However ignorant Bill Hybels and fellow endorsers may be of all this, his participation in EC makes him a party to its consequences. It is also important to note that the EC document (which is supposed to be a definitive and comprehensive statement of the true saving Gospel of Christ), never mentions repentance for salvation, and never mentions the total depravity of man (thereby leaning towards a decisional regeneration). Moreover, the EC promotes an ecumenical unity (via "trans-denominational cooperative enterprises") with all professing believers who attest to the EC's "essentials" of the faith. But this is not the unity of the faith taught in Ephesians. While we are instructed by Scripture to be of one mind, the evangelical today scoffs at the idea of true Biblical unity based on complete agreement with, and submission to, God's holy Word. The only use of the word "unity" in the New Testament is found in Ephesians chapter four. It is a "unity of the Spirit" (v. 3), not of men. It is a "unity of faith" (v. 13) based on sound doctrine for which believers are to contend, not water down nor reclassify into essentials and non-essentials (Jude 3). No real spiritual unity can exist apart from doctrinal unity, and we are to "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17).

The overreaching concern, common to almost all the critics, is that "seeker-sensitive" churches compromise the gospel by tailoring their messages to non-Christians: that the use of polished entertainment, feel-good sermons, and marketing techniques subtly alters the gospel that is being communicated. The author of two critical works on the state of the evangelical church -- No Place for Truth and God in the Wasteland -- theologian David Wells says, "I honestly believe [Hybels] doesn't think he's compromising the gospel by using cultural devices, but he seems blinded to the fact that culture is not neutral. ... The problem is that culture is laden with values that inevitably go against the thrust of the gospel message. ... Theoretically there are many groups they choose from ... including the poor, the aged, students, Afro-Americans and Hispanics, but practically, church marketers exclusively target white, middle-class, college-educated baby boomers" (7/18/94, Christianity Today, "Selling Out the House of God?").

Biblical Discernment Ministries  - Revised 2/2004