Wendell’s Email

Pastor Wendell Smith’s Email about Doctrine (The City Church In Kirkland)

In the fall of 2006 I made the decision to leave the City Church in Kirkland because of doctrinal issues I saw in the chruch. We found a small church in Bellevue, WA and began attending it in October of 2006. After about a month of attending the new church I decided to email Pastor Judah the doctrinal reasons for leaving, not intending my reasons to be taken as full arguments of why I believe those doctrines.

I responded to Pastor Wendell and Pastor Judah a few weeks later, I have posted the full response here.

Below is the email I received as a response:

********************

Judah recently shared with me your email concerns about our Church and that you were leaving.
I am saddened by your decision to leave the Church. We do love you and certainly consider Heidi as one of our spiritual daughters. But I am especially saddened by your misunderstanding of the Word of the Lord that is being preached here.

But nevertheless I appeciate this opportunity to articuate what we truly believe about so many important doctrines. I hope that my responses will help you understand our biblical positions better.

[My original]
1. Divorce/Remarriage – the City Church allows remarriage after divorce in most circumstances. We strongly disagree with this stance.

[Pastor Wendell's Response]

There are many debatable issues that the local church has to deal with. We certainly could draw a hard line on remarriage as some have done. Or we could conscientiously appeal to the mercy and forgiveness of God for new beginnings for people who have suffered through divorce. And what you would not know would be the confrontations we have made with most in regard to reconciling with their former mate, or the hard hearted men or women we have confronted who refused to consider reconciliation and left our church because they felt we were actually too harsh or hard line about remarriage.
Be careful in your blanket judgments not to assume you know what has happened in the hearts and lives of couples who have experienced the pain of these things.
Do you feel there is no case of divorce where a person could be re-married? Even God “remarried” Israel in the Old Testament after having divorced her!

[My original]
2. Prosperity Gospel – the City Church preaches the Prosperity Gospel and bring in many speakers to support their view. In our estimation, this doctrine teaches us to focus on the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. Preaching on self-denial and picking up your cross are neglected, while we are taught to seek the material blessings of God.

[Pastor Wendell's Response]

You are in error if you think we “focus on the opposite of what Jesus taught” or that we are teaching people to “seek the material blessings of God”.
When have we ever done that? We reject that covetous approach to life or money and have said so from the pulpit-repeatedly. Have you been faithful in your attendance to Church or to hearing what we have taught?�
Have you read our book on the purpose of prosperity or are you making judgments ignorantly without really knowing what we teach?
Have you attended the conferences we have held with an open mind and heart? Have you searched the scriptures to see if these things are so? (Acts 17) Our people have been so blessed because they have given away millions of dollars for the Gospel- to nations, missionaries, churches, orphans and the poor. Which of these things should we stop?

In regard to neglecting teacjing on the Cross, you apparently are also unaware that the foundation of The City Church was based on a seminar I did across America preaching on the cross and denying ourselves. I don’t know how long you have been a part of our Church but for over fourteen years, we have taught this principle of self denial and embracing the Cross of Christ many times.

[My original]�
3. Word of Faith – We believe at least some of the pastors of the City Church subscribe to the “Word of Faith” doctrine, and have taught it from the pulpit. This doctrine is unscriptural, and I believe attacks the sovereignty of God and exalts the will of man. I have seen too many people hurt by this doctrine at the City Church. I also studied the roots of the doctrine (Hagen/Copeland) and found them to express unscriptural beliefs about the nature of Christians and the nature of God.

[Pastor Wendell's Response]

Exactly what do you believe is unscriptural? Although my background is not from the faith movement, I do believe Romans 10 says we have a “word of faith” in our mouths to preach the Gospel. And that we are to speak faith to cirsumstances and situations in our life. Do you not believe that? Our Lord Jesus Himself said we are to speak to mountains with faith.
When you say “too many people have been hurt” by our teaching, can you give me one name or two? And because some people miscontrue the teaching of any preacher, and reap bad fruit in their lives, does that determine that the preacher is wrong? Is every mistake of an individual Christian to be blamed on a pastor, a preacher or a certain church?�
You believe we “attack” the sovereignty of God? Have you worshipped with us? Have you heard us pray or prophesy?
If your perspective were accurate, you would know what a balanced view of both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility we preach.

