We have been discussing what church is and what it should therefore look like. In doing so, we have contrast it with the institutional church. Many people have difficulty with the criticisms of the institutional church, which is of course not surprising if we have been closely tied and committed to it. A natural route
Recession
I understand that there are indicators predicting that the country will be out of this recession by the end of the year. I have been noticing some signs of things turning around already myself. So, don’t panic! I’m pleased to know that President Obama is concerned about the national debt, even in the present situation.
Church Recap
Our the past couple of weeks in our fellowship, we’ve been discussing how the church is organic, a living thing, born out of the Spirit of God, not an organization or machine we build ourselves. I won’t go into this much more here, as I have already blogged about it relatively recently. I will say
Communion
As I’ve been discussing, I am participating in a home fellowship. I have mentioned that we haven’t arrived yet, that we are merely in the beginning of a journey. I have recognized that what we are trying to do is generally different than what anyone has seen before, and therefore almost no one, including those
Further Thoughts on Church
Those of you who have been following me know that I am part of a home fellowship, and have some thoughts about church that are different than what is most common. I wanted to say a few things about this. First, to my knowledge only one of my friends so far has read one of
Christian Church
(Note: This is my best understanding of this subject from what I have heard, but I don’t guarantee it is without error.) I recently delved into the confusing subject which is the history of the church movement that I grew up in and was involved in for most of my life. The church I grew
Forgiveness
Forgiveness… does not mean that an offense didn’t matter is not ignoring an offense does not require the offender’s request nor repentance is not a one time act does not mean there aren’t consequences does not minimize an offense does not exaggerate an offense is choosing not to hold an offense against another (though choices
Rethinking Church
(Note: I have written the following post in response to comments shared on this post.) I once heard it said that every generation needs their own reformation. The idea is that we never quite get it all right, so we need to keep improving rather than thinking we’ve got it made. You are correct in
Christians and Government
I believe one of the biggest blind spots in American christian’s view on politics, is not seeing how we unbiblically tie our christian agenda onto the government. (I think once you see it, it looks almost absurd, yet few seem to see it.) That is, we say “As Christians, God’s will is that we (fill
Instructions on Church in the New Testament?
For a long time I used to think that Jesus and the apostles never laid out specific instructions on how to do church. Recently I’m beginning to learn that perhaps they did, but it’s so different from what we have today that I couldn’t see it. Jesus and the apostles never lay out an order