Stonecroft Going Emergent?

The word is that Stonecroft is going Emergent.  Below is information for your own research.

http://www.earnestlycontend.com/1.html

In Christ, Christine

Thank you for helping to get the truth out.

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Date:    Mon, June 23, 2008 4:19 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
———————————————————————-

Dear Christine,

Thank you for your very detailed and accurate website on the errors that are mushrooming since the founders of Stonecroft have passed on.  I have a blog about my experience recently in attempting to become a guide and coordinator after a 20 year break.

http://www.mfairladyblogspot.com/2008/06/stonecroft-ministries-expose-by.html

Twenty years ago, I just did not know enough about the corrupt Bible versions nor the psychology (worldly) connection verses walking in the Spirit when it comes to controlling behavior and impulses.

Many appear to be offended when I attempt to share the facts.  I know its only human nature and is to be expected.  Thank you for helping to get the truth out.

In His Name,
Mary Fairchild

Are you reading the information?

Once in a while I receive e-mails disagreeing with my website (www.earnestlycontend.com).  The website provides discernment information on Stonecroft Ministries.  Below is an example of a disagreeing e-mail.  Often these e-mails lack proper biblical judgment, assumptions and false accusations.   I respond by asking how much time they spent actually reading and studying the information.   Most do not respond.

Is the lack of response admitting they have not read the information?  Only one readily admitted not reading the information, apologized and promised to read it.  This is an honest and humble woman!

If the others did not read the information, they missed the opportunity to judge accurately and clear up any assumptions or accusations they have. 

One day, believers will give an account to Almighty God on how they served according to God’s precious word.  Do you desire to know God’s word thoroughly and examine teachings in order to know and do His will… and not your own? 

In Christ, Christine

p.s.  It’s apparent the below writer did not read the information as she opened with “I am not sure what caused your particular problem with Stonecroft”. 

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: You Are Seriously Mistaken
From:    “  “
Date:    Tue, June 10, 2008 9:40 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–

Christine,

I am not sure what caused your particular problem with Stonecroft
Ministries, but I am deeply disturbed that you are spreading
seriously erroneous information about them on your website.  I have been a
Christian since I was 10 years old and I have been attending Stonecroft
bible studies for the past 2 years.  My mother and sister-in-law have also
been involved with them for many years.  I have experienced nothing but love
and acceptance and a group of women who’s hearts are truly open to serving
the Lord through outreach and study of His word.  I have found them to be
some of the best bible studies I have ever had the pleasure to participate
in due to the fact that they follow the Bible explicitly, without all the
“psychology” or false teachings found in so many others I have seen.

That you have devoted such an extreme amount of  time and effort into
focusing directly on Stonecroft leads me to believe that somewhere, someone
did something that left you feeling bitter and vengeful.  Be careful not to
allow the Enemy to use you to spread dissention and confusion.  I am deeply
saddened and offended by your attack on this organization and me as well,
since I am a part of them, and hope that you will put as much effort into
spreading the message of Christ’s love and forgiveness rather than trying to
create ill-will against a group doing their best to share the love of Christ
with women who do not know him and guide them to further their knowledge of
Him through study of the Bible.  I do not begin to say that they are perfect
in every way, but what organization made up of people is? I will be in
prayer for you and hope that you will find the real “truth”, peace and
forgiveness to whomever you are so angry with at Stonecroft.

With Christ’s Love,
—

Psychology will not deliver a person from sin.

—————————Original Message ————————
Subject: Re: Your website about Stonecroft
From:    “——”
Date:    Thu, October 18, 2007 1:44 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–

Christine,

I just happen to locate your website when I was doing personal research on Rachael Crabb. I am quite bothered by what you have disclosed and I am indeed in prayer about this.

I just recently got involved in Stonecroft as a volunteer and had no idea that it was so controversial. I am on the planning team and in fact have been recruited to handle the —————–.

I agree and believe that the problem with mankind is indeed SIN.  It is all about our sinful nature not just a messed up mind, however, sin does mess up our thinking. But I agree, sin has separated us from God.  We must be born again, confess our sins, turn from them.

Amen to all those things listed on your website.  Socialized gospel does not cut it.  After all, Jesus himself in the letters to the church’s in Rev. continually states, Repent!

Your website has a lot of information that will take time for me to consider.  I truly believe that the woman who Chairs our group, ——– ——- is truly a Godly women.  From what I have seen, and heard from her is a desire and heart that wants to reach out to the lost.  It is true that I have noticed that when it comes down to controversial issues, they lack conviction.  Sin is sin, and there are a few women on the planning team that I have noticed who get upset when negative remarks about certain lifestyles are frowned on. , i.e.  Homosexuality.  The scriptures are clear, yet for the sake of “getting along”, they are ignored.  I agree with you on this matter. 

