Promise Keepers Goes Bust

We have tracked the Promise Keepers movement with some mixed emotions through these pages. While appreciating the teaching they do about spiritual leadership in a family there is so much wrong with their methodology, organization, and teaching that one cannot possibly commend PK to Christians. Now word comes that PK has hit on hard times and the evil at the heart of PK comes to the fore. Read carefully this story from the news wire that ran in February 19, 1998's Dallas Morning News:

"The Promise Keepers, an evangelical Christian men's movement, is nearly broke and will lay off its workforce March 31, officials said Wednesday. Mr. McCartney, PK's founder, announced the layoffs at a staff meeting Wednesday in Denver and said he would ask churches nationwide to donate $1,000 each to his ministry because "it's the will of God for churches to give this money." "If the church fails to do this, they will have missed the heart of God," Mr. McCartney said. "If they're a small church, that doesn't let them off the hook. They need to ask a large church for the money." [emphasis MDR]

Several questions are in order. First, how does McCartney know that this is God's will? What book, chapter and verse could he point to that would possibly describe churches giving from their treasury to support a purely human organization? PK calls itself a para-church organization. It is not a church, and does not purport or intend to be one. Yet there is no record of New Testament churches ever supporting anything like PK. I can read of churches sending financial aid to churches in benevolent need (see 2 Corinthians 8; Acts 11:27ff). I can read of churches sending financial aid directly to a gospel preacher (see Philippians 4:14ff). But McCartney's organization and idea for financial assistance simply can't be found in the scriptures. How then can it possibly be God's will for the church? If it was God's will wouldn't we read about it in our Bibles?

McCartney will appeal to some personal revelation from God for his authority to demand churches send him money. In so doing, he joins the ranks of such charlatans as Oral Roberts who have made similar "you'd better send the money or else" threats. Oral claimed he would die if we all didn't send him money, and McCartney similarly warns that we would "miss the heart of God." All of this just shows how PK has moved further and further away from any ties to scripture and is drawing closer and closer to subjective, touchy-feely, charismatic beliefs. Their rallies have long been criticized as very charismatic in nature, and PK literature is full of references to "the Spirit's movement" and such talk that shows they clearly believe the Holy Spirit works outside of and in addition to the written Word. Now their head claims some special knowledge of God's will that the rest of us don't have, apparently by some direct revelation. PK's continued turn toward charismatic ideas and thoughts raises questions about them ultimately becoming a cult, but even now are more than enough to keep any Bible-believer from affiliating with them.

Perhaps the most important question that ought to be asked of PK is "Where do you get off shaking churches down for money?" PK claims in all of its literature to be dedicated to serving local churches by helping their men understand biblical manhood (isn't it a shame that God's plan for the church is insufficient and needs help?). Isn't it time to ask if PK is really serving local churches when they demand they send PK a thousand dollars? What of big churches, that are apparently expected to pay their own thousand dollars, and then brace themselves for smaller churches to also come begging for more! In some ways, PK's saying they serve churches while at the same time sticking their hands in these churches' pockets reminds one of the Mafia bosses who provide "protection" to businesses for a fee. Those businesses don't feel very well served, do they? Likewise, many churches may resent be threatened with "missing God's heart" when ordered to turn over a thousand dollars.

This just shows exactly what happens when men supplant God's plan with their own schemes. The New Testament knows nothing of these para-church organizations that exist to "help the church." Churches don't need their help, lest God would have provided for such in His Word! In the New Testament local congregations functioned autonomously and did just fine. Why can't we have the same today? But here comes someone with their own "good idea" that "will help so much." Ultimately, what was supposed to be a servant becomes a rather harsh taskmaster, as McCartney's "good idea" seems much more important to him than the financial health of any church. The church is ultimately made to bow down to the human organization. Some who read this will be reminded of the sponsoring church concept that made its way through churches of Christ in the 1960's. In many ways the very same kind of things have happened. What was supposed to be a help became a man-imposed burden. So it always is when we leave a "thus saith the Lord"" to do as we please and build our organizations to do what we want.

McCartney may get his money (Oral did) and so PK may go merrily along. But every day we learn more and more that shows us how unscriptural and far from God Promise Keepers really is.