The purpose of this book is to show what the Boston Movement teaches through its bulletins and speeches and to give the reader access to primary sources which explain the Boston Movement's position in a number of areas. This book won't be a thorough refutation of the Boston Movement, nor will it evaluate its positive and negative contributions to the religious world. While there will be some refutation and evaluation, perhaps in the future a fuller refutation can be assembled for an even more in-depth examination.
It's true that every school, local church or home will make mistakes in carrying out the principles they believe. However, beliefs which give birth to mistakes must be examined. To merely say, "We have made mistakes," without correcting the beliefs which produced the mistakes isn't dealing fairly with the situation.
On the front page of the September 3, 1989 issue of the Boston Bulletin Al Baird (Boston elder and evangelist) is quoted as saying:
We are still in the process of changing. Our critics look at us and say, 'You blow it here and you blow it there.' I listen to that and often say 'Amen, but give us a little time and we won't be there anymore.' A lot of critics criticize us about things that happened several years ago, we aren't there anymore. They are fighting our dust.
The vast majority of this material comes from Boston Movement trained men and its publications, with only a few quotes taken from Boston Movement satellite churches. If any of the material quoted in this book is no longer believed by the Boston Movement, then the question has to be "Why?" What scriptures do they give now to contradict what they "used" to reach? What interpretation of scriptures have they given in the past that they no longer believe?
Most of the tapes footnoted can be obtained so the reader can hear the presentations in their entirety; however, I have attempted to quote enough of the speech to demonstrate that the statements weren't taken out of context. The quotations from articles and other published material will appear in its entirety in the Appendix, with only a few exceptions.
If you are a part, or are thinking about becoming a part, of the Boston Movement, you have that right; but you need to know what it really teaches before you decide to be a part of it. Five areas -- authority, discipline, baptism, autonomy and the role of Kip McKean -- will be discussed in this book Some of these areas overlap, but they will provide a full picture of the Boston Movement's doctrinal position which I believe to be in opposition with the Bible. The Boston Movement views any material written against it as coming from Satan and, therefore, should not be read. Since this book is a compilation of what they teach, not what someone has said they teach, no one should be afraid to read this material.
Certain words and phrases in the quoted material have been italicized for emphasis. None of the italicizing was done by the authors of the articles unless otherwise noted.
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©1988-1991 by Jerry Jones, Th.D. All rights reserved.