Monday, March 12, 2012

Is a Saddleback pastor teaching on the Kingdom Circles?

Article by Amy Spreeman, reprinted in full (Stand Up For The Truth)

With all the buzz about the interfaith aspect of Saddleback Church’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan and the controversy over the King’s Way initiative that partners Rick Warren’s church together with the Islamic community, many question just how Saddleback is reaching Muslims after promising not to convert anyone to Christianity.
Could it be that not converting anyone is one reason Pastor Warren is getting so many questions about Chrislam?
This is a photo of Emmaus Weekend Pentecost, an event held last June 11 and 12 in The Parish of Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church in Sophia Antipolis, a town near Nice, France:
In “The Mission” workshop, which was part of an International Ecumenical Fellowship, Saddleback Pastor Abraham Meulenberg and his wife Marieke spoke to a small group of attendees.
If you’ll notice the diagram behind him, the Kingdom Circles are part of the session. Basically, it’s a simple but highly questionable evangelical tool that people are being taught to draw (sometimes called the “napkin drawing”) to demonstrate how those of other faiths can enter the Kingdom of God without converting to Christianity. If you’ve not heard of this, you need to. The video from the Common Path Alliance as well as this article from the Jesus in the Qur’an organization explains it:
The question is, does Meulenberg teach this? Or were those Kingdom Circles diagrams left over from a previous speaker, and Meulenberg taught on a different subject?
Who else teaches the Kingdom Circles methodology? Those who are proponents of “C-5 Contextualization,” a highly controversial movement that many believe is pure syncretism; the blending of two faiths—Islam and Christianity – into Chrislam. Those who are C-5 proponents say that just like Messianic Jews, there can be Messianic Muslims. Never mind that the “Isa” found in the Qur’an is NOT the Jesus of the Bible.  Isa is not the Son of God.
Yet these Isa-worshippers say that they are Christian, and a growing number of Christian leaders are changing their paradigm from No way to Maybe to Sure, why not, in this “global conversation”:
There are many questions about how Christians should be reaching out to Muslims with the truth of the Gospel. If the gospel must be contextualized, how far can contextualization go without violating the gospel? And do the Kingdom Circles do that?
The one answer we can be sure of: There is no hope, no atonement for our sin and no way into the Kingdom of God without Jesus Christ. Christianity is the only faith that worships Jesus as the Son of God. He is our Messiah; our King.
Any movement that tells believers of other faiths and beliefs (Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age, Muslims, etc.), that they can enter the Kingdom of God without converting to Christianity must be questioned.

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King's Way, Rick Warren Controversy Continues

Posted by Christine Pack

After reading Ken Silva's excellently researched article on the ongoing King's Way controversy, I decided to chart Pastor Silva's findings for the purpose of giving a quick thumbnail sketch of the issue to anyone not familiar with the controversy. Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church, is claiming that an Orange County Register reporter inaccurately reported that Saddleback is working with the local Muslim community on an interfaith document known as King's Way. The reporter (Jim Hinch) stands by his story. Below is a chart detailing some of the conflicting claims:


 Additional Resources 

Are We Witnessing a "King's Way" Cover-up?

Rick Warren Says No King's Way Document and No Saddleback "Staff" Involved

Is King's Way an Interfaith Document or Not? You Be The Judge.

Recent Document Shows Rick Warren's Compromise with Muslims

New Theological Position of Saddleback Church Concerning Islam

Rick Warren Addresses Chrislam Controversy

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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Are We Witnessing a "King's Way" Cover-up?

Article by Erin Benziger (from the Do Not Be Surprised blog, printed in full)

Could it be that Saddleback Church's interfaith initiative, known as the King's Way document, has been a bit more trouble than it's worth?

Last week, Orange County Register reporter Jim Hinch broke a story that quickly went viral. Saddleback church, he reported, in conjunction with the Islamic Center of Southern California, had co-authored a historic interfaith document. Hinch's report reads in part: 
The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. 
The effort, informally dubbed King's Way, caps years of outreach between Warren and Muslims. 
The effort by a prominent Christian leader to bridge what polls show is a deep rift between Muslims and evangelical Christians culminated in December at a dinner at Saddleback attended by 300 Muslims and members of Saddleback's congregation. 
At the dinner, Abraham Meulenberg, a Saddleback pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, and Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at a mosque in Los Angeles, introduced King's Way as "a path to end the 1,400 years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians." (Online Source) 
Rick Warren quickly responded to this post with the following: 

