Our Place

[payattention]

From where you stand or sit would you say that our church is trying to be a leader in the Christian community, blend into the Christian community or be separate from the Christian community?

 

[HoneyDew]

From where I sit, I would have to say all three at some point. Depends on the congregation. I remember growing up and my home church was definitely a leader in the community. We were always helping others with money, food and various other services. When I was in my early twenties the church I became a member of was so separate from the Christian community, they never even knew the name of the church down the road. They fought what they saw was a move toward Ecumenism because it meant ushering the Time of Trouble. My last church was practically seamlessly integrated into the Christian community. There was a Catholic church to the right and a Lutheran church to the left and you could never really tell who went where. It quite shook visitors.
Of course I am being local when responding, while you might be thinking more universal ...

 

[Vaudois]

"Lead, blend or separate"....these are your operative verbs, yet my question is "In what?"
Community-ism? Social Gospel? Authentic godliness? Reputation?

 

[payattention]

"Lead, blend or separate"....these are your operative verbs, yet my question is "In what?"
Community-ism? Social Gospel? Authentic godliness? Reputation?

Your question only applies to the first. Each position requires a different mindset, but it also requires that the church understand its mission.

 

[Inne]

Yes to all three.

From where you stand or sit would you say that our church is trying to be a leader in the Christian community, blend into the Christian community or be separate from the Christian community?

 

[Windmill]

From where I sit, I would have to say all three at some point. Depends on the congregation. I remember growing up and my home church was definitely a leader in the community. We were always helping others with money, food and various other services. When I was in my early twenties the church I became a member of was so separate from the Christian community, they never even knew the name of the church down the road. They fought what they saw was a move toward Ecumenism because it meant ushering the Time of Trouble. My last church was practically seamlessly integrated into the Christian community. There was a Catholic church to the right and a Lutheran church to the left and you could never really tell who went where. It quite shook visitors.
Of course I am being local when responding, while you might be thinking more universal ...

I agree, it depends on the congregation/individual churches/different divisions

I think, overall, that we are trying to make ourselves (on the whole) seperate but end up leading out in certain things as a consequence. Its quite a hard one, whether the church as a whole is leaning towards seperation or leadership. But, the thing is, we don't ('least around here) seem to make ourselves widely known in the christian community. The Anglican/catholic church leads from what I can see. Just because one may not lead, doesn't mean they arn't ahead. Look at microsoft, leaders in the computer business, but light years behind apple. Apple need to stay ahead to compete, Microsoft don't. I think thats kinda like us except the church is apple. We are leaders in things like health, but our overall goal isn't to become leaders as we don't make ourselves widely known/try to influence other churches.

Nor are we trying to blend into other denominations. We do however, it seems, as a consequence of us not wanting to say offend others with our doctrine etc. We blend in as a consequence of us trying to do other things, but we don't usually attempt to blend in.

We do, however, I feel, try to seperate ourselves as a whole. But, depending on individual congregations, well... its a mixed bag.