How does one find the right church? (Micah, messages, Jehovah)
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Hi, I am currently attending a Church with a decent community, but I am having some disagreements with their '' agenda'' or attitudes so to speak. First a little bit of background information, I moved into a different area recently and found it a little difficult to get to my other Church on theoother side of town. I still attend sometimes, just not as often. Anyway I noticed a smaller church just a few blocks from my house, literally within walkingddistance, so I thought I would give it a try. Now before I go further I should state that the community has a lot of nice people in it, and I do respect the Pastor. He is a good man.
However this church is a bit different than my previous ones. For starters they meet on Saturday nights, something that I haven't done before. They said they changed the service time to Saturday night to try and attract new members but it doesn't seem be working. I also found out that the group used to be part of The World Wide Church of God, but broke away due to it's oppressive legalism. I agree that legalism is not the right way, as we are saved by Grace, and Jesus fullfilled The Law.
However I think this church went from one extreme to the other, they don't teach any moral guidance , just '' Legalism is bad, God forgives you. You're free'' and many of it's members have a ''Do whatever you want' ' kind of attitude when it comes to sin. They often try and justify things like abortions, homosexuality etc... and believe it's wrong to believe those things are sins. I think they are but I don'tjjudge those people because I believe God loves everyone, but I think it's also wrong to try and justify it.
Basically I feel that the church is a little too liberal. The pastor sometimes goes on weird anti- Republican rants in sermons and I don't understand why, and he praises Obamacare constantly and says GOP candidats scare hhim. It also loses new members within a few months, they attract a new one but they never stay. It's also a much older crowd than me, which is a problem because I'm a single man in my early 20s and I want a Church with hot single girls my age. It's the best way to find my soul mate.
So what do you recommend? Again its a friendly community and sometimes the Pastor gives a good message (such as forgiving others) butI feel it's lacking in moral teachings.
Read and study the Bible yourself. Get a basic understanding. Without that you will flounder.
I asked my wife, who years ago was bank teller, how they taught them to recognize a counterfeit bill. They taught what a true bill looke like and anything that didn't match was false.
Study first, then ask many others for what they see, compare not just what is popular but check to see it is based on truth and testable, such as variants in translations. See what is true and then look at any church and if you see one thing clearly wrong, don't go.
Kinda like if they support killing their brothers in another country in war, run.
Find a church that has no political affiliation.
The pastor should know how to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim.2:15).
The pastor should follow the apostle Paul, the apostle of the nations.
If the pastor is not obedient to 1 Timothy 4:10 and does not teach 1 Timothy 4:10 according to 1 Timothy 4:11, run away as fast as you can.
Hi, I am currently attending a Church with a decent community, but I am having some disagreements with their '' agenda'' or attitudes so to speak. First a little bit of background information, I moved into a different area recently and found it a little difficult to get to my other Church on theoother side of town. I still attend sometimes, just not as often. Anyway I noticed a smaller church just a few blocks from my house, literally within walkingddistance, so I thought I would give it a try. Now before I go further I should state that the community has a lot of nice people in it, and I do respect the Pastor. He is a good man.
However this church is a bit different than my previous ones. For starters they meet on Saturday nights, something that I haven't done before. They said they changed the service time to Saturday night to try and attract new members but it doesn't seem be working. I also found out that the group used to be part of The World Wide Church of God, but broke away due to it's oppressive legalism. I agree that legalism is not the right way, as we are saved by Grace, and Jesus fullfilled The Law.
However I think this church went from one extreme to the other, they don't teach any moral guidance , just '' Legalism is bad, God forgives you. You're free'' and many of it's members have a ''Do whatever you want' ' kind of attitude when it comes to sin. They often try and justify things like abortions, homosexuality etc... and believe it's wrong to believe those things are sins. I think they are but I don'tjjudge those people because I believe God loves everyone, but I think it's also wrong to try and justify it.
Basically I feel that the church is a little too liberal. The pastor sometimes goes on weird anti- Republican rants in sermons and I don't understand why, and he praises Obamacare constantly and says GOP candidats scare hhim. It also loses new members within a few months, they attract a new one but they never stay. It's also a much older crowd than me, which is a problem because I'm a single man in my early 20s and I want a Church with hot single girls my age. It's the best way to find my soul mate.
