#ecclesia — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #ecclesia, aggregated by home.social.
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Emanuel Greenwald was a Lutheran pastor in OH & PA. He says a poor lad was oppressed by a RC priest to “pray his father’s soul out of purgatory.” When the boy had ran out of money, the priest wanted more. Some 300 years after the Protestant Reformation, indulgences were still being extracted.
Did he have to mention that the boy was poor? Is there more of a duty to speak out when the poor are abused by churches?
How can you remember the poor?
#christian #agape #ecclesia #godswrath #godfearing -
William Garden Blaikie, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, makes an argument about the religion of the Roman Empire based on how they treated slaves, women, and the poor.
Today, would many strongly object to making any linkage between religion and concern for others?
How can you show concern for those with a harder life?
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Acts 2 – The greatest miracle of all
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
...
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’ Acts 2.17-21#churchleadership #ecclesia #faith #Israel #jesus #jesuschrist #Messiah #messianicmiracles #resurrection #Risen #salvation
https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/jesus-and-judaism/acts-2-the-greatest-miracle-of-all/
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Martin Luther, Protestant reformer, discusses the subduing of the flesh (1 Peter 4:1). Refraining from lust means one’s neighbor, wife, & children can live at peace. If one subdues hate and envy, one is better prepared to be kind and friendly to one’s neighbor.
Isn’t it surprising that that “subduing flesh” can mean kindness to neighbor? As opposed to locking self in closet?
How can you set aside lustfulness, hate, and envy?
#christian #kindnessrules #motivationdaily #ecclesia #historymeme
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Wait yeah like wasn’t #CainCulto a #NewAge homosexual vague spiritualist even while he was making worship music under the name #Ecclesia?
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The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians, a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.
Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.
Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.
On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked
What is happening?
For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option
It’s not that we aren’t trying!
he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.
In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.
Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.
All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?
Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.
Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians. According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.
Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.
Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.
Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.
Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.
and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.
When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.
happened.
Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.
what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.
In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.
We must see that
The lost are our hope
and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.
We are the hope of the lost
Luckily it is not all ad or sad news.
Good News!
tells brother Downes is that we can look at
- 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
- In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
- In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
- While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
- Numbers in Africa are growing!
- Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact
Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?
Plan A discussed at the Big Conversation of 2015 October 10 at Dudley college, UK- Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
- 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
- Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
- Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.
One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.
We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}
+
Preceding articles:
Religious Practices around the world
Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
The Big Conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church
Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building
Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review
Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings
++
Additional reading:
- People are turning their back on Christianity
- Looking on what is going on and not being of it
- London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
- Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
- State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
- More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
- Will Islam conquer Europe
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Halloween custom of the nations
- Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
- A call easy to understand
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The meek one riding on an ass
- Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Fellowship
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
- Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
- To find ways of Godly understanding
- Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
- Who are the honest ones?
- Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
- Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
- Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
- American atheists most religiously literate Americans
- Determine the drive
- Try driving forward instead of backwards
- Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Christadelphian people
- Who are Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Christadelphians today
- Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Christianity is a love affair
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- Love for each other attracting others
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- A call easy to understand
- If you have integrity
- Work with joy and pray with love
- To know Christ is filling life with meaning
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
+++
Other articles of interest:
- Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
- On the Affirmation of Scripture
- A Snapshot of the Church in America
- a little church
- Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
- If It’s All About Relationship…
- Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
- Walking With Intentionality
- Living Our Faith in a New Way
- What’s in It for Me?
- Deacon Selection In the Small Church
- Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
- Just Try a Few Things
- “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
- Growing Deep
- All the Wrong Reasons
- Little Church
- Leading Change
- Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
- Living well
- Blessed by His Hand
- Encouragement for the Small
- How Did You Get Here?
- How to Impersonate a Big Church
- What Do You Do Well?
- Recognize the Facts
- What are your top two struggles?
- The Best Thing You Can Do
- On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
- Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
- House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
- The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
- Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
- Tent Making
- Journey On The Narrow Path
+++
Related articles
- One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
- Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Rate this:
#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan
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The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians, a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.
Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.
Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.
On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked
What is happening?
For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option
It’s not that we aren’t trying!
he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.
In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.
Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.
All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?
Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.
Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians. According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.
Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.
Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.
Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.
Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.
and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.
When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.
happened.
Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.
what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.
In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.
We must see that
The lost are our hope
and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.
We are the hope of the lost
Luckily it is not all ad or sad news.
