But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
The Irresistible Revolution
"While the voices of blockbuster movies and pop culture cry out for a life outside the matrix of numb efficiency, Christianity often has offered little to the world, other than the hope that things will be better in heaven."
"Sometimes we speak out to change the world, and other times we speak to try to keep the world from changing us."
"In our culture of "seeker sensitivity" and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow."
"We would like to include people like the rich ruler and Ananias and Sapphira, but we would end up with the sort of Christianity that arose after Constantine, in which everyone can be a Christian but no one knows what a Christian is anymore."
"For us, belief is only the beginning. What really matters is how we live, how what we believe gets fleshed out, so we also have a statement of orthopraxis (meaning, "right living, right practices"). And this is where most belief-oriented faith communities fall short. They tell us only what they believe, but they do not tell us how their beliefs affect their lifestyles."
"We live in an age in which people, when they hear the word Christian, are much more likely to think of people who hate gays than people who love outcasts, and that is a dangerous thing."
"The world has seen Christian extremists who will blow up abortion clinics and dance on doctors' graves. We have seen Christian extremists who hold signs that say, "God hates fags." The world has seen Christian extremists who declare war in the name of the Lamb. But where are the Christian extremists for love and grace?"
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Non traditional thoughts about life, the world, and God from a Christian's perspective.
"I am seized with fear that my own will will be given place, and I will thus ruin my usableness for God. It would be easy to follow my feelings...to interfere with the voice of the Lord when He says, 'This is the way, walk ye in it.' "
Elisabeth Elliott
Sunday, July 23, 2006
The quest for a church--part 1I have now visited Calvary Community Baptist Church twice. I have to say, I'm not impressed with it. The preaching is great. I haven't been in Scripture that much in church in a very long time. But I've sat alone on a pew for two Sundays in a row and not a single person came up to me to welcome me to their church. As I was leaving today, the pastor was too busy talking with someone to even look at me when he shook my hand.
The sermon, however, was really good. It was on Acts 3:11-26. This is right after Peter and John have healed the lame man and they are standing on Solomon's porch. I guess I just never paid attention to this account, but they mention Jesus 10 times in these few verses! This is a very clear presentation of the gospel, and they make it clear that even though the Jewish nation rejected and denied Christ, individually they can still accept him. It was a really good message.
Am I being too harsh since I don't want to go back based on the fact that not a single person welcomed me into their church?
Tags: Christianity, church, Acts, Jesus
Posted by Amanda at 7/23/2006 12:37:00 PM
7 Comments
ontheedgeofmyseat posted at 7/23/2006 02:33:00 PM
Are you being too harsh? That depends. You're never going to find a perfect church and God may have called you to that church to bring some hospitality in. However, if you don't feel God's calling there, don't be hesitant to move on - He probably has a better place for you.
carl posted at 7/25/2006 08:00:00 PM
I will never again settle for a church that is not friendly to visitors. It tells alot about the vission of the church.
Keep plugging away. Visit churches you might not normally visit. Treat your church hunt like sunday vacations where you sight see every week. Dress up and go have fun!
Leslie posted at 7/28/2006 08:01:00 AM
We have been searching for a church for over one year. We have visited 18 churches. Last Sunday, we went to one in which the preaching was great, but the folks weren't friendly. So unfriendly, we were told that we were sitting in another family's pew and might have to move!
LOVE is what you want to see in a church! Believers should be marked by LOVE! If you can't get a feel for a church's love for God or for one another, then don't go back. Keep looking. We're still looking, too, but we're not giving up.
Annette posted at 7/28/2006 08:49:00 AM
You really need to weigh it out. Pray about it. If the preaching is good, it shouldn't be shunned too quickly. It is so hard to find a church where God's word is truly preached.
As "myseat" said God may have called you there of teach the gift of hospitality. If so, wow...what an opportunity for you. :)
Query...is it a large church? If so, people might not know that you are new. And then it's just a case of not knowing any better.
If it's a smaller church, then there is work to do...You can take the initiative as well. Be friendly, introduce yourself, ask questions and so forth. :) Don't give up so easy. :) I know that it's not easy when you are the new kid on the block....but hey...life isn't always easy though! :)
A hint, ask a greeter (if they have one), where you can find um...the bathroom, cloak room or something along that line. If they don't then greet you and assist you...that will tell you a great deal about the church. I did that once and the person ignored me. And I know that they heard me because I was shaking their hand at the time and we were looking right at each other. I decided I didn't need to go back. :)
That kind of stuff is different than people just not knowing what to do. Like greeting strangers...some churches just have no clue about how to do that UNTIL someone teaches them. Who knows, you might be the one to do that. :) cheers!
Diane posted at 7/28/2006 10:42:00 PM
No, you are NOT being too harsh. IN fact, any church that talks to a stranger, not just the first time they come, but after that, is such an exception I think most of us would fall on the floor if it ever happened.
JCHFleetguy posted at 8/08/2006 12:05:00 PM
Every church hunt I have been on my wife and I knew when the spirit of God was active in a place.
Hospitality is key. I have been a greeter at the doors of three different churchs. I haven't attended a church long-term where at some point in the service they didnt take a break, turn around, and greet someone next to you. This is a simple 5-10 min process to allow the church to interact
An idea: if you feel called to that church, but ignored by it, make an appointment to meet the pastor; and tell him about your experience. But not unless hospitality is one of your spiritual gifts.
posted at 12/01/2007 09:08:00 PM
I STRONGLY believe that this is an issue in churches everywhere. When I see new people at my church I have to register it in my brain- "OK there's a new person, now go and greet them!" YES there are people out there who jsut have that thing about them where they go up to people everyewhere and greet them but you have to think about it in your own church as well! I think it's something that needs to be brought to attention in churches everywhere! I wouldn't poo poo it completely. Maybe find the Pastors e-mail or phone number and let him know about this. And maybe you won't attend the church again, but let him know that you feel it needs to be brought to the attention of the congregation as a whole. I am actually in the process of doing the same thing right now on the behalf of someone else, that's how I stumbled upon this page. I hope everything works well with you! Be Blessed!