticize it, I would write them off as academics or fundamentalists or even Pharisees/legalists. Looking back, I realize that was an easy way to be defensive and never have to actually dive deep to self-evaluate and reflect on our ministry assumptions...

Over the last decade-plus I have largely disavowed the attractional paradigm. It started with my own personal realization that it wasn't working at what the Bible considers "success" and proceeded with my actually biblically evaluating our philosophy & doing research...

This included looking at statistical surveys, reading reflections of those who were leaders in the movement (Sally Morgenthaler, et al). This was hard at first, b/c the movement is so (relatively) new, coming out of the church growth movement of late 70's-early 90's . . .

But we're starting to see the results of the attractional paradigm's dominance in American evangelicalism and they aren't good. Not theologically. Not even in terms of discipleship/conversion. For the last 10 years I've written and spoken on this subject...

I've published 2 books specifically on the attractional movement & gospel-centered "solution" -- The Prodigal Church (Crossway) and The Gospel-Driven Church (Zondervan). It's totally ok if you didn't know that. I only mention it for 2 reasons . . .

1) If you're interested in a thoughtful & studied evaluation of the attractional movement, beyond a tweeted "pot-shot," I'd be honored if you'd read them and consider, and
2) So you know I'm not just some theology nerd doing a drive-by on Twitter.
Thx for listening. /end

Sorry - one more thing. If you're offended by my "read my books" insinuation or just don't want to pay for the info, you can search my blog for keyword "attractional." There's a lot there. gospeldrivenchurch.com /really the end