I'm a member of The Church Of England-What Are Your Views Of This Church?

[Hazel W]

Was brought up as a member of The Church Of England in the ''High''church branch of the cofe.
I do like ''Traditional'' Anglican church services with its choirs,organ and singing the old ancient hymns.I love the old English country churches too with that typical ''Churchy'' smell as you enter the building,plus the beautiful stained glass windows,the wooden pews,the Altar & everything else about traditional churches-but lately I've read a lot on the internet that seems to be anti churches like the Anglican church & The Roman Catholic church saying these churches aren't Biblical in what they practice & believe and are too ritualistic & practice things like Infant Baptism and ''Confirmation''.
Anglicans also don't believe in ''Born Againism'' all this Pentecostal stuff about ''Getting Saved'' by inviting Jesus to be your Saviour.Nor do we pratice ''Believers Baptism'' as when one comes to faith we renew our baptism vows our parents made for us when we were ''Christened'' at ''Confirmation''
We don't recognize your version of been ''Born Again'' to us we get ''Born Again'' when we're christened as babies.

We also tend to have organ,old hymns and a choir instead of contempory modern songs played on drums,keyboards and guitars-unless that is you go to a Evangelical/Charismatic kind of church of England church-and they do often have a baptistery pool and do ''Full Immersion Baptismns'' but ONLY for people who weren't ''Christened'' when they were babies as you CANNOT BE RE BAPTIZED.Anglican vicars will NOT ALLOW anybody to get baptized by Full Immersion if you were ''Christened'' as a baby.
When someone comes to faith(becomes a Christian in our church) we renew our baptismal vows our parents made on our behalf when we were ''Christened'' by getting ''Confirmed'' by the Bishop.

However,i have recently got invited along to a service at a Elim Pentecostal church & found it so warm & welcoming,full of smiley people and I must admit I got hooked on it.At first it seemed strange to me the way your pastors get so worked up & Shout their sermons whilst pacing up & down,sometimes with music softly playing in the background which I've heard is called Sensory Overload,its a subtle way of Brainwashing people so a website I found recently about Pentecostalism.It said PC'S use ''Love Bombing''( been over friendly towards a new convert to get them to want to come again to the church)and also can use Brainwashing and Sensory Overload techniques to get people into the church.

I was quite disturbed by the warnings I read about Pentecostalism & how ''Tongues'' shaking,crying,jerking etc can be of the devil,not of the Holy Spirit cause the Holy Spirit would Not make a person act in this crazy manner.

I find I rather like the Elim Pentecostal church and find it very uplifting with its contempory music.Its nice to be able to relax let go and clap and have a dance to the music-whereas in our church it is so stiff and formal.I love hearing the organ and choirs and the old hymns but since visiting Elim I now attend my local Elim church more often that my local Anglican church.
I am not put off by those websites that state Pentecostalism is dangerous and demonic.
I have always thought it to be a Bible-Believing church-the closest you'll get to the New Testiment church of the Bible-whereas I have also read things on the internet which say the roman church And cofe have many false doctrines,practices and beliefs-so folks what do you personally think of The Church Of England-have you ever attended one-what did you think of it and its style of worship etc?
Should I stay an Anglican or get out of it and stay with the Elim church?
Is Elim the best of of all the different types of Pentecostal churches as it does seem to be a very popular branch of the Christian church.

Why do Pentecostals get so emotional and jerk,laugh,shake and use Tongues? and cry-surely the Holy Spirit would not cause a person to go like this? These sort of things do also go on in witchcraft so i'm a bit wary of this especially as some websites who are anti Pentecostal & charismatic churches state it is Demonic as true sane Christians would not act like this.
I haven't witnessed this too often in Elim so maybe this kind of stuff happens in different kinds of pc churches more often,Not Elim.

Is Elim into the Toronto Blessing and Todd Bentley stuff as that does not seem of God to me at all.
On a whole I enjoy my local Elim church and am reluctant to leave it-so should I get out of the church of England-do you think the church of England is a true Christian church or do you think its full of false doctrines that aren't in the Bible?

I have recently through starting to go to a Elim church invited Jesus Christ to be my Saviour,and Yes,i have come to Repentance first,as I know you cannot have Salvation without repentance-so should I get out of the cofe now and have ''Believers Baptism'' in the Elim church?However I would not tell my local vicar if I got baptised in Elim as he'd do his nut saying I have been ''Christened'' as a baby therefore I cannot be Re Baptised.

Any advice would be much appreciated please & what do you folk from, Elim and other pc churches think of Anglican churches-do you think they are Christian or not-should I get out of and stay out of the cofe?
Hope you can help me as I am so confused.

 

[Biblicist]

Hi Hazel,

I see that you are not getting the responses that you are after to your two posts regarding the CoE. As an Australian I can’t comment on the Elim Pentecostal Church as I don’t think that we have any here in Australia, though in 1974 I was very impressed with a book by John Lancaster who was a senior leader of the Elim Pentecostal Church where he discussed Pentecostal Ministry.

