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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Is taking a break from Church wrong?

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HeartSong
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Joined: 2006/9/13
Posts: 3179


 Re:

Quote:
They started out with good intentions but now that they are having questions, they find themselves without many options for alternative vocations to provide for their families. Also, they don't really have a clear vision what that change would look like.



So they must rely on the Lord for provision . . . is that not the heart of the problem after all?

 2008/7/14 9:32Profile









 Re:

Quote:

KrispyKrittr wrote:
Quote:
Organized Church sounds like organized crime - lol



Yea... and the leaders of each wear 3-piece pin striped suits! Coincidence? You be the judge!

Krispy



Yeah...for geta bought it!!! How u doin!! :-P

 2008/7/14 9:44









 Re:

Quote:
In all seriousness, I sometimes feel the men who go to seminary to become pastors often feel the same way about the organized part of church.



I think Leonard Ravenhill said, "Preaching is a passion, not a profession."

I was watching TBN, back in the day, before a reformation took place in me, they had a quest speaker, and pretty wealthy for a pastor. He said that the young men and boys need to see, prosperity in preachers life's, so that they may want to become pastors! I was floored! Is this the reason become preachers! They all want a big church. My dear friend who is a pastor now, pastors a small church in a rural area, maybe a 100 people at the most. Its not fancy, compared today's standards. He didn't care where God placed him, he was called to preach and he would go. He has seen that there is a lot of churches that are like his, that can't find a pastor, because many young preachers don't want to go to a church like this. Its small, its an old building, that has been around for over 100 years. Its sad that this the mentality of some, of course not all, but I would bet to say a majority.


 2008/7/14 9:58









 Re:

I "took a break" from traditional church almost 7 years ago. Never looked back.

What I dont recommend is a prolonged disengagement from gathering together with brother and sisters in the Lord. Scripture warns us about that.

But as far as breaking from traditional church... it can be the best thing for a person's spiritual health.

Krispy

 2008/7/14 10:30
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

I think we owe it to ourselves to define "traditional church". I propose there is nothing at all wrong with traditional church provided the Pastor is a genuine old-path preacher. As far as congregations go, there's only so much the pastor can do. I am reminded of the saintly Jonathan Edwards being voted out by his own flock. I don't believe he was embittered by this, and he certainly didn't set off to form his own house movement. In fact, most of the wonderful men of God we so abundantly glean from here on SI are somehow or another associated with someone's definition of the "traditional" church. Perhaps the only exemptions being our Asian brothers and sisters in Christ who are deprived altogether of a "tradtional" church due to government law.

How many of us wouldn't be blessed to sit under the "traditional" pastorate of an A.W. Tozer, a T. Austin Sparks, a Richard Baxter, a Jim Cymbala, a Charles Stanley, an Octavius Winslow, an R.M. McCheyne, an Edward Payson, a C.H. Spurgeon? God has not abandoned the traditional church fellowship; people instead get their feelings hurt and impetuously remove themselves from under authority, often bringing to nought the work of grace God would bring into their lives through such frictions and feather-ruffling.

Of course, such shouldn't be a blanket assumption, as God is also able to call people out to begin their own fellowships, like Poonen and others...but the end result is always the same: an organized fellowship of deacons and elders and rules and regulations and statements of faith that soon morph into a traditional fellowship of its own right. And why shouldn't it be? God Himself is a God of order, of conciseness, a delegator of levels of authority.


_________________
Paul Frederick West

 2008/7/14 10:58Profile









 Re:

Paul, while I am not an advocate of traditions that have no basis in scripture (which is a good description of most Sunday morning services) I certainly do promote scriptural church government. That would include elders, deacons, etc. I do not promote "anything goes" type of house churches... they are out of order.

But house churching done scripturally, with appropriate government in place... family integrated fellowship... emphasizing evangelism outside the church... etc etc... can be, and usually is, a vibrant and glorious thing to behold.

Sitting in rows watching the show is not scriptural, it is Romanish.

Krispy

 2008/7/14 11:30
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re: Is taking a break from Church wrong?


Would the Lord call someone out of a fellowship for a season?


There is no Scriptural justification whatsoever for neglecting fellowship with other saints for a season. Even if the church you attend is lukewarm, "seeker friendly," and has pathetic preaching, there is no Scriptural justification for the forsaking fellowship with these saints. They need you just as much as you need them. Indeed, without your presence and labor amongst them, they may forever go down the wrong paths. "Revival" can only break out in places where there needs to be reviving.


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Jimmy H

 2008/7/14 12:16Profile
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

Oopps... almost forgot. My suggestion would be to you that if you are not presently attending a church, start a small and humble fellowship out of your very home. One thing I believe the Lord has shown me that is if I ever find myself in a place where His name is not established, and there are no other Christians around for me to have mutual fellowship with, that I am under obligation to establish the name of Christ where I am at.


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Jimmy H

 2008/7/14 12:19Profile
rbanks
Member



Joined: 2008/6/19
Posts: 1330


 Re:

Quote:



Sitting in rows watching the show is not scriptural, it is Romanish.

Krispy



I don’t really understand watch you mean by your outlandish comment, because Jesus had them sit down by ranks of 100’s and 50’s and no doubt rows to feed the multitudes..

I hope you weren’t implying that people, who sit in rows for order of seating to hear a Godly Holy Spirit filled preacher, preach and minister the word so that those who are hearing can receive, is wrong.

 2008/7/14 12:23Profile
Miccah
Member



Joined: 2007/9/13
Posts: 1752
Wisconsin

 Re:

rbanks wrote:

Quote:


I don’t really understand watch you mean by your outlandish comment, because Jesus had them sit down by ranks of 100’s and 50’s and no doubt rows to feed the multitudes..

I hope you weren’t implying that people, who sit in rows for order of seating to hear a Godly Holy Spirit filled preacher, preach and minister the word so that those who are hearing can receive, is wrong.




If I may. It is not that it is wrong to sit under such men, but only that it is not scriptual.

Sitting and listening to a preacher in a "modern church setting" cannot be found throughout the new testiment. This is a religious tradition of men, created by men, for men. Church is to be interactive with the entire body moving in its giftings together. The modern day (post 300AD) "service" goes against what the Lord has taught us to do.

Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. How can someone, a preacher in a large church, physically disciple upwards of 500+ people at the same time? How can he "pour his life into these folks" on a one on one personal level in order to make them disciples? He cannot.

In order to have the body function completely, the Church needs to rise above everything that we hold dear, and embrace what the Lord holds dear, which is intimate fellowship with Himself and His body, i.e. the Church.

I do want to stress that I am not against people going to a pew stressed church service, but I am against any institution that stresses leadership only teaching. This is not biblical.


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Christiaan

 2008/7/14 13:21Profile





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