Foru.ms - a new beginning and a fresh start

[cygnusx1]

btw , what is wrong with the name Christian , why hide the name , and after folks get interested in maybe joining only to spring "this is a forum run on Christian principles and beliefs " on them !

is that hiding the light under a bushel , or ashamed of the name Christ or what ?

 

[dluvs2trvl]

Hi everyone

Yes, as you can see, Christian Forums is now called Foru.ms, and the new web address is the same as the name, "foru.ms" - short, simple and to the point.

This name change has been suggested to me by several members and is in line with the recent changes to the direction of the website.

In summary:

Name:
Foru.ms

Slogan:
Forums-based Social Networking For You

Vision:
An online forums-based self-governing social networking community guided by Christian principles for everyone.

Mission:

1. To establish and grow a self-governing community that is open to everyone guided by rules driven by Christian principles which are collaboratively agreed upon by all members, keeping in mind:
Gal 5:22-23 GNT But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.

2. To provide a meeting place for Christians to fellowship with one another and outreach to non-Christians, keeping in mind:
2 Cor 5:17-18 GNT Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.

The above statements summarises the new direction and vision of the site.

What does it all mean?

1. It means that all members will be given the power to self-govern by collaboratively working together with coming up with the rules for this whole community, including voting for their own moderators.

2. It means that members who want their particular forums to have certain restrictions may do as this is part of self-governance. Sub-forums members will be able to develop their own rules and choose their own moderators.

3. It means that this site will be continue to be open to people from all backgrounds and give them the opportunity to interact.

From a practical point of view, everything should really function as before prior to the name and vision change, except that now we have a much broader vision and goal than before.

Thank you for all your patience. It's 12:30 am here now and I have an all-day medical conference tomorrow (yes, on Sunday) to attend so I need to sleep - I hope to check up on Foru.ms to ensure everything is going okay.

Feel free to discuss this change in this thread.

Not really sure what you mean by self-governing and voting as that is what we had done and yet you totally ignored the views of the majority...

 

[rnmomof7]

BTW Here are the financials for CCF

Cost of Software - $0.00 - Open Source
Cost of Hosting till 2008 $92.00
Donation to Crafty Syntax $20.00
-----------------------------------------------
Total <$112.00>



Donations
P_G $70.00
Pearl S $50.00
-------------------------------------------------
Total $120.00


Woot! Woot! We have an $8.00 Surplus! We are ahead of the game for 2009!



OK Erwin your turn


PG

Phl 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 

[Jere209]

btw , what is wrong with the name Christian , why hide the name , and after folks get interested in maybe joining spring "this is a forum run on Christian principles and beliefs " on them !

is that hiding the light under a bushel , or ashamed of the name or what ?

Amen brother! Just what I have been saying, as well as many others.

 

[KerrMetric]

ahh, but you overlook the part about the "bloody name"...

Travel across the Atlantic - you might learn something about the ENGLISH language.

You are looking for something that was not there.

 

[NightCrawler13]

btw , what is wrong with the name Christian , why hide the name , and after folks get interested in maybe joining only to spring "this is a forum run on Christian principles and beliefs " on them !

is that hiding the light under a bushel , or ashamed of the name or what ?

Sir, your one of th smartest people ive met!

 

[No Swansong]

If you think telling someone they are "going to hell" constitutes sharing the gospel, you need to go back to the New Testament and READ the gospels again, and try emulating Jesus. By Jesus' example, the only ones who need to be told they are "going to hell" are those who are not already living in it. In other words, the sort of people who go around telling others they are "going to hell". Jesus reserved His staunchest rebukes for pharisees and religious leaders. For SINNERS He had nothing but compassion and encouragement, lifting them up out of the hell they were already in.

Telling some that there is death without life in Christ is part of sharing the Gospel. By your post it seems that you are saying that the Pharisees were some kind of uber sinner. A sinner is a sinner. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery to go and sin no more. I think it is important to remember the inaugural words of His ministry.

REPENT. Under the old reforms you couldn't tell someone to 'repent' as doing so called into question their "christianity" it happend all the time. So unless repentence is also not part of the Gospel the answer is no under the old rules you could not share the Gospel.

 

[*Starlight*]

The only issues I have is with the site mission, and the mention that FM is a social networking site...which will conjure up images of such nice places as MySpace and Facebook. Definitely not what you want to associate a Christian majority site with.

G-d bless,
sc

Actually, there are Christian social networking sites.

 

[HisGrace58]

Her point was to show how many there was on this thread alone.

Thanks Jere for clearing that up. My name wasn't on there and I was wondering why? lol

 

[Jere209]

Travel across the Atlantic - you might learn something about the ENGLISH language.

You are looking for something that was not there.

ditto..come over the US, you'll see the Blood means the Blood of Christ..

 

[Lisa0315]

Originally Posted by Erwin
Hi members

This poll, started by drstevej, was PMed to me recently. I think that it does make a good point and I wanted it moved out of the Conservative Christians forum to the Announcement forum to gather input from other members as well.

