I Found a Great Church!

[TJGospels]

After scouring websites left and right, I decided it was time to just check new churches out. 

I found a great one with the hitch being it's nearly an hour's drive out of town! So, that's less than ideal.

Having said that, the pastor addressed important issues head on instead of ducking them and there was a tangible joy in the congregation. 

My "current" church is so stiff and formal, and I dare say the congregation is almost afraid of the pastor, and probably not in a good way. 

It's really tough to get perspective on your current church until you visit a new church and the contrast can prove to be striking. 

[Starise]

Congratulations on finding a new church that will hopefully be the kind of situation that you can grow in!

I can relate to the contrast between churches. It really does pay to shop around.

[grahampaul]

lol, dont seem real does it."shop around for a church" know what you mean though.

[Who me]

13 hours ago, TJGospels said:

After scouring websites left and right, I decided it was time to just check new churches out. 

I found a great one with the hitch being it's nearly an hour's drive out of town! So, that's less than ideal.

Having said that, the pastor addressed important issues head on instead of ducking them and there was a tangible joy in the congregation. 

My "current" church is so stiff and formal, and I dare say the congregation is almost afraid of the pastor, and probably not in a good way. 

It's really tough to get perspective on your current church until you visit a new church and the contrast can prove to be striking. 

 

May I suggest that you do a ' review ' of your new church.

Note how welcoming were they, how clear was the order of service, relevance of worship songs, intrusiveness of any background music, relevance and application of sermon, were you spoken to before and after the service and how good was any after service drinks.

Do this now and repeat in about a months time, do it also for your current church and present the results to the relevent ministers.

Explain why you are doing this and that it is intended to be helpful to him and his church.

 

[Mike Mclees]

Have you ever given thought why we call church church. Have we thought why we give church names such a Methodist, Batist. Lutheran and many other names..  We walk ass Christ as in us

On the day Pentecost  there never was a name given by Christ or the apostles .  Read the book of acts and you will find none. The followers of Christ were first called Christians in Antioch  by the people of Antioch who were not even believers at the time. The Bishop of Antioch was Ignatius who  happened to use the word Catholic in a Letter he wrote. It meant Universal church. It was not used as the official name for the believers but a word he chose to use. The Name then caught on was used ever since . 

Today after the reformation different fellowships gave themselves different name which splintered the groups into many different organized orders, Baptist Methodist and so on. That developed different beliefs and doctrines.  Denominational names become as walls that separate us, thus finding the right meeting place is like shopping for shoes. 

It is a misnomer to say I'm going the church on Sunday. As one has already said the church is not a building we go to. No ye not you are the Temple and the spirit of God is in you.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Mike Mclees

[TJGospels]

10 hours ago, Who me said:

 

May I suggest that you do a ' review ' of your new church.

Note how welcoming were they, how clear was the order of service, relevance of worship songs, intrusiveness of any background music, relevance and application of sermon, were you spoken to before and after the service and how good was any after service drinks.

Do this now and repeat in about a months time, do it also for your current church and present the results to the relevent ministers.

Explain why you are doing this and that it is intended to be helpful to him and his church.

 

Not so much in a formal way but more of a making/taking mental notes about how the churches compare.

Quite frankly, my experiences with local churches and their willingness to accept feedback has been abysmal. Local pastors and staff tend to think of themselves as gods on earth who are ordained as our masters. Humility is not their strong point. 

The more I'm willing to acknowledge this point, the more comfortable I am avoiding all local churches, period. Oddly, you would think that the sharp drop-offs in attendance over the past 2 years, along with the obvious unmasking of their complete and utter lack of authority would humble them.

Instead it seems to have emboldened them and/or enraged them, making them even more power hungry. The local church experience has been pretty awful and has to a certain extent soured me on churches generally speaking.

[TheBlade]

Praise GOD thats wonderul!

[TJGospels]

I don't think cautious is the right word, nor is it cynical. I am....wary, knowledgeable and less prone to any naive sense that attending church will or is somehow an automatic game changer. 

Basically it's an hour and a half of my week, with hopefully some solid messaging about integrity, bravery and honesty. I won't pretend that it's community in any traditional sense, where you can count on mutual support and true, enduring trusting friendships. I don't think there are many places to find that for a variety of reasons. 

I don't even expect to FIND people who are courageous, convicted, honest and devoted. I have reduced my expectations to simply hearing about how such a life might be possible. 

I don't expect to become significantly involved in church activities outside of sunday service for some extended period of time. These types of engagements reveal the warts of a church so quickly it has become a dealbreaker on multiple occasions already!

Edited April 21, 2022 by TJGospels

[Michael37]

On 4/20/2022 at 4:37 AM, Mike Mclees said:

Have you ever given thought why we call church church. Have we thought why we give church names such a Methodist, Batist. Lutheran and many other names..  We walk ass Christ as in us

On the day Pentecost  there never was a name given by Christ or the apostles .  Read the book of acts and you will find none. The followers of Christ were first called Christians in Antioch  by the people of Antioch who were not even believers at the time. The Bishop of Antioch was Ignatius who  happened to use the word Catholic in a Letter he wrote. It meant Universal church. It was not used as the official name for the believers but a word he chose to use. The Name then caught on was used ever since . 

Today after the reformation different fellowships gave themselves different name which splintered the groups into many different organized orders, Baptist Methodist and so on. That developed different beliefs and doctrines.  Denominational names become as walls that separate us, thus finding the right meeting place is like shopping for shoes. 

It is a misnomer to say I'm going the church on Sunday. As one has already said the church is not a building we go to. No ye not you are the Temple and the spirit of God is in you.

 

Also the word church is not an accurate translation of the original Greek word "ekklesia".

Act 7:37-38  This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.  (38)  This is he, that was in the ekklesia in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

1Cor 1:2  Unto the ekklesia of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

Kuriakon actually means “pertaining to the lord.” It is used twice in scripture: 1 Cor 11:20 The “ Lord’s [ kuriakon]supper;” and Rev 1:10, the “ Lord’s [ kuriakon] day.” In those passages it is the supper belonging to the Lord and the day belonging to the Lord respectively.

Kuriakon, kirche, and church, all meant simply a religious building originally used by pagans and later used by Christians following pagan customs. Christians originally didn’t use buildings, which distinguished them from the pagans whose focus was on building, statues, ritual and physical objects. [Copied from The Origin Of The Word Church at scribd.com]

Throughout the Greek world and right down to NT times (cf. Acts 19:39), ekklesia was the designation of the regular assembly of the whole body of citizens in a free city-state, “called out” (Gr, ek, “out,” and kalein, “to call”) by the herald for the discussion and decision of public business (Lambert 1929, 651).

[TJGospels]

Wow, that is some fantastic insight @Michael37! If I understand correctly then church is an opportunity for christians to a) DISCUSS, b) PUBLIC BUSINESS. In other words, we are to actively offer our input and do so about the most important matters facing the general public, christians in particular? This is a game changer!

And thank you @Mike Mclees, I had to read your post a couple of times through before really understanding it.