Please keep me in your prayers as I seek the Lord as to what he would have me do.

I am firm on my beliefs of the word and Psychology will not deliver a person from sin. Only the blood of Jesus and his sacrifice for us can reconcile us to God. 

My question locally is, do you throw out the baby with the bath water, or do you reach who you can with the gospel and hopefully direct them to a bible based church?

Another thing that bothers me is the “cover up” of what the Women’s connection is.  They want to down play “Christianity” to get people to come to the meetings.  I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

Why would I want to trick people into hearing the “Good News”?  

She disagrees… based on?

————————— Original Message ————————

Subject: Stonecroft Ministries

From:    ————————————

Date:    Mon, November 19, 2007 11:30 am

To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com

————————————————————————–

Christine,

 Shame on you for wanting to receive glory.  What a critical spirit

 dwells within you?  Where is your relationship with Christ to want such a

 “holy huddle” of believers to condemn those who are seeking a real Savior.

 He did not come to condemn–do I “need” to quote you the verse to

 believe? Wake up and see the truth of Scripture.  God as my witness…sinners

 “need” Jesus and you aren’t any better than they are in “needing” to

 reach the “needy”.  For heaven’s sake what are you doing with all your

 “churchy” talk of the “church” world to reach others?  Can you forgive as

 Christ has forgiven you?  Do you “need” a quote to believe you do?  This is a

 real world we are dealing with here, so let me suggest you return to your

 secure “holy huddle” for strength instead of Christ Himself.

 I am a believer in what Stonecroft is doing to promote the growth of

 authentic relationships….those leaders who don’t go along with the

 guidelines are just members of “holy huddles” who are seeking their

 own comfort zones.  Jesus went out….

 

—– Original Message —–

 From: <christine@earnestlycontend.com

 To: “—————————“

 Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 12:41 PM

 Subject: Re: Stonecroft Ministries

 Dear ————-,

Glad you are taking the time to read the website and consider the information.  I understand it’s difficult as I know what it is like to love a ministry.  Hopefully the site challenges you to thoroughly study God’s precious scriptures.

I’m not sure what a holy huddle is? or authentic relationships?  Keep in mind that man shall not live by bread alone but by EVERY word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4  If the holy huddle or authentic relationships is not in scripture, it’s man made and not of God.

You are correct.  Jesus didn’t COME to condemn.  He came to die on the cross to save people.  Why? Because people where condemned ALREADY with the wrath of God abiding on them.  Be careful to read the entire context of the scriptures…

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not  is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  John 3:18  “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36 KJV

Also, make sure you judge according to the scriptures and not your own opinion.  You certainly don’t want to be in the position of judging against God’s law and those share it with others.

…we were considered trouble makers!

 —————————- Original Message ————————–
Subject: Stonecroft Ministries
From:   
Date:    Thu, September 6, 2007 8:20 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–
Dear Christine,

Oh my goodness.  I went on the internet to look up Stonecroft’s
telephone number (to ask once again to be taken off their mailing list),
but while perusing the different sights regarding Stonecroft, I came
across your article.  I was stunned to read the words that directly
reveal my own thoughts regarding this “ministry.”

Christine, I was on the board of the — —-, ————– Christian
Women’s Club for several years.  Approximately three years ago
several of us saw some big changes taking place within Stonecroft.
These changes made us feel uneasy, but we really couldn’t put our
fingers on what they were specifically.  The more we delved into
learning about the changes, the more uneasy we felt.

For example, one woman on the board of our club suggested that before
our monthly outreach luncheon we put favors at each place setting that
included a Bible verse.  We thought it was a nice idea for the guests to
take home a memento of their day of learning about Christ.

Our Chair at the time absolutely forbade us from doing so.  She didn’t
think it was “seeker friendly” enough and believed it would “turn off” a
lot of women.  Those of us who eventually dropped out of the club just
looked at each other in disbelief… and then a very heated discussion
ensued afterward.  That is just one example of the way our club was
trying to water down their approach to evangelizing.  Our resignations,
by the way, were well received by the Regional Rep, the Area Rep and the
Chair.  I guess we were considered the trouble-makers!

My heart is broken to see how Stonecroft has acquired the typical
seeker-friendly mindset…water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ; do not
offend any guest by using the name of Jesus Christ too often; don’t say
the word “sin” very often; etc. etc.  Someday these women will have to
account for their actions at the judgment throne of Christ.