[My original]
4. I never heard a sermon on hell – I don’t think we as Christians need to be “fire and brimstone” preachers, but Jesus talked quite a bit on the subject, so I believe we should be educated on the subject.

[Pastor Wendell's Response]

I have preached on hell. But if you are so concerned about emphasizing what Jesus emphasized then these are the facts; There are only 15 passages on hell addressed by Jesus in all four Gospels combined.
However, there are over 600 passages where Jesus speaks of Money!

[My original]
5. Tithing – I find no support in scripture for new testament believers to be held to the law of tithing. It seems to me that the disciples (even the Holy Spirit) gave us instruction on how to operate as Gentile believers in Acts 15:28-29. The only time tithing is mentioned in the New Testament is when Jesus was scolding the leaders who were under the old covenant. We are taught to be generous givers, but we are not under the law any more.

Have you not read all the Scriptures? Do you believe NT believers should not read or obey OT scripture as well as the New?
Was not Abraham the first to tithe 430 years before the law? He is the father of all who believe even in the NT era (Rom 4; Gal 3) The prophets prophesied about the tithe. And Jesus did mention it and endorsed it (Matt 23:23). It is also taught in the NT book of Hebrews (Heb 7).
Is tithing the issue in your heart or is it a control issue? Do you have a problem with New Testament authority in the local church or someone telling you what to do? Who has been hurt by tithing? Have you surveyed those who tithe and asked them if they are blessed or hurt? Do you truly believe our people feel forced to give?

[My original]
6. Latter Rain Doctrine – Although I do not know the official position of the City Church, I found that Kevin Connor is a teacher who came out of the “later rain” movement. From what I can glean in the few messages I heard on the “end times” I understand the Church’s position leans toward “latter rain”.

And exactly what is the latter rain position and what do you have a problem with? This is unclear in your comment. The “Latter Rain” outpouring and revival was in the late fourties. What part of a spiritual renewal are you criticizing? Although there are extremes in every revival we do not discount them all. Is it not possible to glean the best from a move of God and reject the excesses?

[My original]�
7. Women as Elders and Pastors – Paul laid out the qualifications of elders and pastors (husband of one wife). We believe that the Bible is clear on this teaching.

Do you have a problem with women leading in the church? Although the issue of women serving as Elders may be debatable by some, each local church must determine what they believe.
What specifically do you disagree with? That women are not capable of leadership? That women should be silent in the church? Has there been any specific offense that has occured because women are involved in leading the church?
“Jesus warned us to beware of the “leaven of doctrine”, and Paul said “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”. Though it grieves our hearts to leave the City Church, we believe we are being obedient to the scriptures.”

Time will tell if you are being obedient to the Scriptures or are reacting in fear, ignorance or unbelief.

From your perspective then I would assume- a divorced person should never remarry, believers should not tithe, we should not preach prosperity or faith, we should preach more on hell and women should not help lead the Church?�
Altogether your perspective sounds pretty negative doesn’t it? It seems incredulous to me that if these things you state were true about us- how we could ever produce any good fruit!

You know a tree by its fruit. Not only has there been much good fruit among the members of The City Church but there has actually been good fruit in your life. I wonder if that will continue if you cut yourself off from these branches.
What bad fruit have you seen? Who has been hurt by embracing more faith, or the love and mercy of God or the wonderful provision of the Lord or the leadership of godly women? What is the fruit of The City Church? You judge.

You are both old enough to know better in my opinion that many of the statements you have made are exagerrated and erroneous. After being with us so long, I am not sure how you came to your conclusions. But I am aware that when a person gets offended or listens to certain voices, it can color their thinking in every area.

We pray God’s grace to be with you as you go. And we hope that perhaps one day you might return to The City Church. Its really not as bad as you think.

Sincerely with Love,
Pastor Wendell