You won't be able to keep me away. It is my hope and vision for Christians worldwide as well.
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Which denomination do you belong to and why? Or what you believe is the meaning of Church?
- Thread starter ervin p
- Start date
One thing I really dislike is when I meet other Christians (not from my Church) at an event, is that the first question they ask me is `which Church am I from?' How about `how is your christian life or `how are you feeling today?'
sometimes that is just a conversation piece just get things started . i like to ask that question then ask how the church is doing. compare services. there are some who use it as a launching point to tell how much better there Church is.. there will always be divisions. i agree on being the Body of Christ in fact i push it very hard. the church i reopened best i can tell. is they was a feel good church skits .the guy who was the pastor imo wanted to preach. instead of being called of God. the denomination thing can be Good if used right. i know a ASOG minister that when he preaches. you would not know he was ASOG until he mentions the church he pis pastor of. myself i do like the ASOG they are more inline. than some of the pentecostals .its more of a preference i like to discuss having church
It could be a conversation starter, as you said. I believe we are too conscious of labels. It is like nationality. As soon as you mention your nationality, you are judged by the stereotype they have. Say you attend pentecostal, then they think you are whatever they believe about pentecostals.
Someone told me recently that I look like someone who attends Anglican. Well, I don't. I did years ago. If I know how Anglicans look like, I may have to change my appearance.
Bob Carabbio
Member
And, when God decides it's TIME for that, it'll happen. Man's religious efforts will NEVER bring it about. All MAN can do is create division.
We can pray.
stovebolts
Member
Somethings need to be divided. For example, I personally have banned previous members who were more intent at dividing the Body and creating hatred against the Brotherhood than making an effort to unite the Body.
Bob Carabbio
Member
And THAT Prayer will be answered, when the time is right.
A lot of things do not happen because no one is praying. Prayers do make things happen and can stop the devil disuniting the Church. We cannot fold our arms and say God will unity us when it is time for him to do so. The devil will have a field day!
Bob Carabbio
Member
And folks have been praying and TRYING their best to "Unify" what ONLY the Holy Spirit can unify (like He did in a small, but significant, way in the '70s, but when The Spirit lifted, and the outpouring ended, folks went right back to their divisions. BUT no problem, He'll do it again when he's ready. FOr sure I'll never pay attention to "Denominalization" the way I did before.
stovebolts
Member
I believe the remnant is in the birthing pains of revival and it's happening through Worship.
The fastest growing ' denomination's' are within the Pentecostal churches. In part, I believe it's because of groups like Hillsong and Elevate which are leading the charts. Worship music takes the principal that less is more. In other words, the songs are easy to learn. I've been playing Bass for 10 months and can play most worship songs well enough that nobody guesses I'm a newbie.
Last November when my wife and I started visiting another church, she was asked to join the worship team which consisted of about 25 people. They didn't care that we were not members. The church we are going to now doesn't care either.
Bob Carabbio
Member
It appears to be that, in God's overall plan for the "Visible Church", it STARTED with "The just will live by FAITH", which the Catholics had long forgotten, even though it's the cornerstone on which everything else is built.
Then for the next 500 years God has been ADDING to the overall package line on line, and precept - each bitterly opposed by the "Old Guard" who swore that that they "Had it all" already.
The most RECENT addition being, in the last century, the Full Gospel movements that restored the concept of The GIFTS of the Holy Spirit - first the Pentecostal, followed 60 years later by the Charismatic revival, one component of which was a "non-Denominalization" of folks, primarily in the Liberal Denominational groups, and Roman Catholics. Like myself, even though I'm a Member in good standing in the Assemblies of God, they don't define me in the way they did back in the '60s when "Being Doctrinally correct, according to denominational ground rules" was "so important". And then God added a "NEW LAYER of truth" that eclipsed older understandings.
Even the hard-line cessationist groups are "softening".
From a Missionary standpoint, the Assemblies of God have been probably the MOST active association, with close to 70 million total membership+associates operated loosely out of a denominational HQ that only has 6 million members in the 'States. In MY opinion that's a good thing to financially support, since the U.S. has the CA$H, to establish churches, and the folks in the "Zero Zones" where there's NO Christian witness, don't.