As for the CoE here in Australia, they do have their various strands but overall they do seem to be a bit odd and quaint where they seem to be supporting some rather odd doctrinal views; as for the Episcopalian Church of the US it seems that we could be justified if we stopped even calling them a church.

For many Pentecostals and Charismatics, along with the average Evangelical, we tend to struggle with many of the historical stands that the Church of England has made to the point where I think that we see them at times as being more of a historical curiosity that has very little bearing on Biblical Theology.

Having said this, there are a number of fine academics within their ranks, particularly in the UK who are well respected right across the church as with Professor Anthony C. Thiselton.

Overall I would say that you would probably be better off attending a good Elim Church and of course each local congregation would have to be judged on their own merits.

Hope this helps a bit!

PS. With regard to Bentley, a good barometer for the health of any church is to ensure that they do not support his wicked ministry - if they still support them then I would suggest that the congregation be avoided.

 

[dayhiker]

Hi Hazel,
Welcome to CF.
I've been to the American version of the Anglican Church. I attended for over 4 years with my GF. I really like the homilies that the priest gave. I miss them now that I'm not visiting there.
As you point out there are a lot of differences. Some find the distinctives of each church to be be wrong in some fashion. These opinions can be found over every church expression out there if one looks for them. But the Bible and creation clearly teaches that God loves diversity. Not one person is the same. Modern technology can identify us with finger prints, eye scans etc. But God has for centuries been able to identify people by how many hairs they have on their head.
So I'd suggest you keep going to which church the Holy Spirit leads you to each week. Paul tells us that the body is built up as each member supplies. Relationships are as each stone is placed next to other stones around it. So you can be in relationship with people from both churches. Help each one to understand the others. Know that each church can help a different set of people. God meets people in the quiet and other that think God is intense find God in the sensory over load experience.

 

[COG2013]

If it is the related to the Anglican Church, I have had some experience with members. I'm just telling you what I have experienced. I have had dealings with 3 Anglicans, all women, who were the most un-Christ like church members I have ever met. They were radically judgemental of others and quick to condemn me when I didn't agree with their every belief. In 2 cases they actually did bare false witness against me. I'm not fond of them.

 

[jamadan]

Hi Hazel.

I'm in the CEC (Charismatic Episcopal Church). We are not associated with the Anglican or Episcopal Churches, but we have some similarities. We're fully sacramental/liturgical (like Anglicans), fully evangelical (we like to hear good sermons and we truly honor the Word of God as eternally valid and unchanging), and fully charismatic (we love the gifts of the Spirit and vibrant, passionate worship to the Lord).

If God is the same today as He always has been and always will be, then He is a supernatural God, correct? That means there are times when He might move in such a way so we can experience His Presence and power. Just recall various experiences that impacted Jesus' disciples: the day of Pentecost with tongues of flames, a mighty rushing wind, and each of the disciples getting filled with the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues and prophesying. How can that not impact one physically? The God of the universal comes and fills you with His Presence and then stays in there, a deposit leading and empowering us in our walk. Occasionally, when we worship, pray or have one of His gifts flowing through us, we become so aware of His Presence that our bodies and emotions react. We can literally feel Him flowing and moving. Knowing that it's God, it's perfectly natural that people react in different ways at different times; it would be unnatural if we didn't.

I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit about 30 years ago and have never shaken, but I do occasionally tremble inside if His power is moving in me during worship or, more in particularly, when I am praying for someone to be healed or filled with the Holy Spirit. In that time, I have only fallen under God's power one time though I easily could have lost my footing on many more occasions as I minister to people in prayer, sometimes His power starts flowing and you become so filled with joy and peace that it can sometimes cross over into a euphoric feeling like having a slight buzz as if you were drinking. I suspect that "drunk like' feeling must have been on the Apostle Paul's mind when he admonished, 'Do not be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." There really is a bit of similarly to the experience at times of intense encounters with the Lord. I suspect that's what we see when people fall down in the presence of the Lord and sometimes angels in Scripture. It says the person became so weak in the presence of the angel or the Lord that they could not stand.

From what you describe and from what I read online, Elim sounds like a great church. I would not fear the devil. Trust God at all times. If you tell God 'God, I welcome all that you truly have for me, protect me from evil', He will answer that prayer. Study Scripture to educate yourself on the gifts of the Spirit so your mind can be at peace with trusting the Holy Spirit in His moving like this. God doesn't want you to lay aside your mind either, He deserves us to give Him our minds, bodies, will and emotions, it all belongs to Him and at various times as we worship and serve Him, different aspects of us are put to the forefront.

 

[HawkBlue27]

They have made too many questionable, liberal decisions. And baptism never saved anybody.

 

[Living in the Light]

Hazel, I see no reason to change your church if your current church is spiritually feeding you. A sincere, loving effort to connect with the Divine will always be valid.

 

[Argamon]

I think there is a functional balance between the stale and the disorderly.

You come from a rich tradition, which oftentimes forgets the works of the apostles and prophets, whereas the charismatics get so emotional as to lose any sense of structure.

My own experiences led to me to believe that everything was perfectly rational, made more sense.