Worshiping Jesus in the Mosque?

I received a comment on a previous post, "Insider Movement Introduction," from a supporter of insider movements in Muslim countries referring me to an article published in Christianity Today by Gene Daniels. While this fellow was basically trolling by posting links and not making arguments himself, I found the article extremely enlightening. Only our age of biblical illiteracy and theological decay would permit such an article to be printed in an evangelical publication.

I agreed with the commenter that Gene Daniel's article is very enlightening. The article is a structured interview which purports to be a discussion with a man who came to faith in Christ through a vision of multiplying macaroni and then sought out Christians.

After several years in the church and time in Bible college, the convert left the Christian church and returned to the mosque as a believer in "Isa" (the Koranic name for Jesus). He did so because Christians rejected the Islamic forms of address and greetings as well as Koranic religious terminology. He also seems to object to the refusal in organized Middle Eastern churches to recognize that the Allah of Islam is the God of Christianity. This man believes that the rejection of all of this is not a rejection of error, but of general revelation.

There is some irony that he uses such a term because he also rejects systematic theology, which gives us terms such as "general revelation," and the creeds of the church. Very enlightening indeed.

1) This "believer" is an apostate who has rejected most of what Christians in all cultures accept as what it means to be and live as a Christian. He isn't simply rejecting some kind of Western cultural practices, but Christianity itself. He rejects the creeds, symbols of our faith, crafted by people in the Near East, I might add. And he rejects the church. He is not a Christian.

2) In rejecting Christianity, he shows quite a bit of evidence that he is actually captured by the type of theology that we see quite a bit of in the West, the radical Emergent Church movement (I'm not indicting the entire movement, but the radical wing). Interestingly, this theological movement has made great inroads into missiology. Missiologists trained in anthropology and linguistics have been making the claim that theologians and biblical scholars cannot argue with their ideas because we're not linguists and anthropologists. Their dialogue is unethical and exclusive. I wonder if our "follower of Isa" has connections with these "progressive" missiologists?

3) The idea that the God of Muhammed is the Father of Jesus is dishonest or naive. The Koran explicitly rejects any plurality in God. It rejects Jesus as the Son of God. It rejects Christ's crucifixion. It rejects grace and atonement. A great deal of the Koran was written to dismantle Christianity. It is at its core an anti-Christian and anti-Jewish religion. Allah is no more Yahweh than Odin is - except that Odin's revelations were not geared at attacking the Bible. While many Christian communities use "Allah" as an Arabic word for the God of the Bible, many do not because of the associations with the Koranic deity. The interviewee's habit of referring to the Christian terms as "tribal," echos the Islamic habit of belittling Christian theology. Interestingly, many Muslim countries forbid Christians from using the word Allah because they understand that Allah cannot be the God of the Christians.

4) This interviewee speaks from both sides of his mouth in that he argues that Muslim converts first are Muslim, then are Muslim-Christian syncretists and then become fully Christian, implying that we should not expect Muslims to give up their culture at first. They will continue to talk and worship like Muslims and reject Christian theology. But where do they end up? Well, he ended up leaving the church and going back to the mosque and becoming for all intents and purposes a Muslim with some quirky ideas about Jesus and a mission to undermine Christianity in the Muslim world.

5) The argument that converts should not have to give up their culture is a dangerous one because some culture is created by religion and therefore whatever culture is bound up in a false religion should be rejected. He is arguing that because Islam is an all-encompassing religion which radically transforms culture (Muslims teach extensively on this) Muslim Christians should not give up Muslim practices. The more powerful the false religion, the more Christians should bow to it. I think the same argument was made in occupied Korea in the 1930s.

What Gene Daniels is promoting is evil. Middle Eastern Christians have enough suffering from Islamic persecution without Western liberals trying to subvert the Gospel from within.

Insider Movements and Translations

Last year, after a vigorous floor battle, the PCA erected a study committee to deal with the subject of Insider Movements (IM) and Muslim Idiom Translations (MIT). Insider Movements are a type of missions strategy which encourages Muslims to believe in Jesus but remain Muslims attending the Mosque and following Muhammed as Prophet. Muslim Idiom Translations use non-biological terms for "pater" and "huios" ("father" and "son" in ESV), replacing them with terms such as "guardian" and "blessed one."

