conferences?

[Goodbook]

Joining church is an interesting experience for me and I do like most of it except I'm not sure about these conferences...its seems every church has them, where you have to pay to go and get spoken to by 'professional' speakers and have a 'good time' and while I'm not totally against any of this I just feel that if you are encouraged to go or sponsored to go I just get this uneasy feeling that it's a bunch of people who are promoting their brand of 'super' christianity or a breeding ground for wolves in sheeps clothing.

One of the girls at church wants all the women to attend this women's conference which costs $100 and I'm just at this stage really uncertain about the speakers they are promoting, they are of this church that I've read about that goes in for a lot of prosperrity teaching and flash marketing practices. there seems to be a lot of hype about these speakers as names people ought to recognise and I just feel this isn't very humble before God.

Can I have some advice on this please..of course I will meet lots of other christians and probably not all the speakers are like that they may be genuine christians but then again I'm not sure about joining this user pays 'groupie' christianity.

what have your experiences been at church conferences?

 

[drobbyb]

We should look to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians Chapter 9:

1Co 9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?
1Co 9:2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
1Co 9:3 This is my defense to those who would examine me.
1Co 9:4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
1Co 9:5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
1Co 9:6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
1Co 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
1Co 9:8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?
1Co 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain." Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
1Co 9:10 Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
1Co 9:11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
1Co 9:12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
1Co 9:13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?
1Co 9:14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
1Co 9:15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.
1Co 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1Co 9:17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.
1Co 9:18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
1Co 9:19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

We see Paul here teaching on the ethics of collecting wages. It is good for people doing the Lord's work to get their "food" from the temple (verse 13), and the speakers that come to these conferences devote much of their lives to doing His work. They are perfectly within their rights to charge. Paul goes on further to say that he has refrained from this particular liberty.

 

[Goodbook]

Actually, Paul is not teaching about collecting wages. He is writing about eating and and drinking, especially eating with both Gentiles and Jews in a way that doesn't offend them.
I read it in the context of the passages preceding and coming after. He says an idol is nothing and food sacrificied to an idol will have no effect on the person who partakes in Christ. We shouldn't refuse food if a person offers it to us, but we can refuse to eat food if people tell us it's been used as a sacrifice to idols. Paul was also being mindful of the Jewish dietary laws, not partaking so as not to offend those who were weak in their faith, but we know Peter saw the vision that let those who believe free of this law. Paul was happy to go without food if it meant he shared the gospel.

There IS NOTHING in this passage that talks about charging money for the gospel. In Acts you remember Simon tried to pay Peter and John for the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter rebuked him

acts 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

 

[Johnnz]

Conferences are very much an American phenomenon, nothing bad about them, and I have been blessed by some. But they can become a kind of 'high' that doesn't represent the reality of ordinary, day-by-day living in a fallen world.

John
NZ

 

[Goodbook]

I once went to a christian music festival which is like a conference for young christians and it did cost a lof of money and remember some of the things said but also I had a very bad experience there as well that made me turn away from God(I also didn't think much of the music, it just sounded like ordinary music with christian sounding lyrics).

 

[desi]

God is everywhere. You don't have to pay for that. Jesus paid our fare.

 

[drobbyb]

Actually, Paul is not teaching about collecting wages. He is writing about eating and and drinking, especially eating with both Gentiles and Jews in a way that doesn't offend them.
I read it in the context of the passages preceding and coming after. He says an idol is nothing and food sacrificied to an idol will have no effect on the person who partakes in Christ. We shouldn't refuse food if a person offers it to us, but we can refuse to eat food if people tell us it's been used as a sacrifice to idols. Paul was also being mindful of the Jewish dietary laws, not partaking so as not to offend those who were weak in their faith, but we know Peter saw the vision that let those who believe free of this law. Paul was happy to go without food if it meant he shared the gospel.

There IS NOTHING in this passage that talks about charging money for the gospel. In Acts you remember Simon tried to pay Peter and John for the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter rebuked him

acts 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Ahh ok, thanks for the correction.

 

[drobbyb]

After reading it again, I see that in verse 14 Paul also says: 1Co 9:14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

So I am clear, what is Paul talking about here?

 

[Goodbook]

He's saying those that proclaim the gospel will be provided for, like those in the temple are in food and drink but this is not physical food and drink, it is spiritual food and drink.
He's not talking about money!

My KJV say in this verse

Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

We don't 'make our living' or 'get our living' of the gospel by charging for it! We LIVE of the gospel. God provides for us. Paul says in 6:13 'wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.'

Paul gave up meat so as not to offend his weak brothers, AND he says further on that he would eat but he is willing to suffer so that the gospel may be preached, and that is the most important thing is not the reward of having something to eat, although he is entitled to it as God takes care of all our needs- the reward is the gospel being preached and people being saved - the incorruptible crown.

10:33. 'Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.'

What translation are you using? I have come across many in christian forums using the NIV and they get all sorts of weird doctrines that make no sense from it.

 

[Zalu]

Conferences? I think they're absolutely amazing. That's what they're meant to be. Like many other things, moderation is key. I would say go to 1 conference a year, if that, TOPS.

Going more often can develop a sort-of addiction, in which they're called "conference junkies." Those who aren't a part of the local church but they go and claim to be discipled/taught by all of those speakers just because they got a picture taken with them or something.

