Circus church.

Sorry...but I still come back to this:

1. "Elements/Circumstances" are still matters of opinion. There will never be consensus here...and since Scripture is silent, it's a lost cause to think we can resolve it.
2. The RP is still not a Biblical concept.

BTW....just for the record, I do believe in the centrality of preaching the Word of God in Christian worship.

 

Romans 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters

This verse saves me from going off on a few people at church....Though everyone's opinion of disputable matters varies. It works for me. Yet maybe others believe I am a legalist I understand what Dale is trying to say, and I agree.

 

Well, duh. Of course women have an active role in the church Dale. If nothing else we are to teach the younger women. Don't make me break out my Bible and show the many examples of women in the early church.

However, since I'm clearly in the position of being the only adult who attends church (my husband not "believing" in organized religion--let's go no further) I am then who it falls to to acertain my children are brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, as well as fulfilling the requirements of our homeschool association. (yes, there were others out there that didn't have this requirement, but this one fits us well and they are understanding of our family dynamics. DH does support our homeschooling and approves of the association.)

What you think Dale, that if life doesn't turn out the way a woman expects she is allowed to simply say "it was my husband's job". I don't think the Lord will agree to that.

 

Aww, yes you do Dale. The answer is right here:

1Co 7:13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbeleiving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.


No Wednesday's sounds interesting. Here though, Sunday night is the least attended service of the week. Wednesday's on the other hand are well attended. I suppose it's a difference of lifestyle between where you are and where I am.

Linda, I gotta tell you, those clowns you posted were creepy! I hope I don't get nightmares.

 

Just outta' curiosity, in your thinking, who gets to determine what does or does not qualify as "regular faithful attendance"?

What 'Scripture' is this "requirement" found in? II Calamity 2:4? Hogwash 5:22? Or Opinions 12:6??

Wouldn't that determination be arbitrary, at best?

Ed

 

Well, you probably shoulda' spelled it as "stoopid", given the context, but I'd suggest that this is the best question asked, so far, in the entire thread!

Ed

 

Ed I think you've mixed Dale and I up a bit.

It's my homeschool association that requires "active church membership". Who determines it? Well at partly it's on the honor system as our members are usually recommended by other members. We do collect church membership info, including pastor contact info in case there is ever a question. It would be the individual's pastor then who determines faithful attendance.

That said, we're way off down the rabbit trail.

 

If you think the clown pictures poste by Linda64 were creepy, ya' oughtta' check out the posts of some of the clowns actually posting on the BB.

There you can find some stuff that's really scary!

Ed

 

Not at all! The sentence I commented on was the last sentence made by Dale-c in post #41, where he said (actually commenting on your post), and again I quote -

No particular problem, here, but this still seems a bit arbitrary, to me. I attend a church (I'm actually the Church Moderator) where the average attendance approaches 300. I can surely 'hide' my absence or presence from the Pastor, who would normally have to 'pick me out in the crowd', easier than were I attending an assembly where the average attendence was 50, don't you think? Suppose the average attendence was 500 - Easier still, I'd say, frankly.

Again, I'd suggest maybe technically, but not really. Looks to me like I'm seeing (although certainly not you) some "Ringmaster wannabes" for the 'Circus'!

Ed

 

My church approaches about twice that of yours but it seems I can't hide hardly at all. Sunday morning services are recorded and televised at 1 on Sundays. If I'm not in my spot in the choir loft behind the preacher I'm almost sure to get a call from someone(parents, friends who attend other churches) wanting to know why. They leave me alone during January, February and March and sometimes December because those are historically "sick" months for our household. But the rest of the time, I better be up there! :laugh:

Seriously though, when I gave them my contact information, I included the associate pastor who I work with most often and would be most likely to know about my 'activity level'. Like I said though, most of it is on our honor. As far as I know, no one from the school has ever contacted my church. Not that I've asked. Shoot, now you've went and made me curious!

 

Exactly what I was pointing out, Dale, that I've led us off away from the OP.

We could perhaps start another thread on what sort of activity God expects from everyday Christians.

 

Actually, I am not the one who brought up the idea of "rabbit trail". I merely commented on it to another.

No, the OP did not mention "regular attendance". You are the one who brought up that subject, I believe.

Heb. 10:25, the verse usually brought up most often in this, says nothing about "regular attendance". It merely says "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together", I believe, in King James English. It does not define what is 'forsaking that assembling', any more than does the Bible define what is any 'required' order or 'form' of a service, either, assuming it is 'decently and in order'.

But , thankfully, we have some of the "junior holy spirits" among us, who in an attempt to "legislate spirituality" instead, actually become "grace robbers". I'm not going to participate in that endeavor.

I'll now attempt to comment on your OP.

Ed

 

Dale-c post as cited; my comments in Bold Italics.

From the 'tone' of the OP, alone, it would appear that we are basically agreed, here. Glad to see that! However, I am very sorry to see, from later posts, that the 'tone' of the OP is little short of being merely a sham!

Ed

 

Hey, we do both (concert and congregational singing together in the same service) every now and again. Last time we paired up with the Nazarene church, putting both our choirs together. We sang, they sang, we all sang together, the congregation joined in and we even let the preacher preach for a few minutes. It was an absolutely wonderful time of worship. Wasn't for outreach, though I'm sure there were non-church members attending. This was total worship and it was great!

 

I'm not at all against having extra-curricular activities at church. In fact, we're discussing the plans for our next building right now and we're considering a gymnasium.

I'm not against movie nights, as long as the movies are appropriate, of course.

Treadmills? I'd have no problem with having a little gym for members of the church (although, practically, that would present a ton of insurance issues for the church).

But we must make sure that the preaching God's word comes first and that it is kept completely seperate from any novelty or extra-curricular attractions.