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When I was attending a Pentecostal church our pastor never did this that I was aware. However, he did have some "slain in the spirit" on occasion. Though, it never was a numerous or frequent thing but I don't doubt it was real. The traveling evangelists that would come for revival were...

I think the answer to both your questions is "it depends". Lets go back to say 1785. A pastor of a big church in Philadelphia (the most populated city in the US at the time) is probably going to have most of his physical needs (food, clothing, housing) met by the church and would likely...

I'm seeing a few points being discussed here.. 1. The issue mentioned in the original post where people in a leadership position at a local church acted in a very unchristian like way and were seemingly unrepentant about it. That coupled with the local church's avoidance of the issue leads to...

As you say, its not limited to one denomination or another. Honestly, I'd say its a lack of what I'd call "daily walk" teaching and preaching. In other words, the kind of teaching and preaching that sticks with you and molds and guides you through your daily walk for all those times when you...

I've posted before about the CoG church I was in and how things went there that I didn't fully agree with. But, I do firmly believe in giving credit where credit is due. The pastor there was a good man who loved God and his flock. He also loved the CoG. But, the church found itself in a...

Just to add a little bit to what Itwin said above on structure. Likewise, this is from USA stance. I don't know if it applies internationally or not. In CoG many of the churches themselves are actually owned by the denomination. Churches were also expected to pay "tithe on tithe". In other...

Someone in the thread was looking for the data. I think I've found it. You can access all the pew detailed data on this from here.. http://religions.pewforum.org/reports/detailed_tables Probably the ones most relevant to this discussion are under education and income (since education level...

Thanks. :) Kind of like the whole "freedom of worship" thing. If you can't raise your hands when you feel led you don't have freedom of worship. If have to raise your hands even when you don't feel led you don't have freedom of worship - at least that is how I look at it.

Bobinator - I'm afraid I likely wasn't clear in my post. I didn't abandon the gifts, I didn't stop believing they are real, valid, etc or exercising them. However, I did move away from thinking they had to be *THE* focus of all the services and sermons as it seemed like doing that was leaving...

Dragonrunner summed it up as better than I could. I once found myself in a similar church with a similar pastor. Unlike your pastor, most "special circumstances" weren't tolerated either. Like if you couldn't attend something because of work then you got a lecture about how your job was your...

I don't mean to nit pick, but I'm going to go ahead and ask a few questions.. Regarding the qualifications of a pastor, when its time to step down, etc... According to what set of standards? God certainly has a set in the Bible. Most every denomination has their own set of qualifications...

What you describe is one of the main reasons I left the COG church I was a part of it. I kind of touched on it your prophecy thread. I can try to explain in a nutshell. The focus of every service became the gifts. To go a bit further the focus of every service seemed to become the displaying...

In the COG church I was in prophecy was allowed, by anyone, and pretty much anytime It was expected and celebrated when it happened. But there was no testing, no discernment. As a result, you had a group that would regularly "prophesy" - often conflicting things, often non-biblical things...

Every person makes a mistake sometimes. Every person is wrong sometimes. Of course, this didn't apply to Jesus. But for everyone else - we mess up, we make mistakes, we are in the wrong sometimes. This applies to every human - 100% - bar none. Since leaders are human - they are going to...

Church governance only works as a solution to this if it is actually applied. In CoG (Cleveland) they had an episcopal (hierarchical) form of church governance. There the local pastor, state overseer, etc up the chain of command held the power and the local congregation really didn't have much...

The small CoG (Cleveland) church I was in for many years did / taught / acted similar. Though I will admit in retrospect that was more an individual pastor (and his clique) that got off course than denomination doctrine. Still, when the pastor sets up everything he says and does as coming...

There is also the part of human nature that is often reluctant to point out or accept the bad or faulty of groups that they themselves are a part of. This isn't limited to religion, though there are certainly examples there. You see it in politics. Both the left and the right political...

Heh - that reminded me of an old joke. There are a bunch of different versions of it, but it goes something like this........ A man dies and goes to Heaven. St. Peter is showing him around and he the man notices a walled off section He asks St. Peter, "What is that walled off section for?"...

Because there are a few in *every* branch of Christianity I have encountered that are 100% sure that their particular beliefs are the only true and valid ones - and that everyone else is wrong, a heretic, going to hell, etc and feel the need to tell the world about it at the top of their lungs.

FWIW - I'm in complete agreement with you on this. Its elevating the "me" instead of the "Him". Sometimes things like this can get the congregation into almost a kind of "pastor worship".