The issue here is whether CF's name should be changed and its vision modified to reflect its current framework.

This site at the moment is at a cross-roads, and can go either way. It can either become:

1. A safe social community site with a heavy and strong Christian influence (with the vision being to offer a safe online community, and a secondary vision being to allow Christians to outreach to non-Christians) - which will allow for a name change;

OR

2. Return to a more restricted Christians-only site with a heavy emphasis on uniting mainstream Christians only with a less emphasis on outreach, in which case we keep the name.

Bear in mind that options 1 and 2 are both valid - there is a place for either forums.

I think that at this moment members are frustrated because CF is halfway between options 1 and 2, so members are confused as we have a vision that belongs to option 2 but a setup that is more like option 1.

Therefore, I think we need to make a decision.

I'm going to leave this up to the community. I've extended the above poll to 3rd of August.

I will listen to the members here, and will defer to the final decision.

Please feel free to discuss this issue in this thread.

I bolded the above items.

This is to Erwin and anyone else who would like to chime in...

Exactly why did you post this if you were not going to abide by your words?

Lisa

 

[No Swansong]

btw , what is wrong with the name Christian , why hide the name , and after folks get interested in maybe joining only to spring "this is a forum run on Christian principles and beliefs " on them !

is that hiding the light under a bushel , or ashamed of the name or what ?

Because there is nothing about the site that is distinctively "Christian"

 

[Melbelle]

and one can have backbone for the Gospel, for our Lord and say, "NO". no one makes anyone do anything. this is shameful.

I agree Doing things or for God? Hmmm that is a toughy eh? What would be the better out come? Well I can get rich, but God can come back and I will be even richer in heaven? Thats a toughy :Rolleyes:

 

[HisGrace58]

btw , what is wrong with the name Christian , why hide the name , and after folks get interested in maybe joining only to spring "this is a forum run on Christian principles and beliefs " on them !

is that hiding the light under a bushel , or ashamed of the name or what ?

Seems that is what the world has done to the "so-called" Christians who are either ashamed of their faith or are not strong enough to stand up for it.

 

[Macrina]

PS:

Erwin, now I'm somewhat confused. Am I reading this correctly, that you bid on the new domain name on July 26, when folks on CF were still earnestly discussing the direction? If this is accurate, then could you explain a bit more about your process in coming to this decision?

Thanks,
Mac

 

[NightCrawler13]

Because there is nothing about the site that is distinctively "Christian"

is that our fault?, im just a poster

 

[KerrMetric]

ditto..come over the US, you'll see the Blood means the Blood of Christ..

Read my profile - I have lived in the States over 25 years.

And I said "bloody" not blood.

(And blood means blood for most people anyway.)

 

[icedtea]

Erwin may design to come here and put a spin on things, rom his viewpoint.

 

[No Swansong]

Originally Posted by Erwin
Hi members

This poll, started by drstevej, was PMed to me recently. I think that it does make a good point and I wanted it moved out of the Conservative Christians forum to the Announcement forum to gather input from other members as well.

The issue here is whether CF's name should be changed and its vision modified to reflect its current framework.

This site at the moment is at a cross-roads, and can go either way. It can either become:

1. A safe social community site with a heavy and strong Christian influence (with the vision being to offer a safe online community, and a secondary vision being to allow Christians to outreach to non-Christians) - which will allow for a name change;

OR

2. Return to a more restricted Christians-only site with a heavy emphasis on uniting mainstream Christians only with a less emphasis on outreach, in which case we keep the name.

Bear in mind that options 1 and 2 are both valid - there is a place for either forums.

I think that at this moment members are frustrated because CF is halfway between options 1 and 2, so members are confused as we have a vision that belongs to option 2 but a setup that is more like option 1.

Therefore, I think we need to make a decision.

I'm going to leave this up to the community. I've extended the above poll to 3rd of August.

I will listen to the members here, and will defer to the final decision.

Please feel free to discuss this issue in this thread.

I bolded the above items.

This is to Erwin and anyone else who would like to chime in...

Exactly why did you post this if you were not going to abide by your words?

Lisa

Less than a week later he posted this.

All these polls...

Hi everyone

It's Sunday morning here, and I'm sick in bed with a cold. God will heal me.

Just letting everyone know I am keeping track of the polls. However, in the end, the decision of whether to change the name of the site (which is still a possibility) and change the vision of the site will remain mine. The truth is, whatever happens, it would be impossible to please all members, and members will leave the site (whether we become too "liberal" or "conservative", too "inclusive" or "exclusive").

I'm just making this post to let people know that the polls will assist and guide me, but will not make the final decisions for me.

God bless everyone who is participating in forming the future of this site. I'm closing this thread as the above is not for discussion, but a note to members.

 

[Tychicus2]

I understand that - those fundies could be oh so annoying.

So can the Libbies...