This post by Warren was later removed. Warren followed this up by producing a white paper which first appeared on the blog of Ed Stetzer, and later also appeared on Warren's own blog. Part of this white paper reads as follows:
QUESTION: A recent newspaper article claimed you believe Christians and Muslims worship the same God, that you are "in partnership" with a mosque, and that you both agreed to "not evangelize each other." You immediately posted a brief refutation online. Can you expand on that? 
WARREN: Sure. All three of those statements are flat out wrong. Those statements were made by a reporter, not by me. I did not say them ... I do not believe them... I completely disagree with them ... and no one even talked to me about that article! So let me address each one individually: First, as I've already said, Christians have a fundamentally different view of God than Muslims. We worship Jesus as God. Muslims don't. Our God is Jesus, not Allah. Colossians 2:9 "For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Second, while we urge our members to build friendships with everyone in our community, including Muslims and other faiths, ("Love your neighbor as yourself"), our church has never had any partnership with a mosque. Friendship and partnership are two very different levels of commitment. Some of our members have hosted a Bible study with Muslim friends, which I applaud, but I've never been to it, and a Bible study certainly isn't any kind of partnership or merger! It's just crazy that a simple Bible Study where people explore Scripture with non-Christians would be reported as a partnership and others would interpret that as a plan for a new compromised religion. Just crazy! Third, as both an Evangelical and as an evangelist, anyone who knows me and my 40 year track record of ministry that I would never agree to "not evangelizing" anyone! I am commanded by my Savior to share the Good News with all people everywhere, all the time, in every way possible! Anyone who's heard me teach knows that my heart beats for bringing others to Jesus. (Online Source)
While Warren's words seemed to contradict previous actions, this statement nevertheless was acknowledged by those who initially reported on the story. Not long after this, however, Ken Silva ofApprising Ministries corresponded with OC Register reporter Jim Hinch, who shared with Silva an excerpt of this elusive King's Way document. Upon reading this excerpt, it is not difficult to see why or how Hinch arrived at the conclusions that he did when he stated in his article that the document proposed, "a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God." Below is the excerpt of the King's Way document that was sent by Jim Hinch to Ken Silva:
The document, which was given to me [Jim Hinch] by a source for this story on condition it not be published in its entirety, outlines several areas of theological agreement between Christians and Muslims and commits members of both faiths to three goals: becoming friends; making peace; and sharing “the blessings of God with others.” Here is how the document describes the points of theological agreement: 
I. WHO: we believe in ONE GOD: 
1. God is one (Mark 12:29; Muhammed 47:19) 
2. God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1; Al Shura 42:11) 
3. God is different from the world (1 Timothy 6:16; An An’am 6:103) 
4. God is Good a. God loves (1 John 4:16; Al Buruj 85:14) b. God is just (1 John 1:19,Romans 3:26; Hud 11:45) c. God’s love encompasses God’s judgment (1 Peter 4:8; Al A’raf 7:156; Al Ghafir 40:7) 
The Register story based the phrases “same God” and “one God” on the phrasing in this document, which states that Christians and Muslims believe in one God. (Online Source)
Thus far, the contents of this King's Way excerpt have not been addressed by Rick Warren. This is unfortunate, as clearly some further explanation is necessary.

Today, however, has yielded another interesting discovery. In the post, "Historic Interfaith Document was One Year in the Making," it was noted that the following post was found in the December 2011 archives of the blog of the Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC):
Last Sunday, a historic event took place at Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. Saddleback is known for its famous pastor, Rick Warren, who delivered the prayer at President Obama’s inauguration ceremony. The Church hosted a number of Muslim communities in based in Southern California for its second annual celebration of Jesus (pbuh). This event is significant because Saddleback is a large evangelical church with over 22 thousand members. Although only a select number of individuals were invited to this dinner, it demonstrates the new theological position of Saddleback. At the celebration, a document one year in the making was presented which encourages Christians and Muslims to appreciate the similarities of our faiths. 
The document encouraged that our communities work together towards the common good and to combat bigotry in a 1-2-3 plan. The first step in the plan identifies the belief in one God. The second step acknowledges God’s commandment to love God and your neighbor. Finally, step three is for our communities to commit to three things: making friends, building peace, and serving the world at large together. 
This relationship with Saddleback Church was initiated over a year ago with a friendship between one of the pastors, Abraham Meulenberg, and the ICSC’s Jihad Turk. Pastor Meulenberg reached out having heard about the Center and our interfaith work. From this friendship developed an institutional link between their respective organizations. (Online Source. To view pictures of this event, visit here.)
If one attempts to click on the links above, which initially led to the original blog post and to the ICSC Flickr page containing pictures of the event, it will be noticed that these links either lead to a different blog post, or, in the case of the pictures, the link no longer works.

