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This blog is intended to lead to a kind of Bible study and an expression of my thoughts. Therefore I think it necessary to explain something of how I got where I am today. There are certain realities that are a result of the country, town and culture I live in and I will explain that at a later stage. Yesterday I mentioned that my father is a theologian. He is also been a minister in the church for many years. My whole family was in the Dutch Reformed Church, one way or another. South Africa has always been very religious and the government of the time were strongly tied to this church and so many people from my culture grew up in it. To understand more about it I suggest you read this article: Now you might note from this that the DRC was split into groups. Unfortunately, this also included racial segregation. At first I used to go to Sunday school. And now and then I would go to these massive towering churches (many are hundreds of years old). At times i found this rather impressive. But mostly to be honest, I found myself being bored. I didn't understand most of what we were taught. And I didn't feel ready to ask. My father's approach to teaching me and my brother about God was to let us find out for ourselves. This is mostly a good thing, but the down side of this is that I felt I could not really approach him. He always seemed busy. My dad has never been that comfortable around young children. He is rather reserved and tends to be busy with academic pursuits all the time. He is rather a laid back person, but he loves philosophising and reading and therefore can sometimes be caught up in his own mind. Even today this is true. Furthermore, I found that the other kids in Sunday school had very little interest in what was being taught and weren't living it out. In fact, it seemed to me that going to church was just one more even in everyone's week. Most people were not actively involved in the church, and many didn't seem to believe what was being said. It felt stiff and cold. As a result (and due to other factors I will talk about later) by the time I was 12, I decided I wasn't going to go to church except on special occasions. I did sometimes visit my grandparents (also a story for another day) and when I was with them I would always go to church. The next year, my mother decided to address the situation. This is quite ironic because my mother doesn't go to church at all. I think she felt I needed the socialisation. She is very open minded and tends to be less strict about beliefs (most people here would describe my parents as liberal, btw) Now, her brother (my uncle) was, at that stage, in a charismatic church called Vinyard Christian Fellowship. My mother took me to this church hoping my uncle's presense would help me commit to it. I immediately noticed how diferent it was. I guess I was also a bit older and able to understand better. But the people were friendly, less stiff and more open than any church I had been to at that point. I just felt a lot more welcome. So I stayed. At this point, remember, I hadn't become a Christian yet. I believed in God but I didn't really know him. I finally got saved on 7 October 2000 while I was still in this church. I was led to the Lord by a friend in school. He reached out to me and started answering my many questions. He was in another church and at that point I was so used to the charismatic church. And in 2002, I felt led to join the church my friend was in. My current church, Shofar Christian Church. Now, except for a year between 2015 and 2016, I have been a full-time member of the church since then. It fitted me like a glove. And suddenly i had a spiritual home. The big difference to me, is that I felt like people really did their best to live out what they believed. It wasn't just something they did on Sunday. They see themselves as the church and so everyone gets actively involved. Now, my parents being, in one sense, very liberal, don't believe most of the Bible is literally true. On the other hand, they have not always approved of my church membership and it was especially tough when I got baptised, since that means I renounced the sprinkling I received when I was a baby. There's a lot more to this story. But I think this covers the gist of it. This, I hope, will really help you to see where I'm coming from. But I think I also need to explain something of my cultural context. South Africa has a very particular dynamic and in also, I had a very particular upbringing. I hinted at this here but will expand on it more in further entries.

Is there anything wrong with our current model of doing Church? Could there be improvements made? Are the following elements biblical? 1. Tithing 2. Pastor salaries 3. Million-dollar church buildings 4. Seminary-trained pastors 5. Church incorporation Le me know what your thoughts are! Thanks