Uniting the church?

[icebreaker]

What are some views on churches uniting to become a bigger church with hopefully more outreach abilities etc.. I have felt led to bring churches together in some way. Whenever I ask someone about it they said it would be nice but no one does anything about it. We need alot more outreach work but it just doesnt seem to be getting done. I am starting to talk with local pastors to see what they say about it. I was thinking about working towards denominatins uniting with the same denominations. Please give me some of the pros and cons of this as well as prayer on what to do.

[Lotar]

Are you talking about uniting the denominations, or merging churches?
I like the first, but not the second. There are way to many mega churches as there is. They end up becoming a place where people can show up on sundays without the accountability of church friends, or the responsibility to get invovled.

[seebs]

I'm told a couple branches of the Religious Society of Friends have un-schismed in the past, so it's not totally unheard of.

[Jenna]

It's always good for churches to help one another, especially when one might have more resources than another. Still, I think that it is healthy for there to be variance so that people can feel comfortable with whatever way they express their faith through worship. Sometimes becoming 'bigger' isn't really better, just as smaller isn't always more intimate. The size of any particular church is only limited by the quality of it's members. That is not to say that small churches are lacking, but that if people strive to do their best, others will want to be a part of something so glorious. I don't see the point to purposefully trying to draw churches together to form one group, but that is just me. We can be singular in message and purpose without letting it become such a large thing that it possibly impedes on individuality in praise and function. :)

[icebreaker]

my idea is not for big churches but for more outreach. If no churches agree to come together but we start doing big revivals or we start reaching out to the homeless, hungry, poor and the lost, I dont care if there are 100 or 5 churches in my area as long as we are going out there.

[ej]

In my area, there is a Christian Trust, which is a charitable outreach body.

It doesn't involve unification of worship services, but there is an amazing unification between the Catholic, Episcopal, Free Church, Baptist churches and Presbyterian churches - they all work together on projects within the city, mainly for the homeless. They rotate in their daily and weekly duties (soup, shelter provision, driving the van around the city, etc) and all pull together for bigger events.

If one of these already exists where you are, go join it!
If not, you have your work cut out for you :)

[Arikereba]

In Canada, the Methodist and Congregationalist churches, along with most of the Presbyterian churches, united to become one denomination (the United Church of Canada) in the 1920s--and I think that on the whole this was a good thing. It means there's a whole lot of room for diverse beliefs, and you can concentrate on the things that unite you rather than the things that divide you.

My church is very involved in outreach work and helping the community; but I think that might be more a consequence of being an inner-city congregation and of the UCC's general emphasis on social justice.

[icebreaker]

I just moved here(elizabeth city NC) to go to school and last week I volunteered at a local church where they give out a couple bags of groceries to needy families/people once month because they dont have the resources to give them out every week. I love what they do infact im about to talk to my pastor back home if there is anything like that in our area. there is a couple ministers that come from other churches to help out as counselors its great. The woman that runs it says there are over a 100 churches in EC and there is still tons and tons of needy people in the city(which isnt much a city at all)

[EdmundBlackadderTheThird]

I work with a very small youth group. We partner with other groups in order to do things that there is no way we could do on our own. We use this to witness, to celebrate, to have fun. It is a great blessing, all the churches involved are not the same denom. and in fact some might even have conflicting doctrine in places but we all work together for the good of the whole group and to get the message to more youth than any single group is capable of doing.

[icebreaker]

awesome

[raptor13]

in my town, we have a Food Pantry in which the various churches take turns week by week helping the needy. For example, the Church of the Good Shephard works at it one week, then St. Mary's Church, then the Unitarians, then St. Joe's.. etc.

i guess that sorta counts.

[icebreaker]

Im glad to here that raptor13. Now my question is this is yalls churchs doing everything they could be possibly doing and if not what is something you think they could be doing or should be doing??

[icebreaker]

My question is to anyone that reas this Do you think your church does all the outreach they could possibly be doing and if not what is something you think they could be doing or should be doing??

[Crazy Liz]

Are you talking about uniting the denominations, or merging churches?
I like the first, but not the second. There are way to many mega churches as there is. They end up becoming a place where people can show up on sundays without the accountability of church friends, or the responsibility to get invovled.

Amen!

The system wouldn't let me give you a "thumbs up" for this post, so I had to just say it.

[Crazy Liz]

My question is to anyone that reas this Do you think your church does all the outreach they could possibly be doing and if not what is something you think they could be doing or should be doing??

No. What is needed is different in every community, so begin by knowing your larger community and knowing how God has gifted your faith community. Don't compete with other Christians. Cooperate any way you can. I guess that's pretty simple.

[icebreaker]

I dont want to come off as wanting to compete with other christians I dont care which church is doing more but just that they are doing what they can and my concerns dont even have to deal with the churches it could be just a desire for individuals to do more outreach. I started my own ministry to help me witness to people. At my home church I cant say we are doing everything we could possibly be doing we may be I dont know and I cant say that I have been doing all that I can but im trying to change both things. If it takes more local churches to really reach out then I say build more or if it takes more larger churches then I say build more. I dont know what it takes im just trying to do something. I think churches need to emphazise witnessing to its members alot more. If anyones church does a great job of motivating its members to reach out then please tell me what yall do so that I can learn from it.

[Phoebe]

We have an ecumenical society, and a Ministerial Association here. (town is about 7500) Most of the pastors here are on board with the ministerial association. They handle some of the social concerns. They delegate some of the work in their own congregations.

I think more could be done, but part of the problem is getting the volunteers. People seem to be overworked and overinvolved in other areas.

It sounds like you'd be interested in having a ministerial association or ecumenical society where you are.

[Yitzchak]

What you mention in this thread is certainly the Lord's will. We are one body and working together is more than just a practical logistical matter for certain projects. It is a witness to the unchurched community.
A few suggestions from someone who has tryed what you are trying. First of all, don't underestimate the power of prayer. Having the Lord's vision is important but gathering a few who will pray with you through the process is crucial also. Secondly, many pastors already feel overwhelmed and overworked. Any new proposal, even ones which sound good are one more responsibility to manage. How much money will it cost? And how much time will it take? So keep that in mind and be willing to start small and be patient about progress. Having something in writing is extremely helpful when you go to present your message to pastors. Maybe even sending something in writing first and then following up with a visit.
On the topic of things which churches can do together. Ironing out doctrinal differences is very difficult. There needs to be a common goal which all churches can get behind and not feel threatened by. Such as getting together to pray for your city. It is inexpensive and if done periodically such as once every three months for starters it is not burdensome. One group of churches which I witnessed first hand working together took the fifth sunday night as their meeting time which doesn't occur every month (some months have four sundays). They got together for an hour of hymn singing and an hour of prayer. As I said starting small is essential. The point is that the first step is to get the churches doing something together even if it is a hymnsing so that they can build trust and a relationship which can be built upon later for joint projects.
I will pray for your success. Don't be discouraged if progress is slow at times. The type of thing you described often takes years to accomplish.

[icebreaker]

Although I prefer to just do do do and get things going right away it doesnt always work that way. I have started small working with local outreach ministries trying to get my feet in the door and now im trying to get info about the local pastor meetings that go on here in Elizabeth City, NC which i think is the ministerial association that Phoebe talked about. I hope to get input from local pastors about what are the needs. I think the idea of hymn singing and prayer is awesome I prefer a worship band but its all about the bigger picture here so I could definetly handle hymns for that. I wanted to start a revival in the city but pretty soon ill have to much stuff going on that I cant hold my plate up so I have got a friend going for it and he is about to go ask all the local churches what type of revival they would prefer and then go from there. The prayers are much appreciated