Potomac Presbytery submitted Overture 9 last year asking the General Assembly to condemn MITs and erect a study committee to investigate missionary Bible translation and study Insider Movements. Mission to the World (MTW) objected to the study committee but agreed with the condemnation of MITs. The Committee of Comissioners on MTW disagreed and the GA went with the CoC and erected the Ad-Interim Committee on Insider Movements.

This year the AICOIM completed the report on MITs and is asking for another year to complete work on a report on IMs. The GA has to vote to receive the report on translation and then vote to authorize the AICOIM for another year. One PCA Teaching Elder (TE) is suggesting wordimg changes to the report which some say completely gut the safeguards against MITs and others may argue for ending the AICOIM.

Currently the PCA, with the Assemblies of God, is on the cutting edge of this issue, standing for the Gospel. I pray that we stay there.

Sent from my NOOKcolor

See a Map of Petitioners Asking Wycliffe to Stop Mis-Translating the Bible

The response to the petition asking Wycliffe and others to stop removing "Son" and "Father" from the Bible in reference to the first and second members of the Trinity has been tremendous. Most encouraging are the Christians weighing in from Islamic majority countries. Arabic and Turkic speakers are affirming that Wycliffe's reasons for using alternate terms for son and father are completely mistaken (at best). Muslims are NOT confused by the terms; they are OFFENDED by them because the Koran states that God has no son and the Trinity is an "accursed" idea.

Click here for a map of signatories. The green tags contain comments which are click-able. The red tags are signatures only.

Stop Wycliffe, SIL and Frontiers from Removing Son and Father from the Bible!

Wycliffe Bible Translators, the largest missionary translation organization in the world has been producing Bibles which remove the words "Son" and "Father" from the descriptions of Jesus and God. These Bibles are being produced for Muslims and are called Muslim Idiom Translations (MIT). In order to "contextualize" the Bible, Jesus is now described as "God's Uniquely Beloved Chosen One", or even worse, "God's Representative." References to "Father" have been "retranslated" as "Lord." One version reads "baptizing them in the name of the Lord, the Representative and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)

You can help confront this by signing the petition, Lost in Translation. When you sign the petition, your name and any note you write will be sent to the heads of Wycliffe, SIL and Mission Frontiers. Clicking on the link will NOT automatically sign the petition. It will take you to the website where you can read all about it BEFORE signing. I hope you do sign it.

Wycliffe has been denying many of the claims in the petition. Answers to their denials can be found in the Fact Check, which is produced by Biblical Missiology. Wycliffe's denials raise more concerns.

By joining this effort, you will be supporting the effort to save an important ministry from apostasy and you will help the efforts of the faithful Christians within these organizations which are trying to fight this error. Many long-term missionaries have already left the organization. The church in the Muslim world is asking for your help. These "Bibles" are hurting the cause of the Gospel.

Call to a Faithful Witness - The Text of the Assembly Action Against "Insider Movements"

Here is the text to the resolution passed by the PCA General Assembly:

A Call To Faithful Witness

Approved By The 39th General Assembly
Of The Presbyterian Church In America
June 10, 2011

Whereas; the Church is called to take the gospel to all peoples, including those who have historically been resistant to the gospel;

Whereas; contextualizing the language and forms of the gospel, while remaining faithful to the truths of Scripture, is good and necessary for the advancement of the gospel;

Whereas; the Church must exercise wisdom in discerning appropriate expressions of contextualization, reserving its public corrections for genuine and substantive threats to the gospel;

Whereas; in recent initiatives known as “Insider Movements”, some groups have produced Bible translations that have replaced references to Jesus as “Son” (huios) with terms such as “Messiah” in order to be more acceptable to Muslims;

Whereas; some Bible translations of Insider Movements have replaced references to God as “Father” (pater) with terms such as “Guardian” and “Lord”;

