Churches today - more of a social gathering.

[Jethro Bodine]

But rather than be judgmental and stay away, I choose to be uplifting.

It's not about being judgmental. It's about what is actually working, spiritually, and what is not.

I tried for many years to just do the 'don't be judgmental, be uplifting' thing and ignore what was so terribly wrong around me. And I accepted so many missed 'meals' on Sunday's all in the name of selflessness and sacrifice for the good of the whole. But then I realized it's just not going to change.

And then whenever I was able to get into a study group that did feed me spiritually, and where I could feed others, I always ended up looking like Marty Feldman to those toeing the line for our church traditions whenever I shared things that rubbed against their ingrained beliefs and traditions. The spirit of defensiveness is so strong in the church today. Instead of trying to overcome it...again...I bailed out for a while to get some rest...and get some work done around the house.

Right now, my wife and I have sort of adopted two young women, recently saved, recently out of jail, both with many issues and no family.
It is a joy to help them and see their appreciation.
I could not do this if I stayed away from church.

I think you could.

When one goes to church, they can learn from others and also teach others what we know.
It is a two way edification.
God wants this.
We should never settle for "going it alone".

I'm in complete agreement with this. The problem is I'm essentially alone in recognizing this two way street of edification. We need a new movement in the church that recognizes God's will for the meeting of the saints to be a two way street between each and every believer. I hoped some day the sacred cow of our church traditions would be ground up and thrown away, but I'm thinking that's prolly not going to happen.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

It's not about being judgmental. It's about what is actually working, spiritually, and what is not.

I tried for many years to just do the 'don't be judgmental, be uplifting' thing and ignore what was so terribly wrong around me. And I accepted so many missed 'meals' on Sunday's all in the name of selflessness and sacrifice for the good of the whole. But then I realized it's just not going to change.

And then whenever I was able to get into a study group that did feed me spiritually, and where I could feed others, I always ended up looking like Marty Feldman to those toeing the line for our church traditions whenever I shared things that rubbed against their ingrained beliefs and traditions. The spirit of defensiveness is so strong in the church today. Instead of trying to overcome it...again...I bailed out for a while to get some rest...and get some work done around the house.




I think you could.



I'm in complete agreement with this. The problem is I'm essentially alone in recognizing this two way street of edification. We need a new movement in the church that recognizes God's will for the meeting of the saints to be a two way street between each and every believer. I hoped some day the sacred cow of our church traditions would be ground up and thrown away, but I'm thinking that's prolly not going to happen.

Marty Feldman?
Yeah, I see that.

Is this Jethro?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Is this Jethro?

Only when I'm sharing things among Christians that make them look at me like I'm weird or something...you know, the truth they aren't being taught.

 

[evenifigoalone]

It is a bit annoying that those who attend church regularly as typically seen as the most faithful.

I enjoy going to church, I love the people there, and I love the fellowship. I enjoy the activities we do, and have nothing against them. But I'm mainly there for a chance to help with outreach, and to learn. I'm not entirely certain where my church would line up, but I do have more opportunities to help there than the church I previously attended. (Currently we are as a church looking at ourselves with intent to fix some things. We've been pastorless for over a year, but we got an intern pastor recently and he's having us study the churches in Revelation to see where we may need to improve.)
I think to some degree, it's the attitude of the people who go there that's the problem. You can be a member of a good church and still treat it like a social club.

 

[Obadiah]

It is a bit annoying that those who attend church regularly as typically seen as the most faithful.

It's typically the pastors that refer to them as the most "faithful" and what they are really saying is that they are the most faithful at attending church activities, not the most faithful to God or to doing God's will. There's a big difference. But to be honest, I've never heard a pastor use that term "most faithful" yet when he wasn't talking about a person who is faithful to his church.

I'm currently doing more ministry work than probably 90% or more of the congregation of the church I go to, but almost all of it is outside of that particular church. Neither the pastor nor any other of the leadership refer to me as "most faithful" and refuse to even acknowledge what I do if I try to talk about it. Because it doesn't directly benefit their church they don't even want to hear about it. When I got put in charge of a new county wide ministry that has started up, they didn't even care to hear much about it. Yet someone else who does some small thing one time (for that church) is put up on a pedestal like they're God's gift to Christianity. Were I relying on recognition of the pastor and leadership of that church for my reward I would have stopped doing everything a long time ago.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I'm off to church.
Talk later.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I just came back from my social gathering at church.
It was quite a time.
Had some good praise and worship music.
Spent a little time greeting people, and a couple of new people.
Got a solid sermon on the Gospel of John, chapter 15.
Saw 2 people step forward at the alter call (Praise the Lord).
And now I'm home awaiting my wife to cook some pasta for Sunday dinner.
Life is good.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Oh, I almost forgot.
Happy Sukkot!
We are in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, Deuteronomy 16:13-17;

