Gospel-Centered Monster Making

Some people wonder (others fuss about) why we at Mortification of Spin seem to devote so much energy to objecting to the celebrity culture and methods of Big Reformed(ish) Evangelicalism. That's an easy question to answer. It's bad for the church. Period.

The Reformed community has created their own version of the monster made by broader evangelicalism; a monster they continue to suffer from. Just becasue our theology is better does not mean that we will avoid the dangers inherent in entrusting certain para-church ministries with the duties of the church. Just because we are Calvinists doesn't mean that our celebrities are any more immune from the temptations of fame and wealth as the heretics of the Word/Faith movement. 

And more and more folks are noticing...

This monster–these councils, coalitions, and networks–flourishes in an environment that exists independently of the spiritual authority and accountability structures intended by Jesus. That wouldn’t be a problem except that many of these organizations seem to have assumed to themselves the work of the church–e.g. connecting the grace of God to the world, or calling to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness, or renewing faith in the gospel, or standing together for the gospel, etc. Jesus intended the church to be entrusted with the ministry of gathering and perfecting the saints, and he intended that to be accomplished under the authority and accountability that he also established. When you extract the work of the church from the structure of the church you begin to create an environment ripe for dangerous problems. Problems like false teachers, public scandal, doctrinal imprecision and error, abuse of influence, and the promotion of them all, answerable and held in check by the will and whim of a board of directors devoid of biblical spiritual oversight. That’s the monster we’ve created.

From Kyle Borg's post The Monster We Created: Councils, Brand Names, and Celebrities