How do non-denominational Christians pick a church?

[1beleevr]

lapey: I guess that catholic couples also have unplannedpregnancies, to hear my catholic co-worker talk! His wife of 38 years is not a catholic(although she attends church with him), and at 46 and 44,respectively, they had another child! He said that Chad was not planned but they loved him anyway(well, duh!!!). After much begging and pleading, his wife agreed to let him raise their son as a catholic. But, she added,“Don’t ram your religion down my throat!” So, what of this marriage? What if the wife gets pregnant at age 54? And can married couple have oral sex to completion, or not? Is it in the Bible?

 

[1beleevr]

izod: Congratulations on finding your spot; so many people become “church gypsies,” and never do settle down with a home church!

 

[izoid]

]

Ours is simply called,“The M25 Project.” We go out to places like malls, public parks, etc., and witness to people, pass out Bibles, ask if they need help finding a church. Then twice a month, we go door-to-door, giving out food boxes, as needed, praying with people, giving them clothing vouchers, and job opportunity fliers. Then we go and serve food at the homeless center. And we also do outreaches for Christ, and back-to-school backpack outreaches, along with a Christmas toy drive.

It sounds like you are doing some very good things their, keep it up. Are you in Bakersfield? I grew up in So. Cal. but have been away for some years now. We used to go fishing up near Bakersfield.

 

[1beleevr]

It sounds like you are doing some very good things their, keep it up. Are you in Bakersfield? I grew up in So. Cal. but have been away for some years now. We used to go fishing up near Bakersfield.

]

In Tehachapi, actually; but we cover all of Kern County! The thing that made up my mind about my current church, The Way Fellowship, was their committment to community, and support for Jesus Shack, anon-profit group which facilitates many of our ministries! I am on such a high after an outreach! At last year’s children’s Christmas program, 25 adults gave their lives to Christ!

 

[izoid]

]

In Tehachapi, actually; but we cover all of Kern County! The thing that made up my mind about my current church, The Way Fellowship, was their committment to community, and support for Jesus Shack, anon-profit group which facilitates many of our ministries! I am on such a high after an outreach! At last year’s children’s Christmas program, 25 adults gave their lives to Christ!

I used to go to Tehachapi with a friend whose family had a 2nd home there. I remember apple trees and an old rusted out car that was all shot up.

M25…after Matthew 25?

 

[1beleevr]

I used to go to Tehachapi with a friend whose family had a 2nd home there. I remember apple trees and an old rusted out car that was all shot up.

M25…after Matthew 25?

]

Yess, it is after Matthew 25! You never know…“For as you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me!” And Tehachapi is a beautiful little community!

 

[tweetymom]

]

Yess, it is after Matthew 25! You never know…“For as you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me!” And Tehachapi is a beautiful little community!

Amen brother and God Bless you:thumbsup: in your ministry

 

[jmcrae]

Hey, jmcrae: Is the banning of birth control scriptural, or just what the early church fathers taught?

The Early Church Fathers quoted sayings of Christ (which are not recorded in Scripture) banning the use of “witchcraft and poison” for the prevention or abortion of a pregnancy.

Is menopause considered a form of birth control?

Menopause is a natural stage of life for a woman. There is nothing artificial about it.

How old should a woman be when she stops having children?

Surely that is up to the woman and her husband. As long as they don’t use poisons or surgical procedures to kill their unborn children, or poison themselves to prevent pregnancy, there is nothing the matter with stopping having children. All they need do is stop having sex during the fertile time.

If a young woman needs a hysterectomy to save her life, is this birth control?

Certainly not - it is a life-saving surgical procedure, which has the unfortunate side effect of making her permanently infertile. If she were to do such a thing on purpose, she would be guilty of self-mutilation.

 

[MariaG]

]

So you are saying that individual catholics such as yourself, go out and do such things as: Street Ministry, serve food to the homeless, work concerts, and witness to strangers you may encounter? Do you put into practice Matthew 28:19-20, and Matthew 25:31-40? I know that the cc as a whole donates money, has hospitals, and missionaries, but I wonder about the average “Joe catholic.”

I know you have gotten some responses, but why does it surprise you that any christian of any denomination would do these things?

Maybe you need to reconsider what you thought you knew about different Christian Churches, Protestant and Catholic?

And where do you think the Catholic Church “as a whole” gets all that money for hospitals and missionaries? From the average Joe! Sometimes it gets tough, when several weeks in a row there are “second collections” all for very important things. The Church doesn’t sell off art work to pay for these ministries, it asks the average joe in the pews to help pay for it. And we do.