Is this a mere coincidence? If Rick Warren is being so honest with his denials of the claims of the OC Register story, then why is all of the evidence of the King's Way document suddenly disappearing? Well, thanks to today's technology, the missing ICSC blog post has been preserved, captured, and can be viewed right here:
(Click to Enlarge)
This blog post by the ICSC is not just a mere blog post, however. It is important to note some of the language used within this post, specifically the following statement:
This event is significant because Saddleback is a large evangelical church with over 22 thousand members. Although only a select number of individuals were invited to this dinner, it demonstrates the new theological position of Saddleback.
A new theological position? For a Christian church? Perhaps the members of the ICSC misunderstood the intent of this entire endeavor. If so, one wonders why Saddleback did not seek to clarify such a misunderstanding sometime between December and today.  One also must surely wonder why the King's Way excerpt that has emerged has been ignored by Warren and his team. Finally, it cannot help but be questioned why it is that the ICSC has suddenly deleted this clear, boastful evidence of the December event and this "historic interfaith document." In the interest of Christian ethic, we certainly hope that there is no "King's Way Cover-up" underway.


 Additional Resources 

Rick Warren Says No King's Way Document and No Saddleback "Staff" Involved

Is King's Way an Interfaith Document or Not? You Be The Judge.

Recent Document Shows Rick Warren's Compromise with Muslims

New Theological Position of Saddleback Church Concerning Islam

Rick Warren Addresses Chrislam Controversy

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Monday, March 5, 2012

Is King's Way an Interfaith Document or Not? You Be The Judge.

Posted by Christine Pack

On February 23, 2012, an article titled Rick Warren Builds Bridge to Muslims was published in the Orange County Register (Orange County, California). It went off like a bomb in the evangelical community. This article, written by staff writer Jim Hinch, reported that Rick Warren of Saddleback Church was working on an interfaith document (known as King's Way) aimed at healing "divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God." In the immediate ensuing dust-up, bloggers blogged, talk show hosts talked, and social media sites were abuzz with discussion. What did this mean? Was Rick Warren now embracing the heretical, but trendy, new movement known as Chrislam? Eight days later, Rick Warren finally addressed the issue by giving a very clear and unambiguous statement affirming his Trinitarian, his Christian beliefs, and stating unequivocally that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. (The entire article can be read here.)


But now the writer of the original article in the Orange County Register, Jim Hinch, has released a portion of the King's Way document. Is this an interfaith document that gives the impression that Muslims and Christians worship the same God? You be the judge:
1. The primary source for this story was a five-page document jointly drafted by Abraham Meulenberg, a Saddleback pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, and Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California, a mosque in Los Angeles. The document was unveiled at a December, 2011 dinner at Saddleback Church attended by approximately 300 Saddleback members and members of Southern California’s Muslim community. At the dinner a Powerpoint presentation described the document, and the King’s Way outreach effort which inspired the document, as “a path to end the 1,400 years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians.” The document, which was given to me by a source for this story on condition it not be published in its entirety, outlines several areas of theological agreement between Christians and Muslims and commits members of both faiths to three goals: becoming friends; making peace; and sharing “the blessings of God with others.” Here is how the document describes the points of theological agreement: 
I. WHO: we believe in 
ONE GOD: 
1. God is one (Mark 12:29; Muhammed 47:19)
2. God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1; Al Shura 42:11)
3. God is different from the world (1 Timothy 6:16; An An’am 6:103)
4. God is Good
a. God loves (1 John 4:16; Al Buruj 85:14)
b. God is just (1 John 1:19, Romans 3:26; Hud 11:45)
c. God’s love encompasses God’s judgment (1 Peter 4:8; Al A’raf 7:156; Al Ghafir 40:7) 
The Register story based the phrases “same God” and “one God” on the phrasing in this document, which states that Christians and Muslims believe in one God. 
2. Rick Warren initially posted a comment to the article claiming that the article contained “multiple errors.” That comment was later deleted, I presume by Warren. After seeing that comment I reached out to Warren’s director of communications. On Monday, Feb. 27 a Saddleback representative called and told me that while the Register story was factually accurate, folks at Saddleback would prefer that the opening paragraph read “Muslims and Christians believe that God is one.” Following a discussion with a Register editor Saddleback decided to withdraw its request for a clarification. At no time has anyone at Saddleback said to me or to anyone else at the Register that the story contains factual inaccuracies. 
3. Warren states in his white paper that “no one even talked to me about that article!” I made numerous attempts to contact Warren, both by phone and by e-mail, before the story was published. I was eventually told by Warren’s director of communications that Warren was too busy with other projects to speak with me or to e-mail a response to the story’s main claims, which I had e-mailed to the communications director. Instead I was put in touch with Tom Holladay, an associate senior pastor at Saddleback. I ran all of the story’s claims by Holladay and he affirmed all of them, including the language of the King’s Way document and the fact that King’s Way was an effort to build bridges of friendship and cooperation, not an attempt to evangelize. During my conversation with Holladay I asked whether the King’s Way effort, including the December dinner and the theological document, was done with Rick Warren’s approval. “Of course it has his approval,” Holladay replied. It is neither fair nor accurate to claim that this story was published without attempting to solicit Rick Warren’s response. 
4. Warren claims in his white paper that it is “flat-out wrong” that either he or members of Saddleback have promised not to evangelize the Muslims they are working with in the King’s Way effort. As I stated above, that was not what I was told by Tom Holladay. Also, every one of the Muslim sources I talked to for this story emphasized that both sides promised not to evangelize one another. Indeed Muslims told me that the promise not to evangelize was one of the things that enabled them to overcome their wariness toward evangelicals and build bonds of friendship. Again, no source for this story, including at Saddleback, ever told me that the intent of the King’s Way effort was to evangelize Muslims.
This story, obviously, has generated a great deal of passionate response. I respect Rick Warren’s desire to make his views and intentions clear. However I do not believe it is fair to question the accuracy of the Register’s story or the way it was reported. I have had several conversations with people at Saddleback following the publication of the story, including with the church’s director of communications. Everyone I have talked to from the church has told me that the story is entirely factually accurate but they wish certain phrases had been worded differently. However, since those phrases stem directly from a printed document whose authenticity no one has questioned, everyone agrees that there is nothing in the story to correct.
(HT: Apprising Ministries) 