Whereas; these Bible translations are harmful to the doctrines of the authority of Scripture and the deity of Christ, bringing confusion to people in need of Christ—concerns that are held by many national leaders and Bible societies;

Whereas; some PCA churches have knowingly or unknowingly financially supported these Bible translations;

Whereas; Muslims should not be denied a full and faithful witness;

Therefore be it resolved that the 39th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America:

• Affirms that biblical motivations of all those who seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have never heard or responded to the gospel should be encouraged;

• Repents of complacency or comfort that keep us from a faithful witness;

• Declares as unfaithful to God’s revealed Word, Insider Movement or any other translations of the Bible that remove from the text references to God as “Father” (pater) or Jesus as “Son” (huios), because such removals compromise doctrines of the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Scripture;

• Encourages PCA congregations to assess whether the missionaries and agencies they support use or promote Bible translations that remove familial language in reference to persons of the Trinity, and if so, to pursue correction, and failing that, to withdraw their support;

• Encourages PCA congregations to support biblically sound and appropriately contextualized efforts to see Christ’s Church established among resistant peoples;

• Calls PCA churches and agencies to collaborate with each other and the broader Church to discern and implement biblical authority in gospel contextualization.

• Authorizes the Moderator, as an aid to greater gospel faithfulness throughout the PCA and the broader Church, to appoint a study committee to report to the 40th General Assembly concerning Insider Movements, including but not limited to:
o A summary and biblical assessment of Insider Movements’ history, philosophies, and practices;
o A biblical response to interpretations of Scripture used in defense of Insider Movements;
o An examination of the theological impact of removing familial language for the Trinity from Bible translations;
o An assessment of PCA missions partners regarding the influence of Insider Movement within them, including assessment of their theology of religion, ecclesiology, Scripture, and relationship to the Emergent Church;
o An explanation of the relevance and importance of this issue for the PCA;
o Suggestions for identifying and assessing the influence of Insider Movements among mission agencies, missionaries and organizations;
o Recommended resources for faithfully training and equipping congregations to reach Muslims locally and internationally.

• Set the budget for the study committee at $15,000/year and that funds be derived from gifts to the AC designated for that purpose.


Rationale:

The Committee is convinced this critical issue for the global church strikes at the vitals of religion. However, the lack of sufficient analytical, biblical, and theological resources from a Reformed perspective, compels us to ask for a study committee to produce a cogent report for our churches.

Insider Study Committee Passes Overwhelmingly

This picture has nothing to do with the Insider Movement Study Committee

The MTW Committee of Commissioners brought a revised motion back to the floor of General Assembly on Friday morning, recommending (with MTW) that the Assembly condemn "Insider Translations" which remove references to God as "Father" and Jesus as the "Son of God." They also (against the wishes of MTW) revived Potomac Presbytery's suggestion to create a study committee. Dr. Paul Kooistra spoke against the study committee, saying it was unnecessary.

Dr. Kooistra's speech against the study committee proposal did not seem as polished as usual. He is a very gifted communicator and effective leader. But I think he lost people on a couple of points. He admitted that MTW had not produced any materials for churches (not that it was their job to do so). He told the Assembly that MTW had been aware of the issue for seven years. When asked by a sympathetic commissioner what MTW's response had been and what materials were available, Dr. Kooistra said that Scott Seaton (author of the overture calling for the study committee) had first made MTW aware of the issue and that "an article that has been helpful to me has been 'Five Problems with Insider Movements'."

One brother speaking against the study committee said that pastors could just study for themselves. The chairman of MTW's Permanent Committee said that such a committee would need a theologian, exegete, missiologist and Muslim background believer on it. Opponents of the motion seemed to be saying that the issue was too hard for a study committee, but easy enough for a pastor to read up on.

Scott Seaton, former MTW missionary, spoke of the vital gospel issues being raised. Travis Hutchinson testified to his unsuccessful efforts to get materials from MTW and the unique gifts of the PCA in examining such an issue. Finally, Bill Nikides, visibly shaken by the issue, spoke of his interviews with over 200 "Insider Christians," and the reality of baptized Christians leaving the church for the mosque with the encouragement of Western missionaries.