Thank you, Christine, for putting down in words exactly the thoughts and
concerns I have for Stonecroft.  It took guts for you to write them and
loving point out their errors.  The Lord bless you for that.

Sincerely in Christ,
——— —-

Repeat decisions… not allowed to speak on such a controversial subject.

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Article was amazing and eye opening!
From:    “——– ————–” >
Date:    Thu, August 9, 2007 3:16 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–

Christine,

WOW! I was very intrigued by your article.  I have been a member of Stonecroft for only a couple years now.  I have had a very vague feeling of uncertainity and was not for sure why.

I love Christ and I want to shout his love and promises from the roof top, but I just couldn’t get myself excited for our Christan Women’s Club that was sponsored by Stonecroft.  They even nominated me as the Chair position and I have been avoiding making a definite decision for some time now.  I just knew something was making me uncomfortable.  I knew that I was uncomfortable with some of the beliefs of the club and… had brought that up to various members of our counsel but got no positive response or assurance.  I mainly would hit brick walls and never walked away feeling assured.  I know why now.   You have shown me that God was working within my heart and that is why I haven’t felt that this group was for me.

I had questioned our other leaders when they reported that a certain lady had made a decision that had also made a decision the month before.  They informed me that she made a decision every time.  That didn’t seem right to me.  I felt that if that is what she was doing that someone needed to speak with her about finding TRUE salvation.  I was informed that we aren’t aloud to speak on such a controversial subject. We, as Stonecroft representatives, weren’t aloud to go there basically.

This bugged me because I take the acceptance of Christ and his salvation VERY seriously and I feel that it takes some thought process and confirmation of understanding before one can make such a decision.

I am feeling so much better just know that I am not alone or just being over zealous of where I let my beliefs stand.  Thank you so much for your article.

Thank you,
——– ———–

“False professions of faith?”

*Emphasis added in bold by Christine

Subject: Stonecroft Ministries
From:    “———————”
Date:     Tue, July 17, 2007 5:13 am
To:         christine@earnestlycontend.com

Hi Christine,
My name is ———– ———— and I have been involved as a leader in various roles in ———– with Friendship Bible Studies (now Stonecroft Studies) since 1985, and was also part of the leadership of a CWC, a number of years ago when one began in my previous home town of ————, ————-.  I now live on the ——– ———.  I have been earnestly seeking the Lord’s leading to come out of the ministry completely, for months now, but have had no specific answer.

I have been on the internet this morning trying to find information which either confirms, or expels, the great awareness of things not being at all right with Stonecroft as I have not able to put my finger completely on the exact reason/reasons.  When Stonecroft literature arrives periodically all I want to do is glance at it and then throw it in the garbage as something seems very wrong about it.  I have, for quite a long while (years in fact), been very uneasy with the study materials and struggled with the content on various occasions.  When I have written my concerns to headquarters (over the years and specifically 2 years ago) they seemed to deflect my concerns saying the Holy Spirit will work it out and who are we to say whether a person has been truly saved or not, as long as they have accepted Christ.

Things really came to a head when I was taking a friend through the Mark study about 2 years ago, which is when I wrote to headquarters in earnest.  —– comes from a catholic background, she has also been very involved with eastern religions and the New Age – an esoteric type of religion captures her imagination.  It was an incredibly difficult study for which I continually needed the Lord’s wisdom and strength.  I was assailed with headaches just before and during the time we spent together, and when we began to get into the scriptures —- was very confrontational with many philosophies which were totally against christianity, by the end of the hour and a half I was drained as though I had been fighting in a huge battle. 

Eventually we came to the week of receiving Christ – which she did not do there, but when on a catholic retreat a couple of weeks later, decided to accept Christ in response to the contemplative leaders’ suggestion she open up to God and receive Jesus.  I was at the time totally confused and had to give her the benefit of the doubt about the event.

However after another year (during which time —– left to work in ——-, just after we finished Mark, and then go back to ———– for a few months to be with her parents), she came back into my life and wanted to study again.  I became very aware her salvation experience was not real due to so many things she would say.  The crux came after I had asked the Lord to reveal the truth of the situation – the next time I saw her, —– very calmly and full of conviction said, ‘I’m not a sinner, I don’t sin’.  The scripture sprang to mind, ‘If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’.  I knew then and there if ——- had truly repented and received the gift of salvation, then the Holy Spirit would bring that conviction of her sinfulness before our Holy God.

