What do you think of when you hear "church"?

Miscellaneous...yea, this qualifies! LOL!

Wow. I didn't know if this thread would ever come back up again, but it has. Since my initial post, I've wondered what people thought of that weren't from church, and what they're view of church was. I also wondered what people of different faiths/religions felt about the concept of "church".

It seems that people often time look at the structure of the church, the building, the belief systems, and what not. But here in the U.S. I am seeing a change in church, as we've come to know it, where people are trying to find methods in attracting a new crowd.

But biblically, the church was never about methods, or tactics with underlying movtives. It was strictly the power of God, correct?

Let's say it was about religion, then what would have been the point of having a new testament come in to play, when the old testament was pretty much religion, or repetitive practices with rites.

Obviously I'm speaking from a Christian viewpoint, and that's what I'm leaning towards in this thread. I've seen the legalistic churches, and I've seen liberal churches, and somewhere in between some folks want to just live as they please and have their own interpretation, but how does that affect a church/movement in general?

Any thoughts?

Cheers!

here's my church... its awesome... but I don't let that get in the way of God! www.rockchurch.org.uk we only just started amking the website recently so its a little thin but I'm part of the group that goes in to build it :D I did the flash loop on the front page.

Church has been so BADLY stereotyped recently and I'll be honest, the christian church is a disgrace! It is mocked and ridiculed all the time. Now when Jesus was around his worst enemies (the people who hated him) were the pharisees, and they were head of the churches and were very religious... Jesus only ever attracted non-church people by talking to them in an unconventional and down-to-earth way! That is the idea of the Rock Church. We have been knocked publicly because we don't do things the way religious churches do, we're trying to attract people to thinking twice about life and teach them how to live a fantastic one! I have no regrets at all! Anyway we have to break that awful stereotype... I mean who here is attracted to the idea of going to a cold church, singing hymns and told you're a sinner?? Maybe christians like that but that's not what church is suposed to be for!

kev: I like your site, it's really clean, and I'm a sucker for blue. I understand what you mean by stereotype and that's why I asked the question about what people think when they hear the word "church". To be honest with you I thought some would say, "Oh we hate it, because they tell you you're a sinner and..."

You get the picture, I was assuming it was stereoptyped. Now while the Pharisees were the ones who opposed Christ, it was due to religious blindness and not a spiritual awakening of the Messiah. So while we can look at the character of Christ, can we also be just like Christ in all that He did?

What I'm referring to now is, when people say, "Oh Jesus will heal you" and you go to pray for someone in the wheel chair, what happens if they don't get up?

Of course this might be more on the side of miracles signs and wonders, but I think it plays into the way Christians are viewed. I've seen many churches shifting to this mainstream side here in the states where Christians are trying to just be "cool" and tell people about Christ, but I find something missing in the face of the severe situations we often face in real world living.

Any other thoughts?

Cheers!

zerimar3 wrote:
"What I'm referring to now is, when people say, "Oh Jesus will heal you" and you go to pray for someone in the wheel chair, what happens if they don't get up?

Of course this might be more on the side of miracles signs and wonders, but I think it plays into the way Christians are viewed. I've seen many churches shifting to this mainstream side here in the states where Christians are trying to just be "cool" and tell people about Christ, but I find something missing in the face of the severe situations we often face in real world living.

Any other thoughts?"


Churches trying to be cool, eh? This is funny But I agree something huge is missing – it's called reality.

Obviously, we could never be like Christ, there was only one Messiah and only one person hanging on the cross for our sins so in that regard we can't be like Christ. Christ was also sinless, we're corrupt in every way so we cannot be like Christ in this regard either.

Somehow though, in the mystical realm, Christ can be active in us and perform miracles through us if we pray for it but these miracles are not always instantaneous like some people think. I understand what you're saying about the wheelchair thing, or another severe example would be the latest floods in New Orleans, many ask why would God do this? But in reality maybe humans are to blame for straightening a river that was meant to be meandering, building a large city below sea level right where historically it has been a bowling lane for hurricanes, removing swamp land, maybe global warming, nevertheless sometimes God is blamed for our own stupidity.

