#pastor — Public Fediverse posts

Sob pressão, pastor presbiteriano deixa cargo após acusação de assédio

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://iclnoticias.com.br/pastor-presbiteriano-deixa-cargo-assedio/

Paul is clear: our enemy is not flesh and blood. The struggle is not this-worldly. If our struggle was social or political, we'd put on social or political armor. Instead, we take up spiritual armor against a personal enemy and his legion of forces.
https://keelancook.com/on-knowing-the-enemy #ephesians6 #spiritualbattle #pastor

#SpiritualWarfare #leadership #theology #missiology #Bible

Much of the news and police don't want to call rape for what it is. RAPE.
By joining my discord server, you don't get sugar coating. You get actual news and facts.

Become a member today and you get access to news that is "blunt"
I'm not here to think about the feelings of those who are harming individuals. I'm here to share truth without fear.

http://ko-fi.com/seth_the_brave/tiers

#news #trump #politics #rape #police #reporting #pastor #church

The Problem of False Preacher Teacher Clerical Ministering Within Modern Day Churches

*

The Problem of False Preacher Teacher Clerical Ministering Within Modern Day Churches

The table of the Lord is Holy.

The food we receive must come from the Priest-King Himself—pure, undefiled, and flowing from the Holiest of All.

Yet in our time, that table has been defiled.

The church has become a place where food offered to idols is served. These idols are not of wood and stone but of political causes, cultural trends, social programmes, and false moral appearances. They are the idols of the age, and they have been brought into the sanctuary.

The Social Gospel, with all its political causes and cultural trends, is such an idol.

It sounds compassionate to the natural ear, but it sacrifices the true Gospel on the altar of this world. It offers earthly reform where the Priest-King Jesus Christ offers heavenly reconciliation.

It speaks of systems and power where He speaks of the cross and the throne of grace. It rearranges deck chairs on a sinking ship. It offers programs where it should offer presence. It offers politics where it should offer peace. It offers activism where it should offer adoration.

This is not the Gospel. It is a counterfeit—a substitute that speaks of earthly kingdoms while ignoring the heavenly. It is food wrapped in pretty paper, but inside is rotting meat. It is a deception, a snare, and a trap.

Congregations that consume this food are not being heart-fed; they are being mind-fed. Their souls are starved while their minds are filled with the philosophies of men. Those who serve this food as if it were the Gospel are not acting as faithful shepherds of the flock; they are leading souls away from the true pasture.

We make it very clear, we do not seek merely to promote our own theology within COFE-CYEM by pointing the finger at (any) other theologies, denominations or faiths. COFE-CYEM itself makes many claims around our theology, our belief system and our faith.

We do not expect or ask everybody to just blindly believe our way of seeing and believing. All we seek is to call attention to the issue of the church and faith itself being used as a Trojan Horse for (worldly) purposes in order to further the interests of man and not God Himself.

We implore our followers respectfully – if you ever feel, suspect or see anything whatsoever within our own theology or posts here on COFE-CYEM that you believe is pushing (worldly) purposes or schemes, then please call us out and expose us.

We are no different or more righteous than any other brother or sister in Christ. But if we were to be found (using) the true Gospel as a Trojan Horse to push a false Gospel for our own purposes – then we are truly lost indeed.

The Nature of the Deception

The danger arises whenever social action, political programmes, or cultural causes become substitutes for the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen, rather than fruits flowing from communion with Him.

The New Testament consistently presents love for neighbour and care for the poor as genuine expressions of faith, not as alternatives to it.

The error is not in caring for the needy or seeking justice. The error is in presenting such activities as the Gospel itself, or as a sufficient substitute for repentance, faith in Christ, and the new birth.

Those who preach this substitute gospel speak of power where the Priest-King spoke of weakness. They speak of victory where He spoke of the cross. They speak of this world as if it were the only world. They have departed from the faith and given themselves over to the spirit of the age.

They have exchanged the Gospel of the finished work for a gospel of social reform. They have exchanged the cross for a political platform. They have exchanged the throne of grace for a seat of power. They have exchanged the rest that remains for the restless striving of the world. They have exchanged the Holiest of All for the outer courts of carnal religion.

This is not a judgment on persons but a discernment of teaching. We do not know the hearts of those who preach these things, and we leave their final judgment to God.

We are called to test the spirits and to distinguish between the pure food of the Gospel and the poisoned food that has been offered to idols. The warning is not against individuals but against the teaching itself, which, however attractively packaged, leads away from Christ.

The Rot Beneath the Wrapping

False teaching often comes wrapped in the language of the Bible, the imagery of the cross, and the emotions of the congregation. It speaks of love, justice, and compassion, but it hollows out their meaning. It is like the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit—a show of life without the reality of life.

Congregations that consume this food are being fed a diet of politics, activism, and social reform, but they are not being fed the pure Word of God.

They are being told to fight for earthly causes, but they are not being told to enter the Holiest of All. They are being told to change the world, but they are not being told to rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

They are being told to be activists, but they are not being told to be worshippers. They are being told to build the kingdom of God on earth, but they are not being told that the Kingdom of God is within them.

