- Apr 24, 2019
- 27
- 9
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Baptist
- Marital Status
- In Relationship
Hi all,
I pray that this message finds you well. My name is Jim and I'm a 39-year-old man from Massachusetts. While I'm in the least religious part of the country according to pew research studies/surveys, I belong to a thriving church south of Boston. We recently opened up our third location and the location I go to plays a video of the pastor on Sunday mornings.
We are a very welcoming church. Please don't confuse "welcoming" with "open and affirming" churches, that have a rainbow flag in front of their church and believe that God is A o.k. with people being gay and A o.k. with gay marriage. Rather, we have a first impressions team, free coffee and pastries, smiling greeters at the door, relatable messages, contemporary worship music, information tables, and a comfortable, cozy, non-judgmental ambiance. It is fairly new in our state to have multi-site churches and it's also fairly new to have mega churches (we had 4,000 people come through on Easter, among the three locations).
However, I'm newly engaged, and will soon have two step children, and I'm having some doubts about my current church. I just think my current church is lacking discipleship. I'm glad it's a comfortable place for those exploring the Christian faith, but I miss old fashioned preaching on righteousness and holiness. I got saved in a fundamentalist church. It was not Independent Fundamental Baptist (because they were charismatic), but they were just as fierce in their preaching and subscribed to the KJV only movement. When I attend church nowadays, I'm patient and understanding of what my church is trying to do (and I even volunteer in our ministries). However, when I want to teach biblical doctrine to my family or others, I want to leave no stone unturned regarding sin and repentance. In other words, it's not coffee hour with big screen TV's and electric guitars when I want to get really into the Scripture.
Two of the leaders of my church are beginning to get frustrated with my antics (i.e. desiring that we go back to a more old school style of preaching). They are essentially saying that I might not be the right fit for our church since I'm in leadership (I lead a small group) and I'm not 100% on board with the mission of the church (well, it's alleged that I'm not 100% on board with the mission of the church). Do you have any advice for me? Should I take my family and go to a new church--even though my fiance' is very happy at our current church? Should I stop hiding who I am and teach the word of the truth as it ought to be taught? Or should I embrace the modern church trends and see how God will work in them? Please help! Thank you.
P.S. I am in Celebrate Recovery and I also think Celebrate Recovery is a good way to leave no stone unturned regarding sin and repentance but my current church doesn't offer this program so I end up going to a different church to be a part of it.
--Jim
I pray that this message finds you well. My name is Jim and I'm a 39-year-old man from Massachusetts. While I'm in the least religious part of the country according to pew research studies/surveys, I belong to a thriving church south of Boston. We recently opened up our third location and the location I go to plays a video of the pastor on Sunday mornings.
We are a very welcoming church. Please don't confuse "welcoming" with "open and affirming" churches, that have a rainbow flag in front of their church and believe that God is A o.k. with people being gay and A o.k. with gay marriage. Rather, we have a first impressions team, free coffee and pastries, smiling greeters at the door, relatable messages, contemporary worship music, information tables, and a comfortable, cozy, non-judgmental ambiance. It is fairly new in our state to have multi-site churches and it's also fairly new to have mega churches (we had 4,000 people come through on Easter, among the three locations).
However, I'm newly engaged, and will soon have two step children, and I'm having some doubts about my current church. I just think my current church is lacking discipleship. I'm glad it's a comfortable place for those exploring the Christian faith, but I miss old fashioned preaching on righteousness and holiness. I got saved in a fundamentalist church. It was not Independent Fundamental Baptist (because they were charismatic), but they were just as fierce in their preaching and subscribed to the KJV only movement. When I attend church nowadays, I'm patient and understanding of what my church is trying to do (and I even volunteer in our ministries). However, when I want to teach biblical doctrine to my family or others, I want to leave no stone unturned regarding sin and repentance. In other words, it's not coffee hour with big screen TV's and electric guitars when I want to get really into the Scripture.
Two of the leaders of my church are beginning to get frustrated with my antics (i.e. desiring that we go back to a more old school style of preaching). They are essentially saying that I might not be the right fit for our church since I'm in leadership (I lead a small group) and I'm not 100% on board with the mission of the church (well, it's alleged that I'm not 100% on board with the mission of the church). Do you have any advice for me? Should I take my family and go to a new church--even though my fiance' is very happy at our current church? Should I stop hiding who I am and teach the word of the truth as it ought to be taught? Or should I embrace the modern church trends and see how God will work in them? Please help! Thank you.
P.S. I am in Celebrate Recovery and I also think Celebrate Recovery is a good way to leave no stone unturned regarding sin and repentance but my current church doesn't offer this program so I end up going to a different church to be a part of it.
--Jim