FWGDI - The Fellowship of Well-Meaning Gentlemen With Different Ideas

Some have asked how I came up with this blog title. The concept of a Fellowship of Well-Meaning Gentlemen With Different Ideas was a somewhat sarcastic response that was inspired by accident in a large memorial service for a deceased Christian worker. One of the eulogy speakers took some inappropriate derogatory potshots at the current, conservative leadership of a ministry in which I serve. He said of us, “they are just some well-meaning men with different ideas.”

When I started this blog site I knew that, in spite of the satire and occasional nonsense, it would, in fact, be a place to articulate “Ideas.” “Christian Ideas;” “Conservative Ideas;” “Fundamentalist Ideas;” “Traditional Ideas.” They are not new ideas but, in the mixed-up world of pragmatic, contemporary Christianity, they are considered “DIFFERENT IDEAS.”

Those DIFFERENT IDEAS are held by few and despised by many. Those kinds of ideas are not embraced by the overly sensitive, touchy-feely, warm and fuzzy, tolerant, huggy types because they are not the ideas born of emotionalism, accommodation, and compromise. Those ideas are not the products of conversations or dialogs. They are anchored in knowledge and in principle and in absolute Truth.

Ideas have consequences. So what exactly were the DIFFERENT IDEAS held by those men who were denigrated that day? They were simple fundamental ideas of ministry leadership.

They were IDEAS that are rooted in the concept that legitimate Christian ministry has a purpose, not presented by a seminar speaker, but established by God. And that purpose cannot be discovered in four little booklets; it is precisely defined and limited by the Word of God.

They were IDEAS rooted in the concept, that true Christian ministries belong to God and must be controlled by Him.

They were IDEAS based in the understanding that He requires His ministries to be carried out His way by His called people doing His work to accomplish His purposes for His glory.

They were IDEAS that were submissive to the commands, precepts and principles of His authoritative Word when managing His ministries.

They were IDEAS that recognize that the safety and security of any legitimate Christian ministry must be totally dependent upon His approval, His protection, His provision and His blessing.

The remark spoken by that speaker that day was the genesis of “The Fellowship of Well-Meaning Gentlemen With Different Ideas.” We refused to be offended by the veiled insult but, instead, wear the moniker as a distinction of honor.

Ralph M. Petersen






Chairman, Founder, and Charter Member, FWGDI