Good News!
tells brother Downes is that we can look at
- 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
- In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
- In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
- While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
- Numbers in Africa are growing!
- Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact
Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?
Plan A discussed at the Big Conversation of 2015 October 10 at Dudley college, UK- Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
- 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
- Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
- Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.
One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.
We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}
+
Preceding articles:
Religious Practices around the world
Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
The Big Conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church
Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building
Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review
Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings
++
Additional reading:
- People are turning their back on Christianity
- Looking on what is going on and not being of it
- London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
- Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
- State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
- More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
- Will Islam conquer Europe
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Halloween custom of the nations
- Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
- A call easy to understand
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The meek one riding on an ass
- Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Fellowship
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
- Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
- To find ways of Godly understanding
- Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
- Who are the honest ones?
- Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
- Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
- Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
- American atheists most religiously literate Americans
- Determine the drive
- Try driving forward instead of backwards
- Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Christadelphian people
- Who are Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Christadelphians today
- Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Christianity is a love affair
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- Love for each other attracting others
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- A call easy to understand
- If you have integrity
- Work with joy and pray with love
- To know Christ is filling life with meaning
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
+++
Other articles of interest:
- Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
- On the Affirmation of Scripture
- A Snapshot of the Church in America
- a little church
- Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
- If It’s All About Relationship…
- Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
- Walking With Intentionality
- Living Our Faith in a New Way
- What’s in It for Me?
- Deacon Selection In the Small Church
- Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
- Just Try a Few Things
- “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
- Growing Deep
- All the Wrong Reasons
- Little Church
- Leading Change
- Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
- Living well
- Blessed by His Hand
- Encouragement for the Small
- How Did You Get Here?
- How to Impersonate a Big Church
- What Do You Do Well?
- Recognize the Facts
- What are your top two struggles?
- The Best Thing You Can Do
- On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
- Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
- House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
- The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
- Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
- Tent Making
- Journey On The Narrow Path
+++
Related articles
- One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
- Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Rate this:
#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan
-
The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians, a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.
Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.
Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.
On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked
What is happening?
For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option
It’s not that we aren’t trying!
he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.
In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.
Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.
All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?
Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.
Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians. According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.
Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.
Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.
Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.
Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.
and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.
When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.
happened.
Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.
what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.
In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.
We must see that
The lost are our hope
and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.
We are the hope of the lost
Luckily it is not all ad or sad news.
Good News!
tells brother Downes is that we can look at
- 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
- In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
- In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
- While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
- Numbers in Africa are growing!
- Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact
Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?
Plan A discussed at the Big Conversation of 2015 October 10 at Dudley college, UK- Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
- 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
- Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
- Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.
One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.
We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}
+
Preceding articles:
Religious Practices around the world
Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
The Big Conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church
Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building
Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review
Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings
++
Additional reading:
- People are turning their back on Christianity
- Looking on what is going on and not being of it
- London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
- Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
- State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
- More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
- Will Islam conquer Europe
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Halloween custom of the nations
- Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
- A call easy to understand
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The meek one riding on an ass
- Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Fellowship
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
- Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
- To find ways of Godly understanding
- Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
- Who are the honest ones?
- Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
- Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
- Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
- American atheists most religiously literate Americans
- Determine the drive
- Try driving forward instead of backwards
- Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Christadelphian people
- Who are Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Christadelphians today
- Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Christianity is a love affair
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- Love for each other attracting others
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- A call easy to understand
- If you have integrity
- Work with joy and pray with love
- To know Christ is filling life with meaning
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
+++
Other articles of interest:
- Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
- On the Affirmation of Scripture
- A Snapshot of the Church in America
- a little church
- Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
- If It’s All About Relationship…
- Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
- Walking With Intentionality
- Living Our Faith in a New Way
- What’s in It for Me?
- Deacon Selection In the Small Church
- Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
- Just Try a Few Things
- “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
- Growing Deep
- All the Wrong Reasons
- Little Church
- Leading Change
- Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
- Living well
- Blessed by His Hand
- Encouragement for the Small
- How Did You Get Here?
- How to Impersonate a Big Church
- What Do You Do Well?
- Recognize the Facts
- What are your top two struggles?
- The Best Thing You Can Do
- On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
- Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
- House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
- The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
- Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
- Tent Making
- Journey On The Narrow Path
+++
Related articles
- One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
- Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Rate this:
#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan
-
The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians, a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.
Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.
Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.
On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked
What is happening?
For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option
It’s not that we aren’t trying!
he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.
In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.
Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.
All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?
Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.
Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians. According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.
Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.
Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.
Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.
Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.
and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.
When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.
happened.
Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.
what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.
In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.
We must see that
The lost are our hope
and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.
We are the hope of the lost
Luckily it is not all ad or sad news.
Good News!
tells brother Downes is that we can look at
- 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
- In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
- In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
- While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
- Numbers in Africa are growing!
- Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact
Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?
Plan A discussed at the Big Conversation of 2015 October 10 at Dudley college, UK- Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
- 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
- Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
- Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.
One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.
We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}
+
Preceding articles:
Religious Practices around the world
Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
The Big Conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church
Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building
Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review
Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings
++
Additional reading:
- People are turning their back on Christianity
- Looking on what is going on and not being of it
- London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
- Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
- State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
- More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
- Will Islam conquer Europe
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Halloween custom of the nations
- Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
- A call easy to understand
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The meek one riding on an ass
- Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Fellowship
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
- Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
- To find ways of Godly understanding
- Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
- Who are the honest ones?
- Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
- Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
- Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
- American atheists most religiously literate Americans
- Determine the drive
- Try driving forward instead of backwards
- Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Christadelphian people
- Who are Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Christadelphians today
- Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Christianity to be enshrined
- Christianity is a love affair
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- Love for each other attracting others
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- A call easy to understand
- If you have integrity
- Work with joy and pray with love
- To know Christ is filling life with meaning
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
+++
Other articles of interest:
- Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
- On the Affirmation of Scripture
- A Snapshot of the Church in America
- a little church
- Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
- If It’s All About Relationship…
- Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
- Walking With Intentionality
- Living Our Faith in a New Way
- What’s in It for Me?
- Deacon Selection In the Small Church
- Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
- Just Try a Few Things
- “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
- Growing Deep
- All the Wrong Reasons
- Little Church
- Leading Change
- Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
- Living well
- Blessed by His Hand
- Encouragement for the Small
- How Did You Get Here?
- How to Impersonate a Big Church
- What Do You Do Well?
- Recognize the Facts
- What are your top two struggles?
- The Best Thing You Can Do
- On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
- Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
- House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
- The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
- Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
- Tent Making
- Journey On The Narrow Path
+++
Related articles
- One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
- Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
- Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Rate this:
#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan
-
Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Tuesday-night at the meeting of the Ecclesia Brussel–Leuven we read Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 1+3, looking at the difficulties we have encountered the last few months and how we had to cope with it but also how we should continue our way.
Sometimes we do get to recognise we could not re-conciliate but have to turn over the page and leave those who did not want to be amicably connected with us on their own. Sometimes a community has the priority to protect its own flock and has to take measures which do not seem so pleasant for all people involved. When certain people prefer to stand on their own and are not willing to co-operate the community than has to decide to let them go their own way, but when they themselves did everything to blacken that community, they should not have to keep contact any more. As such we decided to leave the man from the North and his organisation far what they are, and shall concentrate ourselves on bringing people to Christ ourselves, without their help.
Jesus Christ is the man who opened the way to his Father. He is the One Mediator between God and man and is the cornerstone of the Church of God.
We do trust the Most High, Elohim Hashem Jehovah, Who shall call people and Who shall guide us and give us that what we need according to His time.
In Him we trust and give all our hope to build up His Church in Belgium and other parts in the world.
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Alexander Michalak writes: My preliminary examination of several Second Temple texts, 1 Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, Joseph and Aseneth, Testament of Job, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs indicates that there is already at this time a connection between demons and the cult of foreign gods, although they are not always explicitly identified with one another. Sometimes the demonic spirits are said only to lead people astray, that is, to lead people toward Gentile worship and toward idolatry, whereas in other cases it is the demonic spirits who are the objects of worship, or the pagan gods themselves. - The House of Worship (causeitfeelsright.wordpress.com)
The Greek word that should have been translated to church was only used twice in the New Testament. It means “the Lord’s” and was used for the Lord’s day and the Lord’s supper. But this instance is ecclesia. It means “to call forth from out of”. Matthew says if you and the other person can’t work out your problems go get help. Go find a few more people to help because maybe they’ll understand a different perspective. If that doesn’t work go find the ones who have been called out of darkness (1 Peter). When you are in darkness you can’t see clearly and when you are “in the dark” you are ignorant which simply means you don’t know. So someone who has been called out can see clearly, or they are knowledgeable or “in the know” which is having “inside” information. - Mary, Martha & Lazarus – the family in Bethany (hadvarim.wordpress.com)
The gospel narrative then is largely concerned with Christ exposing the apostate Jewish leaders, and building up his apostles as “other husbandmen” to replace them. The parables recorded of the Kingdom of heaven throughout Matthew describe the kingdom of Israel in existence (Mat 11:12), under the governance of the prince of this world – the apostate Jewish leaders (John 12:31, 16:11, Eph 2:2, Luke 10:18, Mat 24:27), and then later to be replaced with the new heavens founded upon Christ as the Abrahamic seed stars are raised to the political heavens (Gen 15:5, Dan 12:2-3, Psa 19:4, 1 Cor 15:40-49, Apoc 4:1).
