Wooddale Church (Pastor Leith Anderson) of Minneapolis, MN is one of America’s largest evangelical churches with over 12,000 people attending. We post this information because so many Christians and churches around the world look up to these mega churches for leadership and direction.
Starting October 1st, Wooddale Church will have a Sunday evening meeting called The Gathering. According to a flyer, music will be “eclectic, evocative, and current.”
Wooddale has been heading towards contemplative/emerging for some time, and The Gathering may be just another indicator that the church has no plans to reverse the direction it is going in. On their “Worklife Toolbox” several contemplative/emerging authors and books have been promoted during the last couple years. Some of those include: Laurie Beth Jones, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Jim Ballard, and many more.
In March of 2003, Wooddale was one of the sponsoring churches in the Twin City area to bring Richard Foster and Renovare to Minneapolis, even though leaders at the church had been given information to show Richard Foster’s connections with contemplative prayer. In fact, several copies of A Time of Departing were given to pastors and other leaders at Wooddale, with the hope they might see the dangers of contemplative spirituality.
In addition, Leith Anderson and Erwin McManus (The Barbarian Way shared a podium together at a CCN (Church Communication Network) event in 2003, and currently teach together at Bethel University’s Doctor of Ministry for Emerging Leaders program. (see Prospectus). Finally, Wooddale Youth Pastor, Heather Flies has been and is still a speaker at Youth Specialties events.
