This past week many congregations received their bottle of
"Spiritual Glue" from "Faith Inkubators".
"Faith Inkubators" has just sent a mass mailing to LCMS, ELCA, Presbyterian,
and Methodist congregations around the country listing 50 locations to attend seminars
about their new catechism training program.
There are a number of ways to find "Faith Inkubators" on the internet. Type
in
www.faithink.com or call 1-888-55faith. You can also find them by looking up
"confirmation and LCMS" or "Concordia and confirmation" on your
favorite search engine. "Faith Inkubators" is also located on the LCMS Website
under "Lutheran Family Association -Family Friendly Links". "Faith
Inkubators" cross references the LCMS and CPH in their website. Rev. Rich Melheim,
creator of "Faith Inkubators" an ELCA pastor, is also a writer for CPH.
What is "Faith Inkubators?" Their website,
which is constantly being revised, reads "A quiet revolution is underway." That
means most Voters’ Assemblies in the LCMS don't know when their pastors have
supplemented or replaced Luther’s Small Catechism with "Faith Inkubators".
It goes on to say that "Faith Inkubators" is "A holistic, relational,
parent-led small group approach to confirmation ministry...transforming congregations,
youth, families and clergy." This is exactly what is happening.
A long list of testimonials are given by ELCA and LCMS clergy. The "Faith
Inkubators" website explains, "It’s not merely a curriculum, although a
new, wonderfully creative, interactive curriculum approach has been developed to
supplement it.... It’s not even specifically Lutheran, although it fits in
beautifully with the ‘priesthood of all believers’ philosophy...." "It
is a philosophy that promotes good stewardship of a pastor’s time." It is a
multimedia approach and employs seminars, satellites, training, internet, videos,
curriculum, images, analogies, humorous skits, dramas, art projects, and meditative prayer
journeys that implement methodology similar to Howard Gardner’s (left brain/ right
brain) Multiple Intelligences.
"Faith Inkubators" was started by Rev. Rich Melheim (ELCA) who started a
mentor-based program at Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater, MN. By the Fall of 96 over
1000 congregations were experimenting with the program as living laboratories. "The
movement currently involves 2/3 ELCA and 1/3 LCMS congregations and has its first UCC,
Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic test sites." Yes, "Faith Inkubators"
is a pan denominational, globalist, relational, catechism.
"Faith Inkubators" strives for transformation through "PROCESS".
Each child is assigned an adult mentor or "Guide" on their learning, serving,
playing, praying, and growing journey. Pastors still teach content but a third of
everything is taught through interactive small group learning activities. This writer
evaluates the programs as enlisting spiritual guides, values clarification, and spiritual
gift assessments.
Melheim says he developed the program’s small group structure from Carl
George’s Meta Church Model; its philosophy from William Glasser (a secular humanist
and an expert in behavior modification); its business sense from MIT’s Peter Senge
(author of "The Fifth Discipline") and his own research. Theological
"tips" come from Dr. Pat Keifert of the Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org). The Leadership Network, who endorses
Willow Creek as a model for American Churches of the 21st Century, is also advising the
LCMS Council of Presidents on how to restructure congregations and the LCMS.
Who are Carl George, William Glasser, and Peter Senge and what kind of influence do
they have on the new catechism now being adopted by LCMS congregations?
Carl George
Carl George is a well known expert and consultant to denominations
and independent congregations on the Meta Church Model, a method of restructuring
congregations within the Church Growth Movement and also discards Walther’s
"Church and Ministry."
George has regularly advised congregations, District Offices and pastors’
conferences in the LCMS. The Meta Church Model establishes cells and group leaders in
house churches that then come together for worship on Sunday. George views the
centralization of the pastoral office as one of the primary barriers to growth in churches
today. Yet, his radical restructuring takes on many of the characteristics of the cell
groups once associated with the communist party and imposes a centralized "leadership
training" model over the "cells."
William Glasser
William Glasser writes the following quotations in the introduction
to his book "The Quality School." "I cannot begin to acknowledge all the
teachers and administrators who help me as I struggle to bring the ideas of control theory
and reality therapy to the schools." "I have read and reread Deming, and I
continue to believe that quality is the answer to many societal problems and that quality
schools are possible." "Although I acknowledge the Johnson City, New York,
schools in the text, I also wish to acknowledge the work of others like William Spady (PR
man for Goals 2000) and John Champlin who are deeply involved in Outcomes Based Education,
(OBE) a successful model which many ideas in this book support." "In his 1982
book, addressed to industry but whose message applies even more urgently to the schools,
Deming says, ‘This book is teaching the transformation that is required for survival,
a transformation that can only be accomplished by man.’"