So what do you recommend? Again its a friendly community and sometimes the Pastor gives a good message (such as forgiving others) butI feel it's lacking in moral teachings.
Forget those fly by night small churches that change from month to month looking for members. They play everything by ear and they are almost as bad as those solo Christians that read their bible at home and do their own interpretations in a vacuum.
I suggest a well established mainline church where the pastor or priest is well educated and well versed in theology. Since you are a Protestant I would consider the Anglican Church or the Lutherans. Perhaps try the Methodist Church too.
Otherwise, you are dealing with a boat with no rudder and pastors that are poorly educated, many with no formal education to be a minister.
"However I think this church went from one extreme to the other, they don't teach any moral guidance , just '' Legalism is bad, God forgives you. You're free'' and many of it's members have a ''Do whatever you want' ' kind of attitude when it comes to sin. They often try and justify things like abortions, homosexuality etc... and believe it's wrong to believe those things are sins. I think they are but I don'tjjudge those people because I believe God loves everyone, but I think it's also wrong to try and justify it."
I have to wonder about your perception of this. For instance, are they saying that it is ok to have an abortion, or are they saying that it is not a matter for legislation and we should not impose religious perceptions on others? I'd need to know a little more about their teachings on the subject, but it sounds like you are not open to anything but the ideas concerning sin that you have been taught in which case you might need to look around a little more. Finding a place where you can tell that people are actually doing the work of the Kingdom would be a good idea.
Basically their unofficial stance is that they think it's wrong for Christians to speak out against abortion. Or any other sinful thing that is occuring in our culture at large. They say we should only love these people and "wash their feet" and that to speak out against those things is a "self-righteous culture war" type of thing (this is what I read from a member on Facebook). While I agree we should love these people, I still think there are certain things that are wrong that should be spoken out against.
For example I am a pro life activist and I believe abortion is wrong. Many Christians feel the same way, and I believe that I should fight for the rights of babies. I mean what if this was the 1800s and the issue was slavery? Would this church be saying that "speaking out against slavery is self righteous and wrong"? I believe that there are certain things that God wants people to fight against because their wrong, not with violence mind you, with love, but still these things are wrong.
Like I said though, we never keep new members. The Church just can't grow. Before I was going to a Baptist Church, I agree with much of what the Pastor spoke but I have heard some stories about it and how they once supposedly said that they would kill their best friends and family members if God told them to. I don't know if that's true or not, but I avoid Fundamentalist and Hateful Churches.
Another thing, the Church often attacks other churches too. They often speak low about people like Joel Osteen for being a "health and wellness preacher", I happen to like Osteen as I find his message positive and it's all about loving people. They also don't own the Church building it's self, it's actually a Methodist Church but they just rent out the Church from them and use it for services on Saturday Night. This Church has no denomination.
Again I like it's members and sometimes I like the message. The Pastor is a nice guy and I think he's intelligent. But it just feels like I'm not getting anything very spiritual out of it, and the congregation as a whole seems like it's stuck in limbo with no direction. It rarely ever attracts new people, and when it does they leave in a couple months and never come back. I believe there should be moral guidance taught in Churches, I believe that's part of a Pastor's job.
Another thing, the Church often attacks other churches too. They often speak low about people like Joel Osteen for being a "health and wellness preacher", I happen to like Osteen as I find his message positive and it's all about loving people. They also don't own the Church building it's self, it's actually a Methodist Church but they just rent out the Church from them and use it for services on Saturday Night. This Church has no denomination.
Again I like it's members and sometimes I like the message. The Pastor is a nice guy and I think he's intelligent. But it just feels like I'm not getting anything very spiritual out of it, and the congregation as a whole seems like it's stuck in limbo with no direction. It rarely ever attracts new people, and when it does they leave in a couple months and never come back. I believe there should be moral guidance taught in Churches, I believe that's part of a Pastor's job.
You want a church to make you happy. That is your biggest error!
You need to be happy and fulfilled on your own. Then, you can look for a church with low expectations.
Osteen is not what you need. YOu are better off with a well established traditional denomination with plenty of loyal members. You go to church that sounds more like a cult.
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