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My wife and I have been visiting various churches in the Triangle area and are rather confused by the environment of so many establishments.
We want one that practices tolerance and preaches acceptance of people based on who they are as humans and not focus on their shortcomings..but rather their POTENTIAL.
One of the ideals that brought us here was that the Triangle has so much diversity and appeared to maintain its perspective. No one group was publicly targeted (other than what the Johnston County Sheriff said way back) and most people here are genuinely neighborly.
Once in a while we do meet a person who is so full of anger and vengeance..but we are able to look past that and see that person for who they can be and the real person that is being hidden by these hurtful feelings. Not that it changes that person, but it allows us to see a different perspective--and begin to ask what might be done to eliminate this from our neighborhood.
One of our neighbors here is a kind elderly man. He says he is 80 but he speaks with the wisdom of Solomon. It is wonderful to sit and listen to him in the afternoon. Sometimes he begins to ramble and he has a tendency to stray from his message, but it is easy for me to take an extra 5 or 10 minutes to listen to the gentleman, even when his idea has become lost in the conversation.
In short we would like to find a church like the one the prostitute talks about in a Tony Campolo book---
Tony is in a diner in downtown Honolulu while he was in town every night around 3:00 a.m. (heard this one?)
He notices a young "working" lady come in and sit down. She orders coffee. drinks it and leaves..
This happens for the next three nights. Tony talks with the cook / manager and finds out she comes in every night before going home after "work."
Tony also finds out that Friday is her birthday.
So Tony gets the cook and waitress and others from off the street to decorate the diner with HAPPY BIRTHDAY LU LU....
On Friday when Lu Lu comes in..she is in tears...she asks Tony who are you that you would do something like this for me?
Tony tells her he is a minister.
Lu Lu replies NO WAY..cause I would go to a church that had a minister like you...
I guess that is what we are looking for in the TRIANGLE.
You say want a church but not what your faith/denomination is. ? Based on your post, you sound very "New Age"-? Offhand don't know of any such, but will keep an ear out. Good luck!
Maybe you would be happy at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Wade Avenue in Raleigh. It may not meet all your needs -- but possibly most of them. (I haven't been there, I've just read about them for years.) They are having a potluck/folk music event on Friday, June 12 (2009).
Excellent list on J_Lurk's link. You might also try googling the Unity Church of the Triangle which is located downtown at Person and Hargett Streets. Good luck!
You say want a church but not what your faith/denomination is. ? Based on your post, you sound very "New Age"-? Offhand don't know of any such, but will keep an ear out. Good luck!
It's funny that a post illuminating a story of kindness to a prostitute and others is seen as new age when Jesus did the same thing (not criticizing, just making a wry observation because many churches see "new age" as satanic).
OP I agree about the unitarian universalist or unity churches, there are several throughout the triangle.
Such churches exist and come in all "brands." I attend a Methodist church, for example, and it is a very open, accepting and non-judgmental place. (Now, keep in mind, this is Chapel Hill - what choice does it have?) We've used Tony Campolo's stuff many times - including the story you highlighted - to inspire us to what we want to be.
Is there a particular part of the Triangle you're looking in?
Such churches exist and come in all "brands." I attend a Methodist church, for example, and it is a very open, accepting and non-judgmental place. (Now, keep in mind, this is Chapel Hill - what choice does it have?) We've used Tony Campolo's stuff many times - including the story you highlighted - to inspire us to what we want to be.
Is there a particular part of the Triangle you're looking in?
LIVESINTRIANGLE ----
It's funny that a post illuminating a story of kindness to a prostitute and others is seen as new age when Jesus did the same thing (not criticizing, just making a wry observation because many churches see "new age" as satanic).
OP I agree about the unitarian universalist or unity churches, there are several throughout the
Strange I never thought of Campolo as new age either...
We have attended Unitarian churches when we lived "elsewhere" (keep it local) and found they were quite welcoming. Our other consideration is an Episcapalian but think that might be a bit formal in its services?
We arte looking at either North Raleigh or the Eastern Wake area of Zebulon / Wendell. We hear the Methodist church in Wendell is very community orienated as well...
I too would love to be in a church with a minister like Tony...
Doesn't DENOMINATION mean DIFFERENT or something like that?
Denomination [di-nom-uh-ney-shuhn]::
one of the grades or degrees in a series of designations of quantity, value, measure, weight, etc.:
The Unity church that someone else mentioned is in North Raleigh and (as I understand) pretty close to Unitarian in "doctrine", as it were. I.e., more about helping people and working in the community than telling you you're going to hell for doing X, Y, and Z.
Pullen Memorial Baptist (yes, Baptist) is not in North Raleigh (it's on Hillsborough St next to NCSU) is actually among the more "liberal" churches in the area; they actually got thrown out of the Southern Baptist convention for blessing a gay union, a few years ago, and have a large gay/lesbian population in attendance, of folks who like "traditional church" services but had been turned away by the intolerance of most Baptists.
If you want to stay Episcopal, Church of the Good Shepard (also downtown) is very open-minded, and is most known for its exquisite music program; they are one of the few churches in the area who actually have paid soloists/section leaders in their choir, and it shows. A lot of its choir members are professional musicains for their "day jobs". But its doctrine is definitely more progressive.
I met someone after church the other week and he said he and his wife have spent the last two years visiting nearly 50 churches and finally found what they were looking for. He basically said he was looking for a church like you described.
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