Great Commission and further subsidiaries

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

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[pvitartas]

I think this is related to the discussion, and trying to pin down who the GCM Church's are by name.

In my Solid Rock Days at Ohio State, we were purportedly a student organization.  The truth was, we had a few token long term students or two, these were the brave souls who could adapt to the pressure to drop out of school - they were strong individuals who could play the game to a degree.  The rest were tacitly encouraged to drop out - I was one who did so.

The bulk of the students in Solid Rock, were new converts or members - who were later pressured to drop out as they "knit in."  "Knit in" has a family feel to the phrase doesn't it?

It bothered me that we claimed to be a student organization.  I think we were more or less "sheep steelers" from the university. 

Regardless, the habit of telling near truths of who we were likely continues, regardless of the label.

[EverAStudent]

Yes, the deceptive practice GC had (has?) of meeting as a church while claiming to be a student organization is well documented here
http://forum.gcmwarning.com/general-discussion/pretense-the-church-as-student-organization

In fact, in the above referenced thread some GC national leaders actually viciously defend the deception as necessary so as to distract the heathen administrators of the colleges from the mission of the church.  I am still trying to find in Ephesians 4:20-32 where lies, misleading, and deceptions are valuable tactics useful to the practicing Christian.  I'll keep looking...

[BTDT]

My own 2cents is that I would give Tom the benefit of the doubt. GCM began distancing their theology (not necessarily their practice) from GCC under Jeff Kern. GCC and GCM have a "relationship", but my understanding is that they really don't care for one another. There will be the token GCM person who speaks at a GCC conference and vice versa, but they are moving in two separate ways. GCC keeps the relationship with GCM so that they have a vehicle to raise up local missionaries. Other than that, they aren't really on mission with each other. They are kind of like distant cousins who show up on occasion to the same wedding, but really don't care for each other or interact and try to stay as civil as possible.

That being said, I think that the same problems which plague GCC can occur in GCM, but my own experience would be that it is not to the same degree as it is in GCC. I could point out what I believe are flaws in GCM "churches", but it would be more of doctrinal flaws than abusive practices, like I have witnessed in GCC.

My experience and observations agree with MarthaH's, and it's really refreshing to see such a viewpoint here these days.  Thank you, MarthaH.