Couple to form their "own church" ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ceil-1
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Ceil-1 said:
A friend has informed me that a mutual acquaintance and her husband plan to form their own church. This is in response to a change in the leadership of their non-denominational church wherein the pastor is hiring a man who has been divorced and remarried as co-pastor.

They base this decision on Jesus’ admonishment against divorce in the Gospel, as well as something in the New Testament about a bishop only being married once.

My concern for them is the responsibility of taking on for themselves a position of authority, thereby making themselves responsible for the souls in their congregation.
  1. Where does the authority over their prospective congregants come from?
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They don’t have spiritual authority over them. They are leaders, not masters.
  1. How do they think they will be able to escape the same pitfalls as their current pastor?
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I would say that they and anyone else who tries to create the perfect church is delusional.
If I were they, I would be scared to death to take on such a weighty task. They seem to be very comfortable with this, however, they are still discerning the move.
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Those of you who come from this faith tradition, can you answer the above questions, and, can you comment on whether you think they are on dangerous ground?
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It is a burden to bear to lead other Christians as a pastor. It’s a high calling that’s not meant for anyone. A lot of demands will be placed on them. I hope they are prepared.

It’s not dangerous ground, but they have to be wise about this. They have to realize the enormous amount of time spent leading the people, handling the finances, building committees, handling money, etc. It’s not an easy task.

They will make mistakes, surely, but as long as they learn from them they will be just fine.

Peace…

MW
 
VWcrazy said:
Like establishing your Churches without any sort of Biblical support?
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Here is what we know:
The Bible has churches
The Bible says that were two or three are gathered, he is there
The majority of Gentile Christian churches were in homes
So, I would say starting a church is ok, you can feel free to disagree and have.
 
Here is what we know:
The Bible has churches
The Bible says that were two or three are gathered, he is there
The majority of Gentile Christian churches were in homes
So, I would say starting a church is ok, you can feel free to disagree and have
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Let’s be honest, now. This is what we really know:

Christ established only one Church.
Meeting with other Christians does not constitute establishing a new Church.
There is zero Biblical support for starting one’s own Church. If there were any, Rightlydivide would have provided it by now. Instead, he dodges the issues and quotes a Scripture or two which has absolutely nothing about the issue.
 
justinthemartyr said:
starting another man made church is certainly the going thing within the realms of sola scriptura. This is why there are over 30,000 denominations of churches like this, and 3-7 of them are added per week at last count.

Jesus started one church, upon cephas, scripturally and historically. One flock, One shepherd.

If you bring any other shepherd along to start another flock tha was not ordained in the line of the first bishops of the church it cannot be perfectly adherent to what the Original and True Shepherd taught His other shepherds that He ordained. Therefore you have either a group teaching something somewhat close to what the original shepherd taught, or something far from what the original shepherd taught, depending on their own personal view of the scriptures.

Either way, they do not have the continued line of Power which is given by the hands of ordination from the first apostles(bishops) of the church. Especially to confect the Eucharist and bring the flock all of the sacraments where we receive special graces.
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The church is simply a “called-out assembly” of believers which comes from the word “ecclesia”. Whether it’s a home church or not, they are still a “called-out assembly” of people and therefore a church, with the spiritual gifts that God has given them. Some will be apostles, some teachers, some evangelists and so on.

