I have often wondered what, exactly, IS the secret/mystery which is mentioned in the NT? Is it one secret? Multiple secrets?I’d like to get your thoughts.
Open Any Time -- Day or Night
I have often wondered what, exactly, IS the secret/mystery which is mentioned in the NT? Is it one secret? Multiple secrets?I’d like to get your thoughts.
With the recent financial blunders, do you see churches attempting to raise funds for “in house” use or even funding ministries directly in lieu of going through Cleveland?
A small church may be thought of as a branch just as banks have branch locations they all serve the same purpose but not with the same strength.
The COG has no large churches in the state of Indiana. There might be a couple of churches flirting with 200 in attendance but the vast majority of the 100+ local churches have less than 50 in attendance. Pastors often remain well past 75 years of age and seem to enjoy their church and role as pastor.
Amen
What is the revitalize program?
Our churches could learn a lot from facebook. If we just realized how much people want to connect and then make that connection easy and non judgemental our churches would have a natural growth. Part of the Christmas story is; ” on earth peace, good will toward men.” Lk. 2:14. We understand that men here also means women and note there were no qualifications; no one was excluded from deserving peace and goodwill. Yet down through the church’s 2000 year history, we have always leaned toward exclusion. A pastor friend of mine is having an issue at his church. Many of the women in his congregation now wear slacks and jeans to work. They also want to wear those same clothes to church. After some debate they have decided that only dresses can be worn Sunday morning and the other clothes can be worn Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. So time and culture has always been an issue but surely if Paul or Peter were living in our day they would frame their message differently. That is not to say that we shouldn’t have standards of purity and holiness but those standards should include, good will toward all people.