Truth, Grace, Balance.

[Honeybee12]

I went from an incredible rigid structure with rules, agenda and the constant pressure to evangelize as much as possible.. to a church that expresses it's faith through loving the local community. It stands firm on the Bible, but is a relaxed atmosphere where grace is shown and love is constant.

I read Abbey's post, the one with the link to that website that says the Catholic Church is a whore and 3 year olds can read the King James Version. The page is so extreme and honestly, mean. Abbey, I'm glad you shared it.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum.. the 'emerging church'.. which focuses on community, social justice and grace.. and could very well be losing the real message of the gospel.

However, I'm feeling torn. I really liked learning the Bible and studying in the SA church, but it was always under such pressure and it never seemed like it would ever be good enough for the pastor's wife. I really like my current church, but am feeling.. well.. unfed. Not that I'm going there to 'get something'.. but I'm not thriving in the word.. and that's something I do miss. It's a new and young church, and I do pray that it will provide the truth to a messed up and broken generation that doesn't know what to think sometimes. My church caters to the young adult and high school ages. There are 30 somethings there.. but I don't know how deep they are in their faith.

I miss feeling challenged from a Bible study. I really yearn for the word, and I know I'm not disciplined enough to work through it on my own. I wonder if this is why I wonder if I should go back to the SA place.. but I know that can't be good, because I got the wrong impression and idea of who God is there.. He can't desire that for me.

But there is another church I've been thinking of. It's well established, different ages..etc. It's all about grace but also about truth. I yearn so deeply for both.

It's not that I want fire and brimstone... but I also don't want to be a part of a community that doesn't acknowledge sin and is perhaps afraid to speak the truth because we don't want to appear 'uncool'. I feel I've been in a church pinball game..

Does anyone else think about these things?

[Malinda]

I absolutely hear you! The church I just left (not the SA church, but the one after it) was a little too unsettled in their doctrine and the music did nothing for me. I just never felt like God was really moving in that church. I'm not all about emotional hype but I do think your faith should be expressed in worship and be sincere. When I was helping them with their music...I only saw stoney faces. No one worshipped. It always felt so dry. The teaching too left me very unchallenged. I felt I knew more than the ministers there. They'd preach and say something totally ignorant and stupid that I knew was totally false. They never did to deceive but they just did it out of ignorance. There just wasn't anything inspiring that made us want to continue there.
At the SA church, it was very challenging and they did a lot of teaching. I know all the steps of the making a covenant. From cutting the meat to having a celebratory feast and planting a memorial tree, or making a memorial for the covenant. I know all the greek and hebrew words on worship and what they mean....
Now the church I'm at now is kinda a spit flying when ya preach kinda place. Not a whole lot of teaching thus far....I haven't gone long but I'm beginning to wonder if they will do some teaching. I'm ok with it though because in a lot of cases I probably do know as much as the minister....I did go to bible school for 4 years so I should.....
But I should warn you about the "emergent church". Many preach and teach that Jesus wasn't fully God and fully man and there is no absolute truth. They skirt around the subjects of sin and homosexuality and preach a tolerance message. They don't believe that the word of God is infallible and believe it to be more a guidebook than HIS word.
Me, personally, I don't need the Word of God to be like a sight seeing book of things I might be interested in. It should always be the final authority. I've seen a lot of friends get sucked into this movement and they all have turned from living on fire christian lives to mediocre, do what you want, live like you want, live like hell during the week just make sure you come to church, kind of lives. Some of these people were in ministry too.
So be careful and really investigate what they believe.
I believe their should be balance. Relevance and the Truth.
That whole movement is about trying to be relevant in today's society but they've lost, like you said, the life changing message of the gospel.

[~AbuseNoMore~]

I know exactly where you are coming from.

There is a scripture in Isaiah (I think) that talks about the Shepards that put burdens on people alot (woe to them).

I myself am getting tired of the push to evangelize all the time...yet, see a lack of community, people really CARING about one another.

