Evangelize me!

Hey C75!

Baptist/anabaptist is not superior in any way to any other denomination, and you should not join a denom at all, just find the church where you are most comfortable, most likely to grow Christlike, and where they study the Bible as the source of all knowledge about God and it doesn't matter at all what name they have on the sign over their front door.

Denom doesn't matter a hill of beans in this life, the only thing that matters is that you are in a place where you can worship, learn and grow and be in fellowship with other believers.

God bless your search for a new spiritual home!

I agree to a point with LL, that denominations don't matter as long as they are Bible believing and following churches. As a protestant I have accepted the course that the Bible is my rule book, and I am led by the Holy Spirit. But there are some great places to worship that are not Baptist churches, that believe the same things we do, so I guess I would just stress to you to make sure you are following God and not a congregations idea of God.

I pray that you find a great home, and if it is here, praise God and welcome to the family. The best thing about Baptists are the people. In my church you feel loved, not just wanted for the tithes and what not. I am proud to be a member of the congregation that I attend. It is a family thing

Well you are right that there are not people who are baptized into the church like in some at an early age, but we have a lady who is in our church and has been there for 75 years. She is 75. Alot of people that were born into this church have stayed around, and they seem to be the most loyal to the Baptist heritage because it has been a part of their lives for so long. But for the most part people have come here because they wanted to make the decision for Christ and to be Baptized as an adult as a show of faith or in some ways to bury the old and bring up the new. I also like the idea of believers Baptism but do not agree that one has to go to an eight week class to know if you are ready for the baptism. Not all churches do this, but ours did.

Our church blends old hymns and contemporary songs otherwise I might go nuts. It is a matter of preference really as I grew up in a contemporary church and am not used to some of the hymns. Some have really great sentiments and are great theology lessons in themselves, but they should never have been set to music. JMHO.

Nope, you're right, you have to make a conscious decision to become a member of a B/A church because of the baptism of Believers.

Why did I join an anabaptist church? Because I saw that Mennonites live what they say they believe. We see the teachings of Jesus and we take them and say, "Jesus said we are to do this, so we do it because we love Him and want to follow Him, but He said not to do that, so we are going to obey because God knows the best way." You usually find mennonite churches that have food pantries and other ministries to the poor and dispossessed because Jesus hung around with the poor and dispossessed. When we do missions, we don't just go and talk to them, we vaccinate their children, build drinking water reservoirs and help them plant gardens because Jesus saw to people's needs while telling them the good news.

Mennonites are active Christians, living, giving, doing the work of the Lord on a daily basis. You often find they major in the helping professions, doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, and so on, because they want their daily work to be their service to God, their mission so to speak.

Mennonite churches are worshipful. If you have never been to a mennonite service, they are beautiful in their worshipful simplicity. They are prayerful, too. One church I went to when I lived in another town would spend 30 minutes to an hour each sunday morning just on prayer, as a group, during the service.

And then there's the peace witness. Mennonites believe that Believers should not fight or take the lives of others. There are only two kinds of people in the world, your siblings in Christ--and you should never take their lives, and the unsaved--and you should never take their lives because it would condemn them to hell and because Jesus said to love your enemies not kill them.

I know this isn't much to go on, and maybe you are not called to live this kind of faith, but if you are, it's a marvelous experience.

If you consider these things important:
Scripture alone - That all believers are priests - Local churches should not be bound by any associations - Two ordinances, baptism (after salvation) and the Lords supper - and most Baptist believe in eternal security.

then consider Baptist.
These are the reasons I am Baptist.

Canadian75 said:

Hello all,

. I want to know why you think your church is the right place for you and for others. I know curiousity killed the cat, but you can still call me curious.

Peace of Christ with you all.

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I have to disagree on some points with LL. First I think it matters tremendously what church you do into. It could lead you down the wrong road if you end up in a church that is not doctrinally sound. Also, I don't agree with searching for churches on comfort levels. A good bible believing baptist church should have conviction in the sermons somewhere. If it feels too good, you are not going to grow much.


I think what is most important is finding and learning bible doctines and then applying them to the church you attend. There are basic bible doctrines that should be solid in all churches, but most of them bend the rules in order to comfort the congregation and people end up growing very slowly.
I think one thing that is vital in a good bible believing church is that they are a soul winning church. If the church is just worshipping and no one gets saved or there are no soul winning programs then there is a problem.
I did not wake up one day and just decide to be a Baptist. God lead me to a church when I lived in Germany and he led me to the one I am in now. I have complete comfirmation in that from the Lord. I would not leave the RCC until you know where God is sending you. Don't let yourself in the wilderness, its too scary out there.
Have you been born again Canadian?
GEL

Personally I am a Baptist because of conviction.

I believe in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, by His blood, and not of any work I could do for Him.
I believe that once a person is truly saved, then they are sealed forever and salvation can never be taken away.
I believer a person should be baptized after salvation to show people that you are indeed a child of the King. I do not believe baptism saves a soul.
I believe the Church is the body of believers and not a building.
I believe the Bible is the sole Word of God and doesn't need man's outside help.

The Baptist faith holds all of the above as truths, in which I believe are truths as well and thus I am a Baptist.

To sum up why I am Baptist, my personal experience is that Baptist churches do not try to convinve the layperson that they are not educated enough or spiriutally mature enough to understand the bible. I perfer to be guided by the Holy Spirit not dogma.

I second every thing GreenEyedLady said, though I'm a bit fuzzy on "soul winning programs" . Compare everything you hear and see at whatever church you attend with Scripture. Sadly, at least now in the RCC you hear a lot of Scripture read whereas at many evangelical churches you won't hear much.

My $.02: Be careful of churches that are too lively and don't talk about sin, Christ's blood, the cross or faith as means of salvation. Also be wary of churches that every week given "7 Steps to a healthy X" where they use some OT Bible verse to prove that if you just do what Joshua did you'll be successful. OK, 'nuff said, everyone else covered things well.

Lockheed said:

I second every thing GreenEyedLady said, though I'm a bit fuzzy on "soul winning programs" . .

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Are you sitting closer to me in the church now??????

GEL,

When you weren't looking I move to your side of the aisle. I'm suprised you couldn't smell me!