The overture passed strongly on the first vote and overwhelmingly on the second. Praise God.

And Being Nice Ends...

The Committee of Commissioners on MTW (CoC MTW), whose responsibility it is to provide representational supervision to the Permanent Committee on MTW, overwhelmingly voted to restore the Potomac Presbytery's language in their overture which called for the General Assembly to erect a Study Committee on Insider Movements. This is perhaps the most important theological issue for the evangelical church in our time and most of our churches and churchmen are largely ignorant of the issue.

When the CoC MTW presented its report, the chairman of the Permanent Committee moved that the section of the CoC report dealing with the Study Committee was out of order, effectively seeking to wipe it off of the Assembly's business without debate. The chairman found the chairman's motion in order and a commissioner from the floor challenged the ruling of the moderator. The commissioner challenging the chair admitted that the chair was probably technically correct, as was Dr. David Coffin, the perennial procedural watchdog who weighed in supporting the moderator. But, the commissioner said, this was a issue wherein the letter of the law was being used to kill debate on an issue of vital importance.

The Assembly almost overturned the Moderator's ruling - very unusual since the commissioner argued that Moderator was in fact right.

With the issue now headed to the dustbin for the next year, another commissioner moved to recommit the item back to the CoC MTW to fix the technical problem with their resolution. An explanation here is in order. The CoC on MTW was RESTORING the language of the Potomac Presbytery. But they formatted it wrong and it was considered "new business", which it wasn't, and it was ruled out of order without debate.

Another commissioner moved to recommit the business to the CoC MTW so that the Committee could "fix" the formatting errors and bring it back to the Assembly. This was certainly a brotherly solution to the problem. The Chairman of the Permanent Committee immediately spoke against the motion to recommit.

While this all may sound confusing, it isn't that hard to understand. The Potomac Presbytery gave an Overture to the General Assembly expecting (or at least hoping) that the Assembly would get to vote on their whole Overture. The Permanent Committee is a small group of men who necessarily function in very close relationship with Dr. Paul Kooistra. The Permanent Committee, together with Dr. Kooistra decided that a Study Committee was not the best way to deal with the issue (and there's NO disagreement that the denomination should stand against radical Movements) and deleted it from Potomac's motion. The Committee of Commissioners, which is a large body of men appointed from their presbyteries to oversee the work of the Permanent Committee restored the Study Committee to the Overture so that the whole Assembly could debate it and vote on it.

The Assembly overwhelmingly voted to allow the CoC MTW to fix the formatting problems and bring their concerns and motion to the floor for open debate.

Please pray that the men of the Assembly will judge these matters on biblical principles and be led by the Spirit in love.

Wycliff Bible Translators comes out in support of "Insider Translations" but not quite

Wycliffe, the Presbyterian church of Bangladesh, and other organizations have sent communications to the General Assembly regarding the use of "Insider Translations" and the involvement of the PCA in Insider Movements in the world. These communications were ruled out of order, partially out of concerns that this precedent would open the floodgates of lobbying by outside organizations and parties.

One commissioner noted that the purpose of a Study Committee would be to solicit opinions and information from such parties (indeed!) but another commissioner, Bill Nikides (an expert on world missions), noted that some of the communications come from Reformed denominations addressing missions work by the PCA in the Islamic would. Scott Seaton, former missionary and currently a pastor in Potomac Presbytery, noted that the information is directly related to matters before the Assembly.

Even though the material was found out of order, much of it was already in the hands of the commissioners. Maybe we get to have our cake (not set a bad precedent) and eat it too (get to read the information anyway).

Wycliffe submitted a detailed response to the motion condemning "Insider Translations," basically arguing that there is a difference between the Insider Movement and accepted contextualization in translation. This is probably fair enough in a theoretical sense, and likely opponents of the Insider Movement have been hyper-sensitive at times to attempts to contextualize the message of Scripture appropriately. But . . . I strongly suspect this is not as cut and dried as they are claiming and I bet there ARE Insiders seeking to influence Bible translations.