Peace…

MW
 
Rightlydivide said:
I read and learn about the Jesus in the Bible. Catholicism does not have any knowledge about Christ that I do not have or anyone else. Sure, there are books that claim to know things we do not but they are usually gnostic in nature.
Souls will be won. People will be baptized. You notice this Catholic poster does not rejoice at that. I wonder why? If an agnostic became Catholic, I would be VERY happy for them. I rejoice when souls are converted to Christ because I know what it did for me and others.
For some people, those who go to a church that claims an exclusive knowledge of Christ, not being part of that very special group that is right and everybody else is wrong is difficult.
I have always said that Christians can be found in most churches.
I do think the Bible should be followed in all matters but Lord have mercy, a won soul is a won soul and I praise God for that.
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You can read and study Jesus and the Bible but you wil never find him there . Like the occupant of Plato’s cave you watch shadows dance across the wall and think you’re seeing Jesus in full technicolor when in reality you’re been exposed only to a pale shadow of the truth. Jesus and his church are one and the same. You cannot separate Jesus from the Catholic Church and you cannot separate the Catholic Church from Jesus. Unless you come home you will spend your life studying scripture and coming up with your own personal version of the truth and then trying to reconcile it with other people version of the truth(as you do here). The sad part is you don’t have to search for it. Is there any time you want to acquire it. I recommend you wak down that aisle and take a seat. He will be there shortly
 
estesbob said:
You can read and study Jesus and the Bible but you wil never find him there . Like the occupant of Plato’s cave you watch shadows dance across the wall and think you’re seeing Jesus in full technicolor when in reality you’re been exposed only to a pale shadow of the truth. Jesus and his church are one and the same. You cannot separate Jesus from the Catholic Church and you cannot separate the Catholic Church from Jesus. Unless you come home you will spend your life studying scripture and coming up with your own personal version of the truth and then trying to reconcile it with other people version of the truth(as you do here). The sad part is you don’t have to search for it. Is there any time you want to acquire it. I recommend you wak down that aisle and take a seat. He will be there shortly
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While I can appreciate the fact you are a whiz at descriptive language, I do not think you have extrabiblical insight into Jesus.
Blessings.
Dana Plato? I never really watched different strokes, I was more of an ALF fan.
 
estesbob said:
You can read and study Jesus and the Bible but you wil never find him there . Like the occupant of Plato’s cave you watch shadows dance across the wall and think you’re seeing Jesus in full technicolor when in reality you’re been exposed only to a pale shadow of the truth. Jesus and his church are one and the same. You cannot separate Jesus from the Catholic Church and you cannot separate the Catholic Church from Jesus. Unless you come home you will spend your life studying scripture and coming up with your own personal version of the truth and then trying to reconcile it with other people version of the truth(as you do here). The sad part is you don’t have to search for it. Is there any time you want to acquire it. I recommend you wak down that aisle and take a seat. He will be there shortly
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I’m surprised by this post, really surprised.

Jesus seems really inaccessible to many people according to your view. He seems distant, narrow-minded, exclusivist and overall a hard person to get to know.

I don’t call waiting to enter RCIA finding Jesus.

I find that if I call upon Him sincerely like King Solomon did asking for wisdom that He will appear regardless of His written revelation or priests in a church building.

I can’t subscribe to that vision of the risen Christ but to the vision of Jesus who is accessible to all who sincerely come to him. He summed up the law and the prophets easily. Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.

I don’t need your church authority, priest or building to find Jesus Christ.

Peace…

MW
 
I find it hard to believe that the couple mentioned in the OP are really leaving the church because a divorced pastor was hired. To my knowledge, Fundamentalist/Evangelical churches say that divorce is A-OK; that is, there are no ecclesiastical penalties or criteria for remarrying after a divorce.

Only the Catholic Church teaches that civil divorce has no effect on a sacramental marriage bond, and that nothing except death can dissolve a sacramental marriage bond.

But even the Catholic Church teaches that obtaining a civil divorce for the purpose of dividing property and arranging child custody is not in and of itself a sin. It’s also not a sin if done to preserve the safety of the spouse and/or children. The sin comes when one believes that the divorce dissolves a sacramental marriage bond and remarries outside of the Church.