Graciously the Lord impressed upon her to join me at my church where over a number of weeks the Pastor (who is open to God’s moving – during that time He on occasions changed from His original messages, although he didn’t know why the Lord was leading him to do this – I’ve shared with him since!), preached and one by one each wrong understanding that —- had, was addressed by the scriptures and the Holy Spirit began an incredibly work in —- which, Praise God, resulted in her proper conversion last December when she finally fell to her knees, after much holding back, repenting of her rebellion against God and was thoroughly Born Again.  She is a delight to behold now and has such a peace when we look at the scriptures together.  She still needs prayer though for there is so much which still entices her mind towards the mystical writers within catholicism, she is very drawn to contemplative spirituality.  She has just moved on again and I pray and trust the Lord to lead her His way, bring into her life another who may come alongside as the He so desires.

What had happened to —- and my concerns about the materials were sent to Stonecroft of course, and the replies I received gave no peace of mind at all.  It seemed as though the ladies there didn’t understand where I was coming from and what the problem was – in fact if there was even a problem at all, after all who was I to presume I knew anything?  This sent me into a time of much heart searching, anguish of spirit and seeking God for forgiveness and understanding.  How many women had I guided through the studies who had wrongly accepted Christ without that true reforming work of the Holy Spirit, bringing regeneration?  I tried to get some information from a close friend, who is a Stonecroft DCC in —————, I shared my deep concerns with her and she initially gave me ‘What a wonderful ministry Stonecroft is’.  This of course did not satisfy and eventually after further writing I was told confidentially that she, too, had voiced the same concerns and had chosen to go with what was good about the ministry which she loved.  BUT to what end?  False professions of faith?  It scares me as one day we have to give an account to Almighty God.

“Many… denominations… little interest in individual salvation.”

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: CWC, etc.
From:   
Date:    Fri, July 6, 2007 9:08 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–

I thank you for your website; I thought I was the only one who thought
there was something wrong with the presentation of the Gospel and
methodology of Stonecroft Ministries.

I was Prayer Advisor, Chairman, Area Rep, FBC leader, and FBC coordinator
for a new club in ————.  Toward the end of my time with this club,
I began to feel very uncomfortable with the presentation of the Gospel and
the methodology of follow-up.

Like you, I didn’t see much commitment on the part of those who made
decisions.  I was glad when we left the area because it gave me a graceful
way out, and there are no clubs near where I am now living.  These
misgivings began about 1995.

There was also a problem with getting new people involved with positions
on the executive committee; it began to seem that we just passed the jobs
around with no newcomers taking positions.  One of the things that made it
hard to get new people was the unwritten law that we had to have a lot of
different denominations on the committee.  Many of these denominations
were not evangelistic and had little interest in individual salvation.

I went to the Speakers’ Training and was appalled with the canned approach
that the speakers had to use.  I never could have been a speaker because I
have never had to memorize a speech in all my years of public speaking.  I
guess the thing that really began to get to me was the control that
Stonecroft exercised over all aspects of the program and the choice of
committee members.

Thank you for your website.  I will visit it often to see any new additions.

——– ————–

“Never doubt in the darkness what God told you in the light.”

____________________________________________________________

Note:  I asked this gal for permission to post her e-mail.  Here was her response.  Christine

____________________________________________________________ 

You certainly have my permission to print my email with the deletions (of name and location).  I have bookmarked your site and will check back frequently.  After I emailed you yesterday, it was as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Thank you again for your website and your insight.

In Him,

————-
Never doubt in the darkness what God told you in the light.

“You have expressed well the problem.”

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Stonecroft Ministries
From:    “————————”
Date:    Fri, December 29, 2006 8:32 pm
To:      christine@earnestlycontend.com
————————————————————————–

Christine,
  
  I just happened to come across your website. Praise the Lord!
  
  I served 15 years with Stonecroft Ministries (Friendship Bible Studies & Christian Woman’s Club). Within those years I resigned twice because of conflict with my convictions and the Leadership of the organization.
  
  You have expressed well the problem. I dearly loved the Bible Studies with new Christians and training leaders to guide studies. Due to my husbands job we have moved many times across America and back. This ministry always helped to give me good friends as well as find new churches.
  
  I thank God for your boldness to write your letter to Stonecroft. I, too wrote letters (before Joyce Courtney) and received much the same response or none. I do not feel it is the same organization I was introduced to, 25 years ago.
  
  I too, pray for all those involved, in leadership, Headquarters and around the world to come to a full knowledge of the counsel of God’s Word that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
  
  We perceive a cultural counterfeit, a “designer” deity instead of the true Holy God who made us in His image and so we miss God altogether. It is a “distorted view of a god made in our image” (Steve Lawson).
  
  God is holy, awesome, sovereign and righteous. I am humbled and in worshipful submission to His majesty and glory.
  
  Shalom,
   
  _______________