It is the whole "They Will Know Christians by our Love" thing.

I went from an incredible rigid structure with rules, agenda and the constant pressure to evangelize as much as possible.. to a church that expresses it's faith through loving the local community. It stands firm on the Bible, but is a relaxed atmosphere where grace is shown and love is constant.

I read Abbey's post, the one with the link to that website that says the Catholic Church is a whore and 3 year olds can read the King James Version. The page is so extreme and honestly, mean. Abbey, I'm glad you shared it.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum.. the 'emerging church'.. which focuses on community, social justice and grace.. and could very well be losing the real message of the gospel.

However, I'm feeling torn. I really liked learning the Bible and studying in the SA church, but it was always under such pressure and it never seemed like it would ever be good enough for the pastor's wife. I really like my current church, but am feeling.. well.. unfed. Not that I'm going there to 'get something'.. but I'm not thriving in the word.. and that's something I do miss. It's a new and young church, and I do pray that it will provide the truth to a messed up and broken generation that doesn't know what to think sometimes. My church caters to the young adult and high school ages. There are 30 somethings there.. but I don't know how deep they are in their faith.

I miss feeling challenged from a Bible study. I really yearn for the word, and I know I'm not disciplined enough to work through it on my own. I wonder if this is why I wonder if I should go back to the SA place.. but I know that can't be good, because I got the wrong impression and idea of who God is there.. He can't desire that for me.

But there is another church I've been thinking of. It's well established, different ages..etc. It's all about grace but also about truth. I yearn so deeply for both.

It's not that I want fire and brimstone... but I also don't want to be a part of a community that doesn't acknowledge sin and is perhaps afraid to speak the truth because we don't want to appear 'uncool'. I feel I've been in a church pinball game..

Does anyone else think about these things?

[abbey]

Just to add a little. Yes, I believe that we need a balanced teaching. I was caught up in an all GRACE church. It felt that they were tolerant of sin and in this case, unbalanced. Ive met God on two levels. EXTREME LOVE and EXTREME WRATH!

You dont mess with the bg guy! Cant sit on a fence, its all or nuthin with him. If Hes anything, he EXTREME.

Good Luck!

[Reg]

Just got back from Florida Sunday and catching up.

Excellent points Honeybee12. I've felt some of that for awhile. I mentioned this scripture to one of our ministers. He gave us some excellent sermons. I didn't feel really fed by a constant repeat of the basics. I think he got the message.

Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary [principles] of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

As with you, I've felt we had overemphasized evangelism and not enough in making disciples. I think we are working more on discipleship now. We have Adult Teaching Classes on various subjects to feed the members.
http://bramalea.org/learning/

Thankfully, the church I attend is solidly in Biblical teaching. Our new Senior Pastor doesn't water down the Gospel message. He realizes the battle we are in. I finally got the chance to read the book he wrote, "Unmapped Darkness". http://www.amazon.ca/UNMAPPED-DARKNESS-Finding-Through-Suffering/dp/0802467504/ref=sr_1_1/177-6007273-5186803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267113990&sr=1-1

Based on the Theology of Suffering course Dr. Finch teaches at Moody Bible Institute, this examination of the reality of evil and suffering in the world provides a framework to understand it, along with a pathway to cope with it. The author examines the reality of and causes of suffering, then points readers to the light of the Trinity, the Cross, God's point of view, and finally, to how a person experiences suffering. Suffering points to the mystery of life itself. It does something to a person, it reduces their tolerance of superficiality, writes Finch.

About the Author
THOMAS FINCH, a former pastor, is a professor of theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Tom lost his wife to brain cancer over two years ago. He is a contributor to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.

It is about as solid as it gets. It was inspired by the death of his wife and his experience with the loss and grief he felt as a result. He explains the full complete message of what God did for us and continues to do. It is reinforced over and over. I took some notes on it and will share them when I get the chance.