 Additional Resources 



Rick Warren Addresses Chrislam Controversy

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Rick Warren Addresses Chrislam Controversy

Posted by Christine Pack

Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church
In the article Rick Warren Builds Bridge to Muslims, published 2/23/12 in the Orange County Register and written by staff writer Jim Hinch, it was reported that Rick Warren of Saddleback Church was working on an interfaith document aimed at healing "divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God."

Understandably, this article went off like a bomb inside the theological community. Bloggers blogged, talk show hosts talked, and social media sites were abuzz with discussion. What did this mean? Was Rick Warren now embracing the heretical, but trendy, new movement known as Chrislam? Eight days later, Rick Warren finally addressed the issue by giving a very clear and unambiguous statement affirming his Trinitarian, his Christian beliefs, and stating unequivocally that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. (The entire article can be read here.)

The problem with Rick Warren's supposed clarification is that if you hold his statement up against his life's actions, they don't seem to add up. Now that Rick Warren has come out with his statement, I think we must take the statement at face value, but I think we can certainly ask questions. In some ways, it's almost like he's gone under oath and given his testimony. But since he has, we can now present the following Exhibits:

 Exhibit A - Jim Hinch Did Attempt to Speak To Rick Warren 

Jim Hinch, the writer of the original Orange County article in question, despite what Rick Warren claims, DID try to speak directly with Rick Warren but was told he was unavailable for comment:
RICK WARREN: "Those statements were made by a reporter, not by me. I did not say them ... I do not believe them... I completely disagree with them ... and no one even talked to me about that article!"
JIM HINCH: "I talked to sources both at Saddleback and in the Muslim community and all of them described the mutual outreach efforts and the attempt to find points of theological common ground. While reporting the story I asked to speak to Rick Warren but was told he was too busy for an interview."
In addition to this, Jim Hinch, the writer of the article that caused such a dust-up is just a regular guy: he's not a theologian, and to the best of my understanding, he's not even a Christian. and after having assessed the data in front of him and after reading the King's Way document, came to the conclusion that it was an interfaith document. The question should not be, "Did Jim Hinch lie?" (because he didn't) but rather, it should be this: Why wasn't the Christian gospel message so profoundly clear in the King's Way document that it was abundantly clear to the secular, onlooking world (like Jim Hinch) that Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God?

(Note: Writer Jim Hinch has released a portion of the King's Way document, which can be read here.)

 Exhibit B - Presidential Inauguration 

This exhibit includes the Presidential Inauguration, where Rick Warren gave a carefully worded interfaith prayer in which he gave one of the names of Jesus as "Issa." This is NOT one of Jesus' names. "Issa" is the Arabic name for the Jesus of the Qu'ran, and the Jesus in the Qu'ran is not the Jesus of the Bible, but "another Jesus" (2 Cor 11:4) who is not the Divine Son of God, nor the Savior who came to make atonement for sinners.

 Exhibit C - Rick Warren Says It's His Desire To Work with Muslims, Jews...Not Evangelize Them 

Rick Warren has given on-the-record statements that he does not feel he needs to evangelize other faiths, but only wants to work together with them to better the community....

.....Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at a mosque in California and also co-author of the King's Way document crafted by Saddleback Church, said of the agreed upon parameters for the interfaith document: "We agreed we wouldn't try to evangelize each other.......We'd witness to each other but it would be out of 'Love Thy Neighbor,' not focused on conversion."

....In 2006, Rick Warren gave an interfaith talk at a Jewish temple, before which he told the organizer of the event (Rabbi Wolfson) that his interest was in "helping all houses of worship, not in converting Jews."


 Additional Resources 



The Islamic Center of Southern California, Saddleback Church, and Our Friendship (by Jihad Turk of The Islamic Center of Southern California)

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