Chris Elrod, pastor of Compass Point Church in Lakeland, Florida is no longer a friend of the Emergent movement. In a powerful and bold post on his blog he publicaly denounced the Emergent movement and its heresies. He also outlined the COMPREHENSIVE steps that he and the leadership of Compass Point have put in place to protect the sheep in his care against heresies and doctrinal errors. Said Pastor Elrod:
• Silence is support.
• If you don’t stand for something…you’ll fall for anything.
• There are hills in which to die on
The specific Emergent heresy that Elrod named is the heresy of Universalism. Said Eldrod:
"They would be very subtle in the way they would drop it in…while talking about social justice, inequality and missional outreach. It was almost “smoke and mirror”-like…an old magician’s trick to divert your attention away from what was really happening. It would be something as simple and unassuming as, “God isn’t mad…God is love…He doesn’t want you to feel guilty about the sin in your life…and oh, by the way…everyone is saved no matter what they believe…they just don’t know it”. Universalism. Heresy.
The list of steps taken by Pastor Elrod to combat this heresy include:
1. or the first time in our history we now have a Constitution & Bylaws with a comprehensive Statement Of Faith.
2. Our small groups are being revamped in order to protect the doctrinally integrity of God’s Word. Resources by authors, pastors or speakers aligning with Emergent will no longer be used.
3. We have a much better mentoring strategy and program in place for our up-and-coming leaders.
4. There is greater accountability and training in place for those that preach or teach the Word of God at Compass Point.
5. Only literal translations of the Bible will be used in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word at Compass Point. Our sword of choice…English Standard Version (ESV).
6. Our Sunday messages will occasionally be topical-based series…but will mainly be expository in nature. We have already been doing this for some time…but we have now made a more “official” stance of it.
7. We are in the process of having our church listing removed from websites or publications that have ties to Emergent. We are also in the process of disassociating ourselves from networks or alliances that are affiliated with Emergent
8. This post was added to my blog to be a public statement that Compass Point Church and Chris Elrod is not affiliated in any way, shape or form with Emergent.
We rejoice in Pastor Elrod’s bravery, boldness and public stand against the Emergent Heresy. We pray that his example will be followed by other pastors. Pastor Elrod and Compass Point are in our prayers. Click Here to Read the Rest of Pastor Elrod’s Statement