In another book, "School Without Failure," William Glasser writes "We
have to let students know there are no right answers, and we have to let them see that
there are many alternatives to certainty and right answers."
Peter Senge
Peter Senge is a world renowned business consultant at MIT. The
Applewood Centre for Spiritual Studies mentions Peter Senge under the topic
"Spirituality in the Workplace". A synopsis of his book "The Fifth
Discipline" is found there and states as follows: "Senge’s pathbreaking
book draws on science, spiritual wisdom, psychology, and the cutting edge of management
thought to show how businesses can overcome their ‘learning disabilities’ and
beat the odds of failure. The book provides a searching personal experience and a dramatic
professional shift of mind."
Senge writes, "I found myself pondering these questions anew as a result of
participation in "Summit on Reinventing Government," hosted by United States
Vice President Al Gore in June 1993."
Again he writes "...we must also redesign the internal structures of our
‘mental models’. But anything less will fall short of the changes
required."
Rev. Richard Melheim has traveled the country since 1993 since he gave the
"wake-up call," "Conformation (Sic!) is Dead." He leads workshops on
how to transform confirmation ministry. Call 1-888-55FAITH.
On the "Faith Inkubators" website Melheim says "There’s a line of
Oswald Chambers which reads, ‘the purpose of prayer is not to find the answers, but
to find God.’" ... "We need an incarnational, relational ministry approach.
We need small group bonding."
Through relational ministry in small groups, "Faith Inkubators" leads
children to share difficult experiences in their lives with each other and then with the
entire class. Once the children become open with their feelings, Mark Holmen gives the
following "Action Plan" on the "Faith Inkubators" website to
confirmation leaders when children reveal sensitive information. "Before you get too
involved in youth ministry, it is important that a clear plan be developed which will give
you the direction needed to handle these situations." The advice is to go with the
information to the:
Pastor
Church Council Representative
Youth Committee Representative
Youth Representative
Law Enforcement Representative
Local Family Counselor
Church Insurance Representative
Treatment Center Representative.
This information may be what the children reveal about themselves in class or what they
reveal about their parents. This is most likely what they mean by holistic.
The relational approach of "Faith Inkubators" helps the students discover
their felt needs and belong to the group. Their approach to dramas and skits in role
playing can be traced all way back to transformational Marxist and educational
psychologist J. L. Morano who invented role playing, social metrics, psychodrama, and
social drama as effective tools to mold thought and behavior. In 1953 Morano authored
"Who Shall Survive". "Faith Inkubators" also employs the techniques of
Group Dynamics, invented by another transformational Marxist, Kurt Lewin.
"Journaling" invented by Robert Havighurst, author of "Adolescent Character
and Personality" teaches children to write about themselves and their families. The
Red Chinese employ "Journaling" as the most effective technique to evaluate
parents and families. Efforts at spiritual gifts inventories are little more than thinly
disguised personality profiles collecting data to aid in values clarification.
Mark Holmen has his own home page. He is also part of "Milestones" ministry
where he is quoted with Peter Benson, of the Search Institute.
Many congregations of the LCMS, ELCA, and other denominations in our area are using
"Faith Inkubators" Hundreds in the LCMS have adopted it and hundreds more are
moving in that direction. Rigid formulations about the Gospel in the Creeds become a
barrier to change. The average LCMS layman knows little if anything of what I am speaking
about, but the Council of District Presidents knows. As usual, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota
South, Southern, California/ Hawaii, Nevada and Florida/ Georgia Districts lead the way.
The COP has already agreed to retrain 225 LCMS pastors for "Leadership"
coincidentally reminiscent of the philosophies of Carl George, Peter Senge, Covey, and the
Leadership Network. Doctor Norbert Oesch has been chosen to head the program with funding
from LCEF and an unnamed source.
The transformational processing of "Faith Inkubators" leads children into new
directions away from facts into feelings and self discovery. Yes, "Faith
Inkubators" is very appealing to young people.