C
Cat
Guest
In several of the discussions in this section of CAF, I have been told that my viewpoints are “Protestant” when it comes to community, showing love to fellow Christians, expressing love for fellow Catholics by greeting them before or after Mass, singing together, etc.
This weekend, my husband read through some of these threads. His response was thought-provoking.
He said, with a knowing grin, “Boy, none of these people have ever been Protestant, have they?!”
We talked about it, and decided that all of the Protestant churches we were part of taught the importance of an “individual personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and taught very little about the “community of believers.”
Many times during a worship service, we heard the phrase, “Don’t think about anyone else. Close your eyes and forget about everyone and everything except Jesus.”
Apparently even your children were to be ignored. Many times, I watched children playing hand-held video games or reading a secular book or even falling asleep (school aged children, not babies and toddlers, who were usually in the church nursery) while their parents closed their eyes and prayed (often in tongues) and swayed to the music.
There’s a chorus with lyrics–“Just forget about yourself and worship Him.”
During many Protestant praise and worship times, there is no interaction at all with the people around you. You are instructed by the pastor or the worship leader to shut out everything and just concentrate on God.
These are just a few of dozens of examples that we came up with.
In all the Protestant churches that we were part of, community was seldom-never mentioned.
So I’m at a loss when Catholics tell me that my ideas about community are “Protestant.” To put it bluntly, nonsense.
Thankfully, I think that this trend is reversing in Protestant churches. Many Protestant churches, including mainline and traditional Protestant denoms, are re-naming themselves “communities” rather than “churches.” And many Protestant churches are breaking themselves up into cell groups so that people will feel part of a “community of faith.”
But this is fairly new. It sure wasn’t the norm when my husband and I were Protestant. Back then, it was all about “ME AND JESUS!” The rest of you didn’t matter that much.
My husband and I attended or were members of the following denominations:
General Baptist Conference (me age 7-18)
Assemblies of God (husband age birth -16)
Christian church (18-22)
Southern Baptist (22-24)
Christian and Missionary Alliance (24-36)
Reformed Church in America (36-38)
Evangelical Free Church in America (38-46)
With the exception of the Reformed Church in America, all of these churches would call themselves “evangelical.” The Assemblies of God would add “charismatic” or “Pentecostal.”
We were faithful, involved (over-involved!), well-informed members of these churches, and neither of us recalls ANY emphasis upon Christian community. Love, yes, OUTSIDE of the church, but not during the worship services. During worship, we were supposed to shut out everything and concentrate on God and His Word.
It was in the Catholic Church that we were first exposed to the idea that the Mass is a COMMUNITY liturgy, not a liturgy for "individuals."
We really found this teaching awesome!
We are part of one of the most conservative dioceses in the U.S. and the Bishop (Thomas Doran) resides in our city. So I hope no one will say that we have been wrongly taught.
I can’t state that all Protestants were taught the same way we were, but I’m sure many Protestants, especially evangelical Protestants, will attest that the emphasis in their church was/is on the individual relationship with Jesus Christ and not the “community” relationship with Jesus. (Maybe that’s why so many Protestant churches are only holding Communion services a few times a year.)
So, brothers and sister, in the future, if a Catholic on CAF tells me that I am talking like a Protestant when I say, “we need to show love for one another during Mass,” I’m going to respond, “Whatcha talkin’ about, Willis?!”
I want to add that in almost all of the Protestant churches that we were members of, the individual members were extremely loving OUTSIDE of church. At the Christian and Missionary Alliance church especially, our Christian brothers and sisters outdid each other in their acts of kindness towards each other; it actually got around the city, and people were coming to our church and asking, “Is this the church where all the people do so many loving things for each other? We want to join.”
This weekend, my husband read through some of these threads. His response was thought-provoking.
He said, with a knowing grin, “Boy, none of these people have ever been Protestant, have they?!”
We talked about it, and decided that all of the Protestant churches we were part of taught the importance of an “individual personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and taught very little about the “community of believers.”
Many times during a worship service, we heard the phrase, “Don’t think about anyone else. Close your eyes and forget about everyone and everything except Jesus.”
Apparently even your children were to be ignored. Many times, I watched children playing hand-held video games or reading a secular book or even falling asleep (school aged children, not babies and toddlers, who were usually in the church nursery) while their parents closed their eyes and prayed (often in tongues) and swayed to the music.
There’s a chorus with lyrics–“Just forget about yourself and worship Him.”
During many Protestant praise and worship times, there is no interaction at all with the people around you. You are instructed by the pastor or the worship leader to shut out everything and just concentrate on God.
These are just a few of dozens of examples that we came up with.
In all the Protestant churches that we were part of, community was seldom-never mentioned.
So I’m at a loss when Catholics tell me that my ideas about community are “Protestant.” To put it bluntly, nonsense.
Thankfully, I think that this trend is reversing in Protestant churches. Many Protestant churches, including mainline and traditional Protestant denoms, are re-naming themselves “communities” rather than “churches.” And many Protestant churches are breaking themselves up into cell groups so that people will feel part of a “community of faith.”
But this is fairly new. It sure wasn’t the norm when my husband and I were Protestant. Back then, it was all about “ME AND JESUS!” The rest of you didn’t matter that much.
My husband and I attended or were members of the following denominations:
General Baptist Conference (me age 7-18)
Assemblies of God (husband age birth -16)
Christian church (18-22)
Southern Baptist (22-24)
Christian and Missionary Alliance (24-36)
Reformed Church in America (36-38)
Evangelical Free Church in America (38-46)
With the exception of the Reformed Church in America, all of these churches would call themselves “evangelical.” The Assemblies of God would add “charismatic” or “Pentecostal.”
We were faithful, involved (over-involved!), well-informed members of these churches, and neither of us recalls ANY emphasis upon Christian community. Love, yes, OUTSIDE of the church, but not during the worship services. During worship, we were supposed to shut out everything and concentrate on God and His Word.
It was in the Catholic Church that we were first exposed to the idea that the Mass is a COMMUNITY liturgy, not a liturgy for "individuals."
We really found this teaching awesome!
We are part of one of the most conservative dioceses in the U.S. and the Bishop (Thomas Doran) resides in our city. So I hope no one will say that we have been wrongly taught.
I can’t state that all Protestants were taught the same way we were, but I’m sure many Protestants, especially evangelical Protestants, will attest that the emphasis in their church was/is on the individual relationship with Jesus Christ and not the “community” relationship with Jesus. (Maybe that’s why so many Protestant churches are only holding Communion services a few times a year.)
So, brothers and sister, in the future, if a Catholic on CAF tells me that I am talking like a Protestant when I say, “we need to show love for one another during Mass,” I’m going to respond, “Whatcha talkin’ about, Willis?!”
I want to add that in almost all of the Protestant churches that we were members of, the individual members were extremely loving OUTSIDE of church. At the Christian and Missionary Alliance church especially, our Christian brothers and sisters outdid each other in their acts of kindness towards each other; it actually got around the city, and people were coming to our church and asking, “Is this the church where all the people do so many loving things for each other? We want to join.”