Wycliffe's claim that Muslims are offended by the idea that Jesus came from a sexual union between Mary and God and are not at all offended by the Bible's claim that Jesus is God in the flesh is completely untrue. While there may be some Muslims who completely misunderstand the claims of the Incarnation, very few thinking Muslims who have read the Bible would think this. What they are offended by is the Bible's claim that Jesus is God. Wycliffe is clouding the issue and people should ask why.

Is this not why we need a study committee?

More Truth Comes Out

The Aquila Report reveals that the "emperor has no clothes" so to speak. Clements writes:

Dr. Kooistra was invited to explain CMTW’s recommendation of removal of the study committee from the overture. MTW had issued a statement saying that a committee was unnecessary given the fact that MTW was already equipped to assist churches deal with insider movement issues. Upon further questioning, Dr. Kooistra said that the statement did not originate from him and was not strictly accurate. Further questions determined that materials available through MTW were very minimal and included much material that was written by insider movement advocates.

Is this really the best that we can do? With the wonderful Study Reports that the PCA has produced on Creation and Marriage should we not produce one on the most important theological issue of our time? Should we not bring to the table some of our wonderful theologians, missiologists, Islam experts and missionaries and produce a report that MTW and our churches can use in thinking through these vitally important issues?

Read the entire Aquila Report article here.

Note: Dr. Kooistra is not the "emperor" here, the idea that MTW has produced all of the needed materials on Insider Movements is.

Correction

With the Assembly Internet currently down I'm correcting a post from earlier today. A friend who is one of the Former Insider experts at MTW asked me to correct my statement that he claimed that MTW didn't have any studies on the Insider Movement. He said that Dr. Kooistra states that he has three articles on the Movement. I initially thought that meant Mr. Kooistra has WRITTEN three articles, but it turns out that he simply HAS three articles, presumably for distribution to interested parties. Maybe this is the material that MTW "has available to the churches to help evaluate Insider Movements"?

All of this seems a far cry from level of study and evaluation most pastors would expect from our denomination concerning the most important theological/missiological issue of our time...

Insider Movement Introduction

A month or so ago a good friend circulated some material (long) on Insider Movements to his extensive email list. One of his recipients is a Christian journalist, of whom many of you would be familiar. He is a deeply committed Christian and is involved with reporting on the Islamic world, missions and Christian persecution.

He didn't know what the Insider Movement was and humbly asked that someone pare it down for him. This highlighted for me two things: First, the general ignorance that Christians have to this issue and second, the need for simple explanations.

Here is the email I sent back through the list. My only real claim to being a good person to write this is that I'm pretty much a novice and so if you are too, this may help you.

[Name Omitted],

I never saw a reply to your question, so I thought I’d send a quick summary (tho I am assuredly not the person to do it). Maybe this answer will at least be simple, but probably not nuanced.

The email concerns something which is huge in the missions world, but largely unknown in the rest of Christendom, the subject of “Insider Movements.” Basically, it is the idea that people can become followers of Jesus without leaving Islam. Since the Koran mentions Jesus (as “Isa”) and since there are strains of Islam that emphasize Jesus’ return, this seems plausible to some. The thinking is that the “insiders”, who don’t leave Islam and are not baptized, are kind of like Jews in the first century that placed their faith in Jesus but kept practicing Judaism.

The theological problem is that it makes baptism and the visible church optional and tends to accept Mohammed as a prophet and the Koran as a true revelation of God. Socially, it begs the question whether these believers will be able to hold onto their odd Christiano-Islamic beliefs without being “corrected” by all of the orthodox Muslims they are spending their time with. Missionally, many conservative missiologists are claiming that the “insider movement” is actually plundering the visible church rather than converting Muslims. Denominationally, some people (more informed or misinformed than I) claim that there are people associated with the PCA who are either sympathetic to Insider Christianity or are working with people who are sympathetic to it. The idea seems to be that by passing a resolution condemning Insider Movements as unbiblical, we’d be guarding the truth in a very fragile mission field.

