Letters

Here is a letter from Pastor Darrin Vick written to one of his former youth ministry students who was trying to describe DiscoverChurch to one of their friends. 

Letter from Pastor Darrin Vick

Hi, Amy!

I completely understand the difficulty in describing our church.  Believe me, I went through the exact same experience when I first came to our church from a small nondenominational church in Minneapolis ("Why are you going to a Lutheran church?" "Don’t you love Jesus anymore" "Is there anybody who is saved at that church?" ) .  Ironically, now most of the questions I get are from people who are transferring from other Lutheran or Catholic churches to DiscoverChurch and are wondering why our church is SO different from the churches they grew up in.

Basically, DiscoverChurch is a hard church to categorize.  People have a natural desire to label things so that we can more easily cope with life.

Some people would call our church an "Evangelical" church.  Evangelicals believe that the written word of God (the Bible) is the full and final authority on all matters of Christian doctrine and belief.  I wholeheartedly agree with this position and so does our church.  However, in Lutheran theology, the word of God is not just the written word.  In fact, the word is Jesus Christ himself ! (John 1: 1-14) True authority rest in Jesus alone as he is revealed in the scriptures and as he reveals himself, personally to every individual through the power of the Holy Spirit!  This has a profound impact on the way we interpret scripture.  In John, Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." Truth is not a proposition.  Truth is a person!  So the label "Evangelical", while being descriptive of our church, is not a comprehensive description.

Some people would call our church a "Pentecostal" or "Charismatic" church.  Pentecostals and Charismatics believe that the Holy Spirit is an essential part of the life (and conversion) of every believer.  Furthermore, they embrace all the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit as being for today’s church!  I wholeheartedly agree with this position and so does our church.  However, some Pentecostal churches treat the gifts of the Spirit as a spiritual "litmus" test for every person that comes to their church.  For example, if you don’t speak in tongues (a gift for which I am very thankful), your entire salvation could be in question.  Or at the very least your status as a "spirit-filled" believer would be highly in doubt.  At DiscoverChurch, we do not use the Holy Spirit as stamp of approval either way!  The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians to "earnestly seek spiritual gifts".  To anti-charismatics we say, "What part of ‘earnestly seek’ don’t you understand?" However, Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 12:11, "It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts.  He alone decides which gift each person should have." So the label "Charismatic", while being descriptive of our church, is not a comprehensive description.

Some people would call our church a "Conservative" church.  Conservative churches are noted for their conservative approach to theology (as opposed to liberal theology).  I wholeheartedly agree with this understanding and so does our church.  We believe in the Bible as the Word of God.  We believe that there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ.  We believe all human life is sacred and should be protected.  We believe that homosexual behavior is sinful and that all sinful behavior separates us from God.  However, we also believe that posting these beliefs on a wall or in your church’s mission statement means nothing !  The real test of a church’s character is not in what it believes but in what it does with what it believes.  Many churches use their beliefs as a way of brow-beating the very people who they are called to serve.  For example, to say that homosexual behavior is sinful is easy.  But how you love and serve the gospel to the homosexual person who comes into your church is the real test of Kingdom work.

On another note, conservative churches often combine conservative theology with conservative methodology.  This concept plays itself out in the age-old "traditional service" versus "contemporary service" argument.  The problem with this argument is that it inevitably excludes one group or the other based solely on a style preference.  We reject this argument as specious and unnecessary.  It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people so we embrace the best of traditional and contemporary styles.  So the label "Conservative", while being descriptive of our church, is not a comprehensive description.

So, this really leaves us with only one more definition to tackle:  Lutheran.  This label is perhaps the most difficult to nail down.  Denominational Lutheranism is rapidly declining throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In many circles, particularly those that have spiritual life in them, the term "Lutheran" and "Lame" are synonymous with some justification. We are institutionally affiliated with the ELCA (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). However, you could easily visit five different ELCA congregations here in the Twin Cities and find five completely different (or even contradictory) understandings of church life. This is further evidence of the rapid decline of mainline denominationalism. So why do we stay affiliated with it?

Respect and appreciation are part of the answer. Over forty years ago dedicated Lutheran people backed by their denomination launched this congregation. Their faith and commitment should not be quickly dismissed or soon forgotten. A sense of calling and destiny is another part of the answer. We are not the kind of church we are today by accident. The Lord designated this congregation to be a unique and prophetic Lutheran church for his own reasons. We do not sense that we are being released from the destiny. Of course, we are also captured by hope based on the love that Jesus has for his Church. While there is no promise that a Lutheran denomination of any kind will even exist one hundred years from now, we do hope that some of the theological gifts of the Lutheran movement will continue to strengthen the Body of Christ.

Finally, there is a strategic component in being Lutheran. Even today a large number of people in this area will not start their journey back to the church by going to a Baptist Church or a non-denominational Church because they have some Lutheran memory. If they ever return to the Church, it will be a Lutheran Church. When and if they do step through the doors of a Lutheran Church, we want them to be greeted by the pure and life-transforming Gospel of Jesus embodied here at DiscoverChurch, instead of the diluted teaching of liberal Protestantism so often found in other Lutheran congregations.

This still leaves the label "Lutheran" as undefined.  Here is my suggestion for gaining some understanding as to why we still consider ourselves a church in the Lutheran tradition.  Some time soon, stop by your local video store and rent the movie "Luther" that was produced in 2003. This movie gives an excellent insight into the kind of reformation spirit that we embrace at DiscoverChurch. As a Lutheran congregation, we embrace the beauty and spiritual heritage of the Lutheran sacraments (baptism and communion). We uphold the Lutheran confessions of grace alone, faith alone, and word alone. And we boldly proclaim that God is always actively seeking radical disciples to answer His call and bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost, hurting, and broken people!

I hope this dialouge has been helpful to you Amy!  I want you to know that I would be happy to meet with you and your friend (or anyone else, for that matter) and discuss these issues further.  We could grab lunch somewhere over by you if you’d like.

God Bless you, Amy and we’ll talk again soon!

In Christ,

Pastor Darrin