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A people for his Name
Christ is described as the second Adam as compared to the first Adam (1 Cor 15:45-47). Both of them the “son of God” (Luke 3:38), and both typically created the same way. The body of Christ is the Ecclesia εκκλησια (Eph 5:23, 30, Col 1:18,24), and it is being formed from the Abrahamic dust, the seed of Abraham according to the promises of old; compare Gen 2:7 with Gen 13:16, 28:14.
+The mortal children of Israel are described as Elohim, mighty ones, or as we have in the AV “gods”. Elohim describes the the mental state of the person, not their physical nature. Ambassadors of the father, regardless of whether they are mortal people or immortal angels. If they are empowered by the will of the spirit, they are indeed mighty ones.When mortal Elohim, mighty ones, do not keep the commandments of Yahweh then they are not immune – by any means – to the consequences of their actions. They will “die like men”.
Therefore we ought to take earnest heed to the things which we have heard. We have all the scriptures… even the testimony of the Son, which brings with it great responsibility (Heb 2:1-3). We comfort in that if we turn from wickedness we will be forgiven. Yet vigilant in the warning that turning to wickedness means rejection (Ezk 33:11-19).
- Ecclesia Plantanda (vicaranne.wordpress.com)
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787) … Englishman William Carey … Both men understood that sharing good news need not and must not wait for people to learn the evangelist’s tongue. - church oh church1 (ozyikhiedwardblog.wordpress.com)
why substitute “ecclesia” for “kyriakon”?to support the regular congregating of early Christians,who didn’t understand what Paul and Silas were doing!
What did the New Covenant writers mean when they used the word “Ecclesia” to describe a Christian body of people?? We can safely denote that they intended to convey the original Greek meaning of the word:”A body of Christian called out of Roman and Judean systems of Government,to live under a seperate civil mentality,”a politically autonomous body of Christians,under no other King but Yeshua,under no other civil laws,than that of Yeshua.But some misguided folks misunderstood the missions of Paul, that was why these Christians ran into trouble with kings and rulers,were arrested,crucified,and martyred. They dropped Caesar as their King,and took up Christ. The writers of the New covenant didn’t substitute “kyriakon” with “Ecclesia” to mean entertainment every Sundays,and Tuesdays,and so on! - Apostasy in the Highest Places (mysteryoftheiniquity.com)
The church, the Ecclesia, is a body of people who are redeemed called out to represent GOD and HIS Authority which means they are called to carry our HIS Laws. We are granted the responsibility of not only this but we are accountable for these actions.
The fact that the church is failing man is an undeniable truth but it’s also devastating to the people. How do I mean they are failing the people? - Priority to form a loving brotherhood (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
There might be people who do not like that others share the love of Christ with each other and do not mind being under Christ instead of being under one or the other organisation. - Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Coming together in each-others houses, forming housechurches as a church of disciples they also were an assembly of learners. We too so many years later should be like them a church of Christian disciples and an assembly of persons who believe the things of the Kingdom of God, and of the Name of the lord Jesus, and, thus believing, have been immersed into Christ and patiently continue in the faith and well doing of their vocation, reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting all things revealed in the scriptures of truth.
In the readings of today we look at the brothers and sisters in Corinth some 2000 years ago.
In Belgium the community has been troubled by persons perhaps wanting to claim to have the right to make foundations and to direct the groups of people wanting to come together under the name of Christ.
Paul the Apostle, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We remember how the apostle Paul makes the argument that he has borne witness to the people of Corinth, he has shared the gospel, he has brought them to Christ and showed them the way but that he has to be sad because he only could see division between those who should be united as brethren and sisters in Christ.
The apostle Paul in his 5th letter to the Romans and his first three letters to the Corinths, also talks…
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