DiscipleOfIAm
7th March 2005, 01:19 PM
I haven't posted in a while, I've been away from the computer! Glad to be back on for today at least.
Anyway, the family and I have been attending a local church for a couple of months after searching for a church home. We were just about to inquire about membership when we remembered there was one other church we wanted to visit before we ever knew about the one we were going to. Well, long story short, we tried it, we loved it, and we wished we would have found it sooner.
It is a United Brethren in Christ church, founded by a Menonite and a Reformer back in the 1700's. This is the original UB, the other ones split from this one and ended up UMC in the 60's. But, this is beside the point. The purpose of the post is to get opinions from others about getting hung up on the details.
Here are some to ponder:
- Is it wrong to be a part of a "denomination"? Some view that the true NT church is independant of any higher form of leadership or denominational label. Is there biblical referrence to this that states the church is to not be a part of a larger church body?
- When the bible talks about not "mixing" with other religions, this does not mean not to cooperate or minister/mission with other "denominations" within the Christian religion does it? Example - UMC and SBC building a church in Honduras together.
- God basically wants people to find Him. Does it really matter if a church has a contemporary worship or traditional, baptises by immersion or sprinkles, takes communion every week or 6 or 8 times a year, cooperates with another denomination to support a local mission or goes it alone? There really isn't scripture telling us exactly word for word what worship style is correct or how to baptize or when to take communion, is there? Didn't God leave these things up to us to argue over. Shouldn't it please God to be worshiped and praised whether it is by singing a hymn or a chorus?
These are the details I'm talking about. I've found myself getting hung up on these lately. I always find something wrong with a church because of one thing or another. I tell myself, well that isn't right or biblical. God wants us to do this or that. I used to be anti-seeker sensitive type person and didn't care for people like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, but isn't that what we're supposed to do? We are supposed to help the lost find God and if we only minister to the already saved, then we're losing the battle against Satan. Shouldn't we be training and equipping to help the lost and save souls to Christ?
The church we were previously attending had the non-seeker sensitive view. They were frimly not seeker-sensitive and stated that. They felt that it was someone else's job to help the lost and they would minister to their own. They even called themselves "Evangelical", but didn't act like it. It wasn't until recently that I realized that the seeker-sensitive church isn't a new concept. God wants us to all be seeker-sensitive and to "rescue" the lost.
That's about it for now. It seems like when I was thinking of writing this post I had more to throw out there, but I'm drawing a blank. Thanks to all who read and respond. And to any that I previously opposed or offended on these subjects, you were right. Anyone who brings a lost soul to Christ whether by singing them a hymn or a chorus or writing a book about it, can't be all bad.
Now I'm not saying I agree with all denominations and views, but on the biblical principles we can agree. There is a lot of gray area out there and one thing we can agree on is that we don't all have the answers!
God Bless!
Anyway, the family and I have been attending a local church for a couple of months after searching for a church home. We were just about to inquire about membership when we remembered there was one other church we wanted to visit before we ever knew about the one we were going to. Well, long story short, we tried it, we loved it, and we wished we would have found it sooner.
It is a United Brethren in Christ church, founded by a Menonite and a Reformer back in the 1700's. This is the original UB, the other ones split from this one and ended up UMC in the 60's. But, this is beside the point. The purpose of the post is to get opinions from others about getting hung up on the details.
Here are some to ponder:
- Is it wrong to be a part of a "denomination"? Some view that the true NT church is independant of any higher form of leadership or denominational label. Is there biblical referrence to this that states the church is to not be a part of a larger church body?
- When the bible talks about not "mixing" with other religions, this does not mean not to cooperate or minister/mission with other "denominations" within the Christian religion does it? Example - UMC and SBC building a church in Honduras together.
- God basically wants people to find Him. Does it really matter if a church has a contemporary worship or traditional, baptises by immersion or sprinkles, takes communion every week or 6 or 8 times a year, cooperates with another denomination to support a local mission or goes it alone? There really isn't scripture telling us exactly word for word what worship style is correct or how to baptize or when to take communion, is there? Didn't God leave these things up to us to argue over. Shouldn't it please God to be worshiped and praised whether it is by singing a hymn or a chorus?
These are the details I'm talking about. I've found myself getting hung up on these lately. I always find something wrong with a church because of one thing or another. I tell myself, well that isn't right or biblical. God wants us to do this or that. I used to be anti-seeker sensitive type person and didn't care for people like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, but isn't that what we're supposed to do? We are supposed to help the lost find God and if we only minister to the already saved, then we're losing the battle against Satan. Shouldn't we be training and equipping to help the lost and save souls to Christ?
The church we were previously attending had the non-seeker sensitive view. They were frimly not seeker-sensitive and stated that. They felt that it was someone else's job to help the lost and they would minister to their own. They even called themselves "Evangelical", but didn't act like it. It wasn't until recently that I realized that the seeker-sensitive church isn't a new concept. God wants us to all be seeker-sensitive and to "rescue" the lost.
That's about it for now. It seems like when I was thinking of writing this post I had more to throw out there, but I'm drawing a blank. Thanks to all who read and respond. And to any that I previously opposed or offended on these subjects, you were right. Anyone who brings a lost soul to Christ whether by singing them a hymn or a chorus or writing a book about it, can't be all bad.
Now I'm not saying I agree with all denominations and views, but on the biblical principles we can agree. There is a lot of gray area out there and one thing we can agree on is that we don't all have the answers!
God Bless!