Your sister in Christ,
Maria

 

[Lapey]

]

And what about us mature Christians who enjoy the incredible soul-enriching, hand-clapping contemporary Christian music? Our church plays 90% contemporary and 10% old hymns! It is a good mix:thumbsup:I believe that Chris Tomlin has his finger on the pulse of God!

I am a mature Catlick that also love Chris Tomlin’s music…and I agree he has Jesus truly running through his veins. I am listening to “I Will Rise” as I type, what a powerful tune!

 

[Lapey]

lapey: I guess that catholic couples also have unplannedpregnancies, to hear my catholic co-worker talk! His wife of 38 years is not a catholic(although she attends church with him), and at 46 and 44,respectively, they had another child! He said that Chad was not planned but they loved him anyway(well, duh!!!). After much begging and pleading, his wife agreed to let him raise their son as a catholic. But, she added,“Don’t ram your religion down my throat!” So, what of this marriage? What if the wife gets pregnant at age 54? And can married couple have oral sex to completion, or not? Is it in the Bible?

Yes Catholics have unplanned pregnancies, thus the openness to life always comment. Her comment about ramming a religion down someone’s throat is not normally used against Catholics; we are usually more passive than intrusive.

As far as mentions in scripture about immoral sexual acts, Jude 1:7 for one, it condemns unnatural sexual vice.

The teachings referred to in Genesis of the union of man and woman into one flesh. This great teaching is with the verses of creation, which the union is created for. How is life created with oral sex? Does Sodom and Gomorrah teach us anything about immoral sexual activity and fornication?

Its not about ramming religion down someone’s throat, it is about surrendering completely to God’s will, every part of your life; as I stated before, even the bedroom.

As you say you are pro-life and do not believe in abortion, you then have to agree with Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae. He was lead by the Holy Spirit to go against the majority of bishops of his time and present this as Catholic teaching. Yes we lost many Catholics because of this teaching about birth control, but truth is truth. Most Catholics do not follow this belief. I must admit that my wife and I did not at one time follow this teaching, however with education and a deepening faith we now do believe it to be of God and follow it.

If you remember right, Jesus gave His disciples a hard teaching that also cleared out all but the twelve, John 6. Peter said, “…to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life!”

My brother, truth never changes with the times. Morality is not a relative truth, it is truth.

As far as “is that in scripture” your question you keep repeating, why is it everything we do has to be spelled out clearly in scripture? Can you find in scripture where it is written that we should breath? In the creation stories it is stated that God created and breathed life into man, but he didn’t say for the man to breath on his own. That sounds ridiculous, but so does the question whether the prohibition of using the pill can be found in scripture or not.

Ok, sorry I am preaching again…lol

 

[Xavierlives]

I know I am late to this party but I can share with you my experiences.

My family and I were looking for a good church home. We had previously been in non-denominational and Bible churches. We made visits to many churches in our neighborhood and when we didn’t find a “fit” we expanded our search. We determined what churches were within a 30 minute drive from our home and visited them. We evaluated the sermon, the music, the children’s program, the youth program and the general feel of the members of the church. We had a very hard time finding a church that fit our criteria.

I decided to put aside all of my pre conceptions regarding other denominations, Baptist, Methodist and Lutheran and see what the first century church looked like. I have been a Bible believing Christian for many years so I was familiar with Acts and most of the NT, Hebrews was an exception. I looked in my church history books, I took church history and theology courses at iberty University. I did google searches for early church practices. My goal was to get a complete understanding of how the early, first 5 centries, church understood and practiced their faith.

What I found was that the early church fathers, my history books and all sources in the early formation of the church were Catholic. I also found that many of the practices that I had objected to, infant baptism for one, were ALL practiced by the early church. I could not find any resemblance to the early church in ANY of the churches that I had visited.

I called my local Catholic deacon to talk it over with him. I was not a happy camper and my wife was even less happy. In the end, I really had to acknowledge that the early church was the Catholic church. I then needed to decide if I trusted God enough to preserve His Bride or whether I wanted to continue to rebel against Her. I am now in the Catholic Church and very gratefull to be there.

It seems that your searching process was similar to ours. Right now we are attending a somewhat popular church with a very well known pastor and we love the services, we love the spirit, and the message. Our only kicker is we can’t seem to find a sunday school class we like. So we keep searching, hoping that we might find that same mix but a bit smaller with a nice sunday school fellowship.

 

[Lapey]

If every couple had unlimited chldren, would we starve our population out?

No I dont think that God would do anything that is not in His plan. Unless His plan is to starve our population out, then I would say yes. But hey I’m not God.

Just imagine if families would be like the “old days” with 8, 10, 12 kids. Do you realize how many people we would have to do charity work? The mission workers would be coming out of the woodwork. We would have no shortage of young men studying to be priests or protestant pastors.