Then, you have the prosperity thing. I'm very much against it. Just for the very fact you have speakers that preach that, I wouldn't go. Especially if they aren't from a denomination your church agrees with.

My church had a youth conference earlier this year, and one of the preachers spoke on a view of demons that we just didn't agree with and we ended up having about 1/2 of our congregation NOT come that next weekend. I won't name names, but he spoke on music placing a spirit about whatever you listen to on you, and was very against secular music. I thought it was hilarious when our band opened with the Beatles and Kesha's "Blow".

That said, I don't think price is really a problem. $100 seems a little steep to me, but you have to think of who's flying in, staying there, and they need to eat to. Most churches wouldn't be able to afford to pay for all of that themselves.

 

[Johnnz]

He's saying those that proclaim the gospel will be provided for, like those in the temple are in food and drink but this is not physical food and drink, it is spiritual food and drink.
He's not talking about money!

It's pretty obvious that Paul is referring to real gifts for those involved in the wider ministry of the church. In this whole section the background is patronage, where a wealthy benefactor would pay someone who in turn would laud the benefactor, a mutually beneficial relationship. Paul would have none of that in Corinth. He was prepared to forego the financial support from some so that he would not be compromised in any way in his ministry to the Corinthian church. But he was careful to make the point that a Christian community should support those highly involved in ministry to them.

John
NZ

 

[Goodbook]

He wasn't talking about money. He was talking about food and drink. Its as CLEAR as day in the KJV. This is so he could reach the Jewish believers who would have been offended to see him eat non-kosher food.

Don't read things into the Bible that are not there.


$100 + travelling and parking and food is a LOT of money for me to spend in a weekend. And I wouldnt go to a christian conference so I could hear the Beatles. I can do that at home (if I wanted to, which I don't). So I don't really see the point in going to support a rich 'christians' from overseas lifestyle and hear them talk when I can read the Bible and live the gospel by sharing and loving others in my own community.

I guess I answered my own question..and yes the denom is different from the church I go to..I have been to one of their churches and really been put off by their prosperity teachings.

 

[Johnnz]

He wasn't talking about money. He was talking about food and drink. Its as CLEAR as day in the KJV. This is so he could reach the Jewish believers who would have been offended to see him eat non-kosher food.

Don't read things into the Bible that are not there.

Not at all.

But back to the original post, cost is a factor we must consider, and some convention costs seem little different from those of some secular events, and many of them have a profit component in their fees.

John
NZ

 

[Zalu]

He wasn't talking about money. He was talking about food and drink. Its as CLEAR as day in the KJV. This is so he could reach the Jewish believers who would have been offended to see him eat non-kosher food.

Don't read things into the Bible that are not there.


$100 + travelling and parking and food is a LOT of money for me to spend in a weekend. And I wouldnt go to a christian conference so I could hear the Beatles. I can do that at home (if I wanted to, which I don't). So I don't really see the point in going to support a rich 'christians' from overseas lifestyle and hear them talk when I can read the Bible and live the gospel by sharing and loving others in my own community.

I guess I answered my own question..and yes the denom is different from the church I go to..I have been to one of their churches and really been put off by their prosperity teachings.

To clarify, they just added those songs in as a sort-of opener, which we had no idea they were doing. Was straight worship after that.

When you think about it, $100 + parking, gas, and food is a lot. I ended up paying around $75 for ticket, food, and gas at mine.

The speakers may or may not be rich (or from overseas). If they preach the prosperity "gospel", they most likely are. There are advantages to going to conferences, and one is actually hearing the speakers, BUT it's very similar to what you can hear on weekend services. All in all, it really doesn't sound like one you should go to.

I'd suggest asking the person who wants everyone to go why she feels that way. If their views don't mesh with you or your churches' then it's probably not a good idea for any of you to go.

 

[Goodbook]

thanks..one of my good friends did got to a conference which was part of our denom and I would have felt comfortable to that and contributing to the cost. But this one.. I just feel a bit weird about it. I just can't imagine all the ladies in our church paying $100 to go to another hear about another church across town. I'm sure if someone wanted to speak in our church about their ministry and they were visiting from out of town we would give them time to speak by inviting them and showing them our hospitality by putting them up in our homes and sharing meals them but I'm not sure about those professionall christian speakers who charge people to hear them speak and stay at hotels and get people to pay their airfares!

I am horrified at this site
Becoming a Christian Women’s Speaker

 

[Johnnz]

That's an eye opener. Now it's the Church of Jesus Inc it seems.

John
NZ

 

[heron]

I think the biggest problem with it, is how church peers expect each other to go. I have worked Saturdays for many years, so was able to quickly extend regrets. But after many years of living out my faith publicly, I still find people talking about these conferences as though a person is less committed if they choose not to go. Attending has very little to do with Christian commitment.

Many of the television shows already broadcast conference events, so it's not the teaching you're paying for.

A conference includes being part of the united attendance of many believers in one place...feeling more directly spoken to... seeing the reality of celebrated speakers... being in a place where much prayer and planning has been invested... getting away from the distractions of home.

Some money is required, to rent the room and send out the publicity. I would like to see more local leaders coordinating conferences, without the elevation of celebrity speakers.