interesting article about churchless Christians

[PatrickJ]

http://www.charismamag.com/a.php?ArticleID=10434

It seems like it is a big movement. I have to admit I've been feeling this way a lot lately.

[WiteJupitr]

I never realized that so many Christians didn't go to chuch either. I dont, but it's because I have a really hard time trusting others. I don't want to be lied to by a preacher, even though the lie isn't purposeful, so I study on my own. It is nice to talk to others of like faith though. Thats why I'm here ;)

[M Paul]

I never realized that so many Christians didn't go to chuch either. I dont, but it's because I have a really hard time trusting others. I don't want to be lied to by a preacher, even though the lie isn't purposeful, so I study on my own. It is nice to talk to others of like faith though. Thats why I'm here ;)

But, many of us do go to church. It's just that our church is in our home (or part of a network of home churches). And, we believe that the non-biblical congregational church structure, so dependent on human traditions, has a tendency toward abuse and irrelevance. By focusing on a cell unit structure, which is more biblical, there is a greater possibility of finding a relevant and true church experience--and then, a person can become more trusting of the church. If you take some time to study the emergent church more, I think you will find a lot of nice things, and the church experience can become exciting once again. It's like the Reformation was exciting, but now it's time to finish it.

Regards,

Paul

[WiteJupitr]

I know exactly what you're saying. It's kind of what I meant, except I don't have those 2 or 3 others that study with me. That is, unless you count, Clarke, Barnes, Scofield and other commentator's that I compare to each other with my own thoughts.

I guess I just want to get it right, so I take into consideration anyone's opinion about a subject, verify, compare, meditate on it, and decide. That's the basics of what I've been doing anyway.

The cell comment is pretty much the way I always thought of the church. I thought of a church building as _a_ church, but not _the_ church. But I suppose people who actually do go to them probably think the same way, if they think of _the_ church as all of the people who believe on him, whether building-church goers or not.

I think it get's confusing for people who don't quite understand yet, maybe there should be another name for the building that Christians use, like mosque or synagogue, so it's a little better understood. I'd start a movement, but I think it's a little late in the game now.

Well.. I'm ramblin'..

[M Paul]

I guess I just want to get it right, so I take into consideration anyone's opinion about a subject, verify, compare, meditate on it, and decide. That's the basics of what I've been doing anyway.

That's exactly what the people who wrote the First Amendment wanted you to do. They understood religion quite well, and the concept of what you're doing came out of a lot of religious debate from England after the Reformation.The truth is our ultimate authority--something the institutional church doesn't focus on as much as leaders--who are only a part of the process of helping us arrive at the truth as a matter of consience. But, having a statement of faith as a starting point, the core matters that all Protestants agree on, is essential for true Christianity. (Although I don't mean to leave Catholics out, but it's a different approach to core matters and debate on theology).

Regards,

Paul

[julian the apostate]

very interesting article

i have similiar feelings towards it all, although i do go to church

i am an anglican,so the service is very close to a roman catholic service (what i used to be) which means it is easier to just focus on the matter at hand (worship, eucharist)

the sermon is also not as important in those type of churches

i cant stand to listen to christian radio, sermons over the airwaves or whatever

the further i get from it ,, it seems like the more i am aware of God

i dont think this is a good thing, bothers me a lot, but what are you gonna do?

when i was younger,, my 20's, before i became catholic i went to fundamentalist church that was basically a cult, (actually it was a cult, the head of the church went nuts wound up on skid row and died in a knife fight)
on the surface though it was somewhat normal, it drove me nearly crazy, literally

a lot of what i hear on the airwaves and on the internet is just one step removed from that,

the law kills the spirit gives life

[seraphofapples]

My family used to be all into the born-again stuff. Revivals, churches, the whole lot. My father stopped going to Church when his disability got really severe, and I followed suit. Our small town Churches were a little too dogmatic for my taste anyhoo.

Now that I'm in the city, I have access to more liberal Churches and congregations. I like to try different Churches every week, or not go for a long while and study on my own. I meet new people here and there, and it keeps me informed as to what the Christian community is doing.

But I don't have any 1 church I go to exclusively. So guess the article kind of applies to me. ^^

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

My whole church became "unchurched"... thanks for your article I added to a site that explains what we've done and links similar things....

www.enginecreations.com/unseenchurch (http://www.enginecreations.com/unseenchurch)

http://www.enginecreations.com/unseenchurch/images/pigz.gif

[julian the apostate]

i dont know flandid, just makes my head spin
church breaks off, fairly free flowing whats not to like,
next thing you know it blows itself up

i like liturgy, i like sacramental churches, and i like the anglican perspective of if you like what you hear receive it with thanksgiving, if you dont like something that you hear, just ignore it

for now that is the best i can do

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

No problemo Apoatate. The point about what we did is that it is a calling.
Obviously we all have different callings!!!!

[julian the apostate]

i came off harsher than it should have

and i can easily understand someone thinking that church should not just be about an hour liturgy and then off back to home

but for now that is all i can do, and i probably dont even deserve that

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

Funny, nice one old bean!

[truthteller]

i came off harsher than it should have

and i can easily understand someone thinking that church should not just be about an hour liturgy and then off back to home

but for now that is all i can do, and i probably dont even deserve that

The thing is that the majority of churches today only offer dead tired meetings. Here is the churches' main problem, from the referenced article:

Says Larry Lewis, national facilitator of denominations for Mission America: "There's a consumer mentality that says I go to church not to give anything or to be challenged or instructed, but to be helped, and there's a tendency to turn the prophetic message and its challenge into the ear-tickling messages of self-help lectures with very little biblical content.

"You can't reduce ministry to that," he adds. "We have a prophetic role that we must fulfill if we are to be true to our calling. ... I can't imagine Nehemiah or Job or Amos going down the street with a clipboard in hand and asking, 'What do you want us to preach about?'"

And a lot of the prophets sometimes didn't even have followers for awhile. Are you warning America (the U.S.) of its impending doom? If the nation repents it won't suffer as bad as if it doesn't. But if America does not repent of its sins, it is heading for its destruction. This is a message for everyone too. The love of Christ means nothing if they're already going to be okay, which they are not.

The churches (and the unchurched believers) need to get on fire for Jesus and the world will come out to see them burn.

But there's a responsibility to us. Timothy 2:2: What you learn, teach others. Daniel 11:33 predicts the time (soon coming) when they'll be desperate for instruction: "And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days."

Are you ready to teach them?

--Alan

[FLANDIDLYANDERS]

Teach them? You mean disciple, right?
How about just plain church it with the world.
Ready, and doing!

[discernomatic]

http://www.charismamag.com/a.php?ArticleID=10434

It seems like it is a big movement. I have to admit I've been feeling this way a lot lately.

The article is supposed to wake alarm in "committed" believers, I think to keep them committed to the church where they already are going. I did not recognize all of the names, but Billy Graham, Luis Palau and Ted Haggard are all part of the Church Growth Movement, they use the words "Great Commission" to mean that the Church must be universal, encompassing everyone in the whole world, not that the gospel must simply be told to everyone as Jesus originally commanded. Of course they want your tithe, that is, 10% of your income and more if they can get it out of you. They don't like the idea of non-tithing, uncontrolled Christians outside their churches. Ted Haggard is advocating the idea of a "City-Church" that includes all of the churches in a city, thus they (the people in the churches) are easier to supervise and control. A "City-Church" would in his ideal include everyone in the city as believers. I would say that if one goes to a church, in a church building, that it should be free of such gimmicks.