I’d be happy to send any interested people articles on Insider Movements written by conservative and orthodox reformed missiologists explaining these issues without all of my mistakes. I’m sorry for any misrepresentations in this email!

Grace and Peace,

Travis Hutchinson

The Study Committee passes through committee: Praise!

Praise God that the overture to erect a study committee on Insider Movements passed out of the Committee of Commissioners (CoC) on Mission to the World this evening. The CoC reversed the Committee on MTW which struck the proposal from the Overture because they claimed that MTW had already done the studies and had materials ready to assist churches in evaluating Insider Movements. The problem with MTW's opposition to the study committee is that a) MTW seems to not be responding to requests from churches for the material (see below); b) at least one former MTW Islam specialist is claiming that comprehensive studies don't exist; c) since this is a missiological heresy would we not want people outside of MTW doing some of the work so as to give accountability and oversight to MTW?

This news means that the overture will hit the floor of General Assembly intact and the commissioners we get to vote on the study committee as the main motion.

It is entirely possible that MTW just saw this as an unnecessary action because MTW has already decided against Insider Movements. Now they may shrug their shoulders and let the Assembly decide. If they, and their representatives, fight this one hard from the floor, however, it will leave many people wondering what possible dog they have in the hunt? What would motivate them to oppose it? The natural answer would be stewardship - the denomination doesn't need to spend the money. But since Paul Kooistra hasn't gone on record opposing ByFaith Magazine or the CE&P Bookstore, calls for stewardship would ring pretty hollow.

My Unanswered Letter to MTW re Insider Movements

Here's what I wrote to MTW almost a month ago. Remember (see below) that they claim that they have done studies on Insider Movements (for description of heresy, see posts below) and these studies are available to the churches. I wrote MTW on May 9. No response yet.

Subject: Insider Movements Information Needed
Date: May 9, 2011
Sent to: info@mtw.org

Hi,

I received an email from Paul Gilchrist about “Insider Movements” in missions work to Muslims in Islamic contexts. I was wondering if you could send me any material MTW has on Insider Movements. I’ve heard that there’s an overture coming to GA which asks for a study committee and I wonder if you guys have already done that work. Thanks so much!

TE Travis Hutchinson
Highlands Presbyterian
Tennessee Valley Presbytery

MTW has puzzling opposition to Study Committee on Insider Movements

On May 9 of this year the Committee on MTW passed a resolution recommending to the GA that it PASS the overture condemning "Insider" Bible translations but STRIKE the language calling for a study committee. The rationale is, in their own words, "MTW has conducted extensive research and has numerous resources and tools available to
assist local churches in evaluating insider movements."

What is the "Insider Movement"? Well, in some forms, it's bad, bad, bad... It's heresy, and we're not talking about paedocommunion heresy or Federal Vision heresy (which don't really fit the category of heresy) - it's completely give up the Gospel heresy and destroy the Church in the Islamic World, straight from the Pit of Hell heresy. Insider Movements tell Muslims that they can be good Muslims and believe in Jesus. They don't have to join a church, reject Mohammed, or get baptized. All they have to do is believe in Jesus. Brothers and sisters, since Islam is a religion created explicitly to reject Judaism and Christianity, that would be like saying that you can be a Christian and a Satanist (except you'd do a LOT less harm to others as a Satanist).

What my missiologist friends are telling me is that the Insider Movement, rather than adding to the number of Christians, is growing by luring Christians out of churches! There are also rumblings that MTW has been less than vigorous in dealing with this in the mission field. Now, Paul Kooistra (head of MTW) has apparently rejected Insider theology without reservation and written a short article or two about it. The problem is that there are Insider experts who are criticizing MTW's manner of dealing with this issue.

Do we really need a denominational study committee on this? Here are some reasons why we MUST have a study committee.

1) While they are claiming that they have material available to the churches, I wrote them as a pastor of a church asking for it and got no response. People I know who are "in the know" say that there's nothing they have besides an article or two by Dr. Kooistra. Maybe they have more, but they aren't giving them to the churches.

