Ned, I have had a “senior” pastor say this to me in regards to the other churches he was in network with & was trying to model after.

I have never heard a church leader use the (large) size of a church as a rationale for what their doing being right and blessed, but it’s a very common argument used by members of those cults, oops, large churches.

Of course, using that logic, then AFL matches, the Big Day Out, and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras all have the blessing of God.

However, all it means is that large numbers of people who don’t think about things very hard, gather together in one cult/church, instead of being spread through cults/churches across a city.

Have the leaders actually said point No.1 to you or did they
imply it by their attitude

“1. The strength of an argument against a church is inversely proportional to the size of the church. (The larger the church - the weaker the argument, because ‘God must really be blessing this church’).

2. All criticisms of the church can be deflected by the all-purpose statement ‘but no church is perfect’.

3. Undisputed facts backed by mountains of evidence are meaningless if they conflict with a churchgoer’s belief system.

4. If you pull up a churchgoer about their blatant sin, you are an ‘accuser of the brethren’., and therefore considered to be ‘Satan’ for causing division.

5. Speaking the words of Jesus to a churchgoer is meaningless, because ‘you are not Jesus’.”
Posted by Lance | 24/11/2005 at 1:26 pm

My response is yes, yes, yes & amen. Well put - especially point no. 1. After all who are you to question such “success?”