FWIW, I should clarify something, although I consider myself a born-again Christian I do not believe the way "mainstream" (USA type) Christianity believes.

love & peace,
dirt

Church...

Here's what I think of church. First, in my experience, no matter what church I've been to, it's full of people who are competing. What they are competing for differs from church to church, but they always seem to be having a competition. I'll list 'em one my one.

Baptist. I was raised in a Baptist church. I was "saved" in a Baptist church. I also lost my faith in a Baptist church. The problem with this church was they were too busy coming to church to see and be seen. There were the odd few who seemed to be at church for the reason the place was built. For the worship of a higher power who we choose to deem as God. I lost my faith because the people who made the decisions about the direction of the church fired the preacher who I, and other people my age had spent a great deal of time with. When with him, we didnt just talk about God or religion or dogma. We talked about these things yes, but we also had alot of fun. He organized sporting events and other events that the other members of the church considered secular.

This preacher had some vision. He understood that to keep young people in the church, he was going to have to step over the line at some point. He did so regularly, and because of this, the members of the church voted to oust him. I lost my faith in Churches because of this. In my mind, the people who made this decision were more concerned about their image in community than they were with the fact that the preacher had packed the house every week for the 5 or 6 years he was there. In my experiences, Baptists, Presbytyrians and Methodists all seemed to be more concerned with their image than they are with the message.

Church of God/Pentacostle Holiness. These people, from an outsider's point of view seem to have nothing devious going on, but after spending almost 6 months attending a small church around the corner from my childhood home, I learned that these people are having the worst competition of all. Instead of worrying about their image in the community or going to church to see who is there, they go to church to compete to see who is more religious than the other. SOme of the members of this church had a really distorted view of religion in general. Also, the constant bombardment of Hell-fire and Brimstone got really boring. No, I wasn't there to be entertained. I was there looking for a message I hadn't gotten anywhere else. Problem is, these types of churches are notorious for preaching God's wrath and fury, but they skip over "God loves you" part. It's all punishment for sins I haven't even commited yet.

As for Catholic churches, I have only set foot in one on 2 seperate occasions. I don't agree with many of their practices. The catholic heirarchy kinda makes me wonder about them. They're set up more like a business than a religious organization, with the pope at the top as the CEO. Honestly, when was the last time the leader of the Catholic church did something that counted? The pope is, more-or-less, the leader of an ancient religious who can't decide if it's ok to eat meat on friday or not.

[QUOTE=Axiom]This preacher had some vision. He understood that to keep young people in the church, he was going to have to step over the line at some point. He did so regularly, and because of this, the members of the church voted to oust him. I lost my faith in Churches because of this. [/QUOTE]

Ax: you said a great deal of important things, but the above statement is what grabbed me hardest. I think the issue is, you never should have put your faith in a church to begin with--or a man for that matter. Our faith is in God; it's all about our relationship with him. Why even have church then? Well, partially because God tells us to fellowship together. It's to give us a place for corporate worship, a place to disciple and be held accountable to other believers. But none of that is supposed to be in conflict with our relationship with the living God.

Every church struggles with change. When you have a pastor who is a visionary, I can guarantee there will be coots in the back with their feathers ruffled. I watched my dad pastor churches (Methodist) that loved him and supported him, and I watched him serve churches that tried to run him out of town. Basically the problem with churches is that they are made up of PEOPLE!

Wifey and I have never gotten hung up or paid much attention to denomination or dogma. We find a church where they love God and they love each other, and we try to plug in! They all have problems, always will--but you have to find one that gives you a place to work on your relationship with God and challenges you, and encourages you. And plug in!

Dan wrote:
>"They all have problems, always will--but you have to find one that gives you a place to work on your relationship with God and challenges you, and encourages you. And plug in!"

Well put, Dan.

love & peace,
dirt