The ARC is something that's recently shown up on my radar. From what I can tell, it's a sort of church franchising operation like fast food restaurants. The headquarters is the Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. So what are they all about? Is it something we should be concerned about?
The ARC is involved in planting churches all over the US and the world. At arcchurches.com there's a church finder at the bottom of the page.
The bottom line seems to be, as usual, $$$. They will match the first $50,000 raised toward a new launch. After that, churches are expected to invest in future launches of new churches. The information on new launches at arcchurches.com states: "The funding you receive has been given by pastors that have gone before you, and we ask that you re-invest those dollars through your missions giving so that others coming after you will have this same opportunity." The details on how much a church is expected to invest are probably in the fine print. Existing churches can also become members in the ARC.
After a church is established, "coaches" are provided for ongoing training and to answer questions. It appears there's a blueprint or formula that "franchises" are expected to follow, like McDonalds or Burger King.
As far as what they teach, I don't have a lot of particulars. From the video clips I've watched it all seems pretty shallow. I know they're big on pastoral authority and, of course, tithing. Prosperity is a big part of it.
The ARC is different from the New Apostolic Reformation in that it has a recognized headquarters and leadership.
I'm all for church planting, but do we really need a huge network of shallow (even more shallow than usual) so-called Christian churches cropping up all over the place? In a certain sense it's like a pyramid scheme: those at the top are the ones raking it in.
This video is the best one I've watched so far, as far as naming all the major players. Some names I recognize but others are new to me. I skipped the first 15 or 20 minutes of the video because it's just his commentary. Once he starts talking about ARC it gets good.
The ARC is involved in planting churches all over the US and the world. At arcchurches.com there's a church finder at the bottom of the page.
The bottom line seems to be, as usual, $$$. They will match the first $50,000 raised toward a new launch. After that, churches are expected to invest in future launches of new churches. The information on new launches at arcchurches.com states: "The funding you receive has been given by pastors that have gone before you, and we ask that you re-invest those dollars through your missions giving so that others coming after you will have this same opportunity." The details on how much a church is expected to invest are probably in the fine print. Existing churches can also become members in the ARC.
After a church is established, "coaches" are provided for ongoing training and to answer questions. It appears there's a blueprint or formula that "franchises" are expected to follow, like McDonalds or Burger King.
As far as what they teach, I don't have a lot of particulars. From the video clips I've watched it all seems pretty shallow. I know they're big on pastoral authority and, of course, tithing. Prosperity is a big part of it.
The ARC is different from the New Apostolic Reformation in that it has a recognized headquarters and leadership.
I'm all for church planting, but do we really need a huge network of shallow (even more shallow than usual) so-called Christian churches cropping up all over the place? In a certain sense it's like a pyramid scheme: those at the top are the ones raking it in.
This video is the best one I've watched so far, as far as naming all the major players. Some names I recognize but others are new to me. I skipped the first 15 or 20 minutes of the video because it's just his commentary. Once he starts talking about ARC it gets good.
