A prominent Baptist theologian has warned that congregations that do not have a physical pastor present during worship services and only watch video streams of pastors preaching, could be a sign of Gnosticism.
Roger E. Olson, professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University, wrote in a blog post Thursday that a coordinator of a large group of churches, who he didn’t name, recently told him about a growing trend in American church life.
“Many churches now have no pastor and feel no need to have a pastor — other than one they watch and listen to on a screen in a ‘worship space’ they either own or rent. This ‘pastor’ may or may not ever visit this congregation,” Olson explained.
“This congregation may or may not feel any real connection to this far-away ‘pastor.’ This ‘pastor’ may or may not pastor a real congregation. (He or she may be an evangelist or author-speaker of renown within the congregation’s wider tradition.)”
While such congregations do have a local leader of some sort, that person’s only real function is to facilitate the Sunday morning worship experience, which leads up to the “main event” of watching a video of a given pastor’s sermon, Olson explained.
He lamented that the pastor, whom…
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