It just seems odd that a Fundamentalist Christian couple would have such a Catholic view of marriage, but not a Catholic view about starting their own church. Especially given that, according to the Bible, Jesus established a Church – he didn’t say, “Lo, everyone in the world is Peter, and upon these rocks I will build many diverse churches that teach radically different doctrines.” 🤷
 
Rightlydivide said:
While I can appreciate the fact you are a whiz at descriptive language, I do not think you have extrabiblical insight into Jesus.
Blessings.
Dana Plato? I never really watched different strokes, I was more of an ALF fan.
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I dont have to settle for a biblical insight into Jesus. Why would I want to settle for that? I would then know him no better than I know Julius Caesar from reading about him. This morining I held my Lord and Savior in my hands-I held him tight for a moment and then I followed his command to eat his body and drink his blood. One can simply not know Jesus better than that.
 
wanner47 said:
I find it hard to believe that the couple mentioned in the OP are really leaving the church because a divorced pastor was hired. To my knowledge

, Fundamentalist/Evangelical churches say that divorce is A-OK; that is, there are no ecclesiastical penalties or criteria for remarrying after a divorce.

True but having a divorced pastor is highly frowned on.

I would send links but they are to sites I would get in trouble for. But do a google search.
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estesbob said:
I dont have to settle for a biblical insight into Jesus. Why would I want to settle for that? I would then know him no better than I know Julius Caesar from reading about him. This morining I held my Lord and Savior in my hands-I held him tight for a moment and then I followed his command to eat his body and drink his blood. One can simply not know Jesus better than that.
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I disagree, if I came up and took a bite out of someone, I do not think I would know more about their love, character, and personality. Although I would probably know A LOT more about their right hook…
 
wanner47 said:
To my knowledge, Fundamentalist/Evangelical churches say that divorce is A-OK; that is, there are no ecclesiastical penalties or criteria for remarrying after a divorce.
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That is not true.

Divorce/Remarriage is a debated topic amongst us fndies and evangelicals.
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
I’m surprised by this post, really surprised.

Jesus seems really inaccessible to many people according to your view. He seems distant, narrow-minded, exclusivist and overall a hard person to get to know.
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Many can claim to know him but to know him in all his fullness one can only do that through his Church
I don’t call waiting to enter RCIA finding Jesus

I find that if I call upon Him sincerely like King Solomon did asking for wisdom that He will appear regardless of His written revelation or priests in a church building.
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And this method has led to the proliferation of Chruch’s the OP talked about. Everyone in a mad dash to create a Jesus in their own image and likeness.
I can’t subscribe to that vision of the risen Christ but to the vision of Jesus who is accessible to all who sincerely come to him. He summed up the law and the prophets easily. Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
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Jesus is acessible to all who want to sincerely come to him. unfortunately many settle for less than the real thing. They create a Jesus who is their buddy and tags along with them whispering the truth in their ear. The problem is buddy Jesus is whispering other truths in others ears. God is not the author of confusion. The fullness of truth is found ONLY in his Church
I don’t need your church authority, priest or building to find Jesus Christ.
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But the Church IS Jesus. If you know Jesus you know the Church

Peace…

MW
 
Rightlydivide said:
I disagree, if I came up and took a bite out of someone, I do not think I would know more about their love, character, and personality. Although I would probably know A LOT more about their right hook…
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So you pick and choose what in the Bible you want to believe? Proof positive of the inherent flaw of Sola Scriptura.
 
This thread has gotten way off course and has degenerated into petty arguing. I apologize for my part in it. I shouldn’t have fed the troll. I’m leaving now, and I’ll be praying.
 
estesbob said:
Actually you believe your personal interpretation of everything in the Bible.
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I do not know many people who do not believe their personal interpretation of the Bible. While some obviously believe the interpretation, or claim to, of an authority figure, they still have to make a personal decision to do so.
 
Quackers said:
This thread has gotten way off course and has degenerated into petty arguing. I apologize for my part in it. I shouldn’t have fed the troll. I’m leaving now, and I’ll be praying.
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I do not think there are any trolls on this thread. There might be people you disagree with and are calling names, but not any trolls.
 
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