Scientist who work on cures and other issues would be more plentiful. I could go on but I think I made my point.

One last note, how many people do you think the Lord has already sent us to develope a cure for cancer? If only we would not abort the concieved or prevent the conception of others whom God knew before they were formed in the womb. Just imagine what society could be with all of God’s creations alive and well living here with us!

 

[Lapey]

It seems that your searching process was similar to ours. Right now we are attending a somewhat popular church with a very well known pastor and we love the services, we love the spirit, and the message. Our only kicker is we can’t seem to find a sunday school class we like. So we keep searching, hoping that we might find that same mix but a bit smaller with a nice sunday school fellowship.

Just a question, would you ever consider a Catholic solution? If not why not, and if so why?

The reason I ask is it is often said by many protestants that “never would I consider a Catholic church”. I just believe if there is something there for anyone how do you know if you don’t seek?

 

[david40]

Non-Denominational is actually Non-Denominational Denomination just like the Methodist denomination, Presbyterian denomination, Baptist denomination, etc. When the church doesn’t belong to specific big group, they are called the non-denominational denomination church. Most of these churches are quite big in size. I have been to some of these non-denominational denomination churches and I don’t really like it.

 

[jmcrae]

And what about us mature Christians who enjoy the incredible soul-enriching, hand-clapping contemporary Christian music?

Everyone is welcome to attend the “Youth Mass” - the tern “Youth Mass” is not intended as a description of who is allowed to come, but rather, of the style of preaching and music that will be presented. I think they also might call it the “Contemporary Music Mass” as well.

All Masses are Mass, though - the essentials are present at all of them, and we don’t check ID at the door.

 

[jmcrae]

Question for all:

Is Church a consumer product that we “get” that is intended to improve our lives in some way (like a good deodorant, or a safe car), or is it an opportunity to serve God within our community?

Is finding a good Church about finding a place where our God-given gifts can be used to their greatest potential in the service of God’s people, or is it about finding a place that will give us positive emotional experiences?

I just want to throw that out there for consideration.

 

[crazzeto]

Question for all:

Is Church a consumer product that we “get” that is intended to improve our lives in some way (like a good deodorant, or a safe car), or is it an opportunity to serve God within our community?

Is finding a good Church about finding a place where our God-given gifts can be used to their greatest potential in the service of God’s people, or is it about finding a place that will give us positive emotional experiences?

I just want to throw that out there for consideration.

Yeah, that’s a very good point and unfortunetly I think it’s one which is lost upon most American Christians for sure. The problem is further complicated by pluralism and relitivism. People get the false idea that it’s all the same thing, so it really doesn’t matter, so I’m going to find the Church that best suites my needs. Sorry folks, there can only be a single objective truth of God. It’s not all true.

 

[Through_Him]

i have no problem in the fact that my basics in my morals and beliefs came from the catholic church but i can not accept the certain views and attitudes i have witnessed within the church.
the advice i previously mentioned that i got from a priest was when i had tried to return to the church and immediately i felt if this is the sort of advice a priest will give someone who is trying to come back into the church well theres something wrong there. Thinking more about it on my way home that morning i ended up feeling that mabye im being told that that is not the place for me and to keep looking.

This may seem silly as my post last to you is way way back there.

Sorry to not get back very soon and this thread is going on and on. But I did want to converse with you more. I have been busy but don’t want to leave you with the idea that I don’t care. I think the priest was just wanting to give you more time if you are not ready yet. I am glad to hear you are holding on to the teaching that are true. Not many claim that these days. We even as Catholics do have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and within the church. If something is contrary to the CCC then that person is in the wrong. The CCC is based on scripture and tradition, but I don’t want to get into all that right now. None of us are near holiness we are all under grace. Keep seeking truth and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you feel like it go back to the priest and ask him what he meant or take several questions with you to ask him more. This you can do in confession or a seperate session as he would like to hear your story. We all have a story to tell of our experiences.
God bless and care for you.

 

[Through_Him]

Question for all:

Is Church a consumer product that we “get” that is intended to improve our lives in some way (like a good deodorant, or a safe car), or is it an opportunity to serve God within our community?

Is finding a good Church about finding a place where our God-given gifts can be used to their greatest potential in the service of God’s people, or is it about finding a place that will give us positive emotional experiences?

I just want to throw that out there for consideration.

If we are just looking for a good emotional experience it is better to just watch a hallmark channel. I used to just because it felt good. You can watch but not be part of the living act. I watched Touched by an angel too, which gets down to the nitty gritty but then I am still watching an angel do all the work. Well I don’t watch those things so much any more.