Recent content by WiredSpirit

Well, I grew up in a non-denominational church and left the church in my teens. Later on when I was doing my own research I discovered the UCC and started attending one, but the congregation was small and not growing, and pretty much dead. It just so happens the last several places I moved I...

One of the five points of Calvinism is unconditional election. They believe God has already chosen who will receive mercy and there is nothing the chosen or not chosen can do about it. You only think you have a choice, but there's something called irresistible grace, which as the name implies...

I have a link now. ^

I know there are a handful of people in the region and I wanted to get this out there. There are several people from my church involved in this organization. The showing is at the Victory Theatre in downtown Evansville. Oct. 2 at 6:30 CT. If anyone is interested and has any questions I...

Do buses in Anderson run on Sundays? Many churches give out bus tokens for youth to get to and from events and have plenty on hand.

I guess he decided we're just not part of the "elect." :P

The UMC is the church of Indiana, and we're every type of church. If you feel one is a little stiff, there's probably another congregation on the same street that's a bit more relaxed.

When asked what the top priority of the church should be, making disciples tops the list. Other issues topping sexuality include youth retention, membership, poverty, and social justice. This supports the point I made in another thread: no significant portion of the UMC pushing for a split over...

I think most churches have switched over to contemporary music and the style differences now seem to be formal or informal. I've also heard the informal called the "family" service. In my church we are still formal. The service is band driven, but we sit in pews. We use liturgy from time to time...

I am all but certain one of our pastors would fall on the conservative side of the issue and the others would support equality. Those our the attitudes right now. I cannot imagine there ever being a split over the issue no matter what the general conference decides. Are you suggesting we're...

To clarify my thoughts further, if the UMC did take a positive stand only a very small percentage of us would leave over it because it changes very little. We may lose a large number of churches, but how healthy are those churches anyway?

I just don't see that this is as big as they're making it out to be. I know we have disagreement in my own church, but you know how much time we spend talking about it? None. When a new associate pastor came I remember he did ask privately in our men's group what our attitude on this was and one...

From your link:"[Growing congregations] Are no more likely to be theologically and politically conservative when compared to other churches. This finding is in contrast to what many church observers believe—that most growing churches are theologically conservative churches."

If you're using the term "mainline," that refers specifically to the seven sisters (the churches listed). That's just the definition of the term. Other churches are classified as "evangelical." Many in the mainline churches would like to embrace the word evangelical as you apparently want to...

I think the vast majority of well established non-denominational churches, at least in my region, can trace their history back to Methodist circuit riders or the Campbell/Stone restoration movement. They all tend to be more conservative than mainline churches, and we have one church that has...