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EJT

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  1. To me, none of us has true representation in the government. Some officials say they will stand for some of our values. The extent of that is always sub par. Yet, many Christians are extremely polarized and emotionally charged to vote for certain people of a certain party almost categorically. Personally, I see Biblical values represented by all parties, but not all in one party. To further complicate things, you can never trust any of these politicians anyway. None of them are infallible. However, the Scripture teaches that the Lord has the heart of the kings in His hand and He moves them like a river. There is a bigger picture involved. Ultimately, this world is not our home. We should do what we can in the name of Christ to further the Kingdom and spread the Gospel, as well as serving our fellow man. In the end though, this world is coming under judgement. The prophecies must be fulfilled. Just my two cents.
  2. I have been involved in one, non-denominational, multi-campus church, and two mainline denominations. I like what you had to share. Makes sense.
  3. Perspective is an interesting thing. For example, if I had just been released from prison and had the same circumstances going on in my life as they are now, I would be optimistic. I would see my job as gratifying. My relationships at work, church and home would be seen as fantastic. I would look to the future with hope. I would believe my circumstances would only be better, going forward. That is not how I view my circumstances. Somehow, over the years, my perspective has changed. I still value the life God has given me. I appreciate the things I have and the people in my life. I guess what I am battling with is the way my life has turned out. Many people would say my life is great. I am happily married. I live in a great community. I have a stable, rewarding career. I have a good Church. My family is close by and is doing well for the most part. What is there to complain about? My main gripe is that in my career I am not full time ministry. Deep down I don’t think I will ever shake the passion I have for reaching people with the Gospel. Whether it is evangelism or discipleship, I value direct, outright Christian ministry more than being a Christian in the workforce. Why is that? If I think about it logically, it should be no more rewarding to me whether I am representing Christ in one career or another. Some people in full time ministry would envy the relationships I have with “the world.” Maybe I am never satisfied in general. If I think hard enough about it, everything I put my hand to has disappointed me at some point. I never have the impact I really desire. It is highly possible the Lord is doing me a favor by not subjecting me to the immense responsibility involved with being in full time ministry. To some extent I imagine it has its own set of challenges. Maybe I don’t truly understand the gravity of that. Maybe it is just not what I am supposed to do. I have wanted to minister since I became a Christian at 16 years old. 22 years of life have passed since then. I have had many different experiences, relationships and goals. The greatest satisfaction I ever get is in seeing someone I know come to Christ or get to know Him more. Categorically, when enough free time is allotted to me I find a way to do ministry. I may do this is by studying Scripture, meditation, or by developing relationships for outreach and fellowship. I always end up pointed in the ministry direction. Sometimes I pen pal inmates in prison. Sometimes I deliver toys to needy children. Many times I find a way to just get to know my neighbors. Recently I began contributing to a Christian forum online. At one point I was on The 700 Club. I spent a long time ministering to motorcycle clubs. At work I find instances to influence folks who don’t know the Lord. I have seen peoples’ hearts change over time. Even my own family was at one time not interested in the Lord and eventually became receptive. One group of people I have had the longest involvement with is drug addicts and alcoholics. At least 13 years of my life have involved that. I have seen a lot of folks come and go in that group. Some of the old regulars are still there. I really am glad that, when push comes to shove, that group is always there for me with open arms. In retrospect it has been somewhat of a buoy. I feel like a failure many times. I also feel a lack of support from the Church. On the other hand, I feel immense support from my family and my wife. I feel misunderstood by the majority of people in the world. Life is complicated. Maybe I am too complicated. Who knows? What I do know is when I read the Bible it leaves me without the option of complacency. It gives unequivocal direction for every person’s life. It describes the situation of the world in dark terms and presents it with the Light of Hope. Everything is epic. So watching life play out for so many people in such a mediocre way is truly not what we were created for. God made us with deep purpose in mind.
  4. I find myself disillusioned with The Church. I gave my life to Christ when I was 16 years old. Today I am 39. The first 10 years of my Christian experience involved serving in a church. During that time I experimented with various roles. After that I was involved in a few roles at three subsequent churches. That brings us to current day. One of the roles I had at the latter three churches involved serving teenagers. I tried being involved in a church Bible study for local teens. That lasted for about 4 months. I ended up having too much conflict with one of the other leaders (he was probably 20 years old at the time). I was about 29, I guess. On my own, outside the Church, I developed a really solid relationship with many local teens. I spent about a year and a half befriending them and saw fruit in that. I moved on. I found an affinity for prison ministry. I had a friend involved with an independent organization (outside a local church denomination) who helped me get involved with outreach at a local prison. I did that for about a year. Eventually several things became too much of a problem there. One was the distance. Another was how long it took to get home (had to work early the next day). Also, there were an immense amount of volunteers. After a while I had no real time to talk to the inmates. Next I spent about 10 years hanging out with motorcycle clubs. That lasted longer than any of the other things I had been involved with. Eventually I got as far as I was going to get with the clubs though, and that was over. Also, over the years I found that my political leanings were in direct conflict with the majority of bikers, Christian and not. That was a problem. I guess in retrospect I always have more success when I am involved in something outside a local church. A conflict has developed, though. When I participate in Sunday services and mid-week Bible studies at a local church, the leaders constantly urge congregants to be involved in one of their ministries. All the staff generalize a sort of motivational speech towards that end. The actual follow up and follow through for that invitation is disappointing. In the end, I feel the staff pick certain people based on their cultural expectations, not so much the leading of the Holy Spirit. My wife and I are at a new church (the fourth). We soaked up the culture there for about a month. A week ago I felt comfortable reaching out to one of the volunteer coordinators so that I could be involved in a planned outreach to local firefighters. When I approached the coordinator he didn’t have specific details about where they were going. He also informed me that they would be going out on a weekday morning. I left, once again, disappointed with yet another attempt to be involved in a Church. I found a contradiction between the church leaderships’ invite to be involved, and the ridiculous scheduling of these events/outreaches. Another problem I find consistently in any church is the schedule of the mid-week Bible studies. I have to get up very early every day. I need a group that starts early and ends early. I have not found one. I have been a part of a mid-week Bible study group for years, however, which allows me to slip out early because I need to. It is still not ideal. It is also not close to home. The result of all of this is I have always stayed a Christian, in a church, on the fray, doing my own thing. I don’t fit into any of the churches local cultures, schedules or profiles for volunteer involvement. It is pretty sad. I tried pleading with church staff about these issues. I never found solutions. Making matters worse, when I had the chance to talk to one of the lead pastors at one of the churches he literally told me “I have never heard of you.” I am not one to toot my own horn. It seems the folks who get the action in these modern churches are the ones with the biggest egos, pocket books, and looks. That is my experience. That may seem like a leap from what I was describing earlier. It is not. I have a lot of experience and history in various churches which lead me to this conclusion. This conclusion is directly connected with the issues I mentioned earlier. If we compare how people look for a career to how people look for a church I feel there are parallels. So to draw from that comparison, I would say I have not found the right “employer” yet. There has to be a “right fit”. At 39 years old, I am definitely disillusioned by this Church experience. To a large extent, I believe many congregants do not have the issues I have. I would attribute that to the fact that many people are content to come and go without being involved. A lot of people prefer to be left alone by the staff. They appreciate hearing the message, having their children taught Christian principles, and that is the gist of their expectation. They have busy lives. They don’t need additional responsibilities. I wonder if my Church experience will be an endless cycle of the same things happening until my time on earth is done……
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