2) Since there's some rumbling about the cleanliness of MTW's hands in all of this, it would be most proper for people outside of MTW to deal with this. Not that MTW is always concerned about proper accountability and being beyond reproach in appearances. This is the agency which has Dr. Kooistra's brother as CFO (Dr. Kooistra controls the organization and his brother controls the money). My wife is a CPA and she doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the church finances because of the possible appearance of impropriety. It is important with money, but even more with the accurate teaching of the Gospel.

3) This is THE most significant theological issue since inerrancy. Do we wish to be asleep at the switch when this train comes bursting out of the tunnel?

GA 2011 Virginia Beach

Well, next week is the PCA General Assembly. I'll be blogging during the Assembly (GA) again; I hope more than last year - it'll keep me from speaking as much. This year's GA is in Virginia Beach - nice. The best deal my assistant could find was a beachfront cabin near the Assembly. [[Turns out, beachfront is not so beachfront. 10 minutes from the beach.] Life is hard.

Here are some initial impressions on the issues for this year:

1) Funding of the Administrative Committee - Last year's debate centered on AC funding and the vision for our denomination. The supporters of the AC were able to push the plan through, very painfully. The rancor left a bad taste in everyone's mouths and it got voted down resoundingly in the Presbyteries. I have no idea why the members of the AC thought is was appropriate for our denominational employees to come up with a plan to force us to give money for their initiatives and salaries and then decide how to punish or "forgive" individual churches. Aren't we supposed to be telling them what to do and not vice versa?

2) Vision for the PCA - The "powers that be," who for good and ill got us where we are today and consist mostly of middle-aged white guys, are going to continue to "lead us" in adopting strategies to reach racial and ethnic minorities, young people and the poor. They will be largely opposed by pastors who work with racial and ethnic minorities, young people and the poor. Since the pastors who matter most are the ones who pastor the largest and wealthiest churches, the wealthy pastors and their friends in the AC and other denominational agencies (which they control), they will likely continue to take the lead in fixing the problems which they have both identified and created. We all hope that this year they actually use data in examining the problems and Scripture in looking for solutions.

3) Heresy in Missions - The "Insider Movement," which is a missiological strategy for reaching Muslims by telling them they do not have to leave Islam, join a church or get baptized, has been a hot topic for discussion in mission circles. One presbytery has submitted an overture condemning an Insider Bible Translation and calling for a study committee.

I have been told by a reliable source that Mission to the World (MTW), our denominational mission board, supports the condemnation of the translation but not the study committee because they have already studied the issue. Don't take my secondhand report as gospel, but if it is true (which will be revealed on the floor, most likely) there are several troubling things to consider. [Update: On May 9, the Committee on MTW passed a resolution making minor editorial changes to the motion on the translation and striking the erection of a study committee. The language is troubling indeed: "Rationale for Omitting the Study Committee MTW has conducted extensive research and has numerous resources and tools available to assist local churches in evaluating insider movements."

First, one of MTW's experts on Insider Movements left MTW in frustration over the issue, dissatisfied over MTW's handling of Insider situations in the field.

Second, I contacted MTW weeks ago for copies of their "studies" on the issue and have never received any response. Do any actual studies exist? Their former expert says "no."

Third, Dr. Paul Kooistra is a godly man and an effective administrator and fund raiser, but he's no theologian or missiologist. With the most important controversy in missions now brewing, we need to bring in the big guns in scholarship and missions. And, since a study committee would examine our denomination's involvement with Insider Movements, it would warn us or clear MTW of any problems. But if MTW is doing all of the examination, the fox is watching the henhouse.

Of course this is a common failing in our denomination, witness the placement of Bryan Chapell (the head of our seminary) on the Standing Judicial Committee. Denominations almost always fall by way of the seminaries, so why would you put the head of the seminary on the commission whose purpose it is to provide judicial oversight over the seminary? In the PCA it doesn't matter, because they're all Good People - until they're not.