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I just came back from my social gathering at church.
It was quite a time.
Had some good praise and worship music.
Spent a little time greeting people, and a couple of new people.
Got a solid sermon on the Gospel of John, chapter 15.
Saw 2 people step forward at the alter call (Praise the Lord).
And now I'm home awaiting my wife to cook some pasta for Sunday dinner.
Life is good.

It's sad that not everybody has a good church in their community to attend.

 

[Classik]

I just came back from my social gathering at church.
It was quite a time.
Had some good praise and worship music.
Spent a little time greeting people, and a couple of new people.
Got a solid sermon on the Gospel of John, chapter 15.
Saw 2 people step forward at the alter call (Praise the Lord).
And now I'm home awaiting my wife to cook some pasta for Sunday dinner.
Life is good.

No football there? Perhaps someone withheld the info from the secretary.

 

[reba]

church choices around here are LDS, SDA, DEAD or WEIRD

I am so happy to have this place... :yes

 

[Willie T]

It's sad that not everybody has a good church in their community to attend.

Where do you guys all live? We have more than 600 churches within easy driving of my house. Admittedly, a lot I would never attend... but a whole heap that I would.

I could stand at my front door, and shoot an arrow to the property of two... and almost be able to reach a third.

Our own congregation is a nine minute drive if we catch all the lights green.

 

[reba]

it is just about 3 hours to the nearest Walmart from our house.. i live past the middle of nowhere

 

[Jethro Bodine]

...or WEIRD

"So good of you to attend our service today.
Come back and see us."

"And don't forget to give your name and address and
phone number to the usher before you leave."

 

[Jethro Bodine]

We have more than 600 churches within easy driving of my house. Admittedly, a lot I would never attend... but a whole heap that I would.

We're the same on the 'lot I would never attend' part, but not on the 'whole heap I would'. That's the problem.

I really need to just stop talking about this. The sheer frustration about it made me decide to just stop talking about it. I've broken that decision by participating in this thread.

 

[Willie T]

it is just about 3 hours to the nearest Walmart from our house.. i live past the middle of nowhere

It's actually one of the reasons my wife doesn't want to move from West Central Florida. We probably have more than 5,000 churches within a one and a half hour's drive, and huge ongoing spiritual conferences almost every week somewhere in the same area.

We worked Summers in Milwaukee and the Chicago area for about 12 years, and were devastated at the lack of much spiritual activity in those places. Sure made us thankful for this area of Florida.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

We're the same on the 'lot I would never attend' part, but not on the 'whole heap I would'. That's the problem.

I really need to just stop talking about this. The sheer frustration about it made me decide to just stop talking about it. I've broken that decision by participating in this thread.

How about this Jethro?
http://www.ngacpn.org/

 

[Classik]

It's actually one of the reasons my wife doesn't want to move from West Central Florida. We probably have more than 5,000 churches within a one and a half hour's drive, and huge ongoing spiritual conferences almost every week somewhere in the same area.

We worked Summers in Milwaukee and the Chicago area for about 12 years, and were devastated at the lack of much spiritual activity in those places. Sure made us thankful for this area of Florida.

How many churches? How many people? How many converts? And what happens to the correlation?

 

[Willie T]

How many churches? How many people? How many converts? And what happens to the correlation?

What the heck are you even talking about?

I'm talking about the fact that, in this country, there are areas where you can find all sorts of Christian fellowship.... rather than just complaining that "there are no worthwhile churches around", and deciding to play Lone Ranger as the only viable alternative.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I'm talking about the fact that, in this country, there are areas where you can find all sorts of Christian fellowship.... rather than just complaining that "there are no worthwhile churches around", and deciding to play Lone Ranger as the only viable alternative.

But what if there really are no worthwhile fellowships around? I mean it has happened before in the history of God's people. I liken this time we're in to when the Israelites were steeped in their worship of Baal. It took Elijah to bring them back to their senses, not somebody who made concessions and made them feel better about the wrong they were doing and insisted we all just get with the program and quit complaining.