The food that is being served is a gospel of the flesh, a gospel of the world, a gospel of the age. It has no power to save, no power to transform, and no power to bring the soul into the presence of God.

It leads to exhaustion, burnout, and disillusionment. It leads away from the Priest-King, not toward Him. It leads to the outer court, not the Holiest of All. The invitation to serve God in the world becomes a substitute for the invitation to abide in Christ.

The True Gospel and the Mind of Christ

The real Gospel is not a gospel of prosperity, politics, or social reform disguised as salvation. It is not a gospel of emotional experience without transformation.

The real Gospel is this: Jesus Christ, the Priest-King has entered the Holiest of All through His own blood.

The veil is torn.

The way is open.

Every soul who draws near through Him receives mercy, finds grace, and enters the rest that remains.

He ever lives to make intercession.

He brings God to us and us to God. In Him, we are accepted. In Him, we are kept. In Him, the endless life of God flows freely to all who will come. That is the Gospel. Not a portion of it. Not a version of it. It.

The mind of Christ is not the mind of carnal man, which seeks power, recognition, and earthly comfort. The mind of Christ empties itself, takes the form of a servant, becomes obedient unto death, and is exalted by the Father. The mind of Christ builds the church on the rock of revelation, and the gates of hell do not prevail against it.

The mind of Christ measures faithfulness by abiding in the Father’s presence. Those who preach the substitute gospel do not have the mind of Christ. They have the mind of the flesh, the mind of the world, the mind of the age.

They have not entered the Holiest of All. They have not passed through the veil. They have not been cleansed by the blood. They have not received the endless life. They remain in the outer courts, serving the idols of the age.

The Call of This Hour: Wake Up and Return

The call of this hour is clear. The pews empty because souls are hungry for reality—not programs, not politics, not noise, but the living presence of God in truth. Congregations must wake up. They must open their eyes to the deception of false teaching.

They must stop eating the food that has been sacrificed to idols. They must return to the table of the Lord, where pure food is served—the finished work of the Priest-King, the open way into the Holiest of All, the rest that remains, and the endless life that flows from His intercession.

The table of the Lord has been turned into a place where food offered to idols is served. The Gospel of the finished work has been exchanged for a gospel of social reform. The cross has been exchanged for a political platform. The throne of grace has been exchanged for a seat of power.

The rest that remains has been exchanged for the restless striving of the world. The Holiest of All has been exchanged for the outer courts of carnal religion. The church has been used as a Trojan Horse for political purposes, hiding its true agenda behind the language of compassion, justice, and love.

The congregations that continue to consume this food are being poisoned. They are being led astray. They are being robbed of their inheritance. They are being kept from the Holiest of All, from the rest that remains, from the endless life, from the Priest-King.

The time has come for them to wake up. The time has come for them to return. The time has come for them to stop eating the rotting meat and to come to the table of the Lord, where pure food is served.

The true church of the real Gospel is often small, overlooked, and ridiculed. But it knows the voice of the Shepherd. It does not follow the stranger. It abides in the Word. It dwells in the Holiest. The true church does not eat food sacrificed to idols. It does not bow to the false gods of the age.

It does not compromise the table of the Lord. It preaches the real Gospel—Christ and Him crucified. It preaches the finished work. It preaches the endless life. It preaches the open way into the Holiest of All. It calls every soul to draw near. It calls every church to open the doors. It calls every believer to cease from striving and rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

The Contrast: The Olive Tree and the Wicked

Psalm 52 powerfully contrasts the man who trusts in his own strength and deceit with the one who trusts in God’s unfailing love and flourishes in His house. The Psalm speaks of the wicked man who boasts of evil, whose tongue plots destruction, who loves evil rather than good, and who trusts in his great wealth and grows strong by destroying others.

This is the image of the one who trusts in his own strength, his own position, his own power. The Psalm declares that God will bring him down to everlasting ruin, snatch him up, tear him from his tent, and uproot him from the land of the living.

But the righteous is like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God, trusting in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. The righteous praises God forever and hopes in His name.

This is the image of the true believer—the one who trusts in the finished work of the Priest-King, who abides in the Holiest of All, who is sustained by the unfailing love of God through Jesus Christ who ever lives to make intercession.

The true believer does not boast in evil or trust in human schemes, false popular moral sounding social constructs or political power. The true believer trusts in the finished work of the Priest-King Yeshua Emet Melchizedek Salem—Christ Jesus—and abides in Him who has opened the way.

The Final Exhortation

The modern church stands at a critical hour. Many have turned the table of the Lord into a place where food offered to idols is served. The Social Gospel, with its political causes, cultural trends, and false moral appearances, has become the dominant offering.

It sounds compassionate to the natural ear, but it sacrifices the true Gospel on the altar of this world. It offers earthly reform where the Priest-King offers heavenly reconciliation. It speaks of systems and power where He speaks of the cross and the throne of grace.

We must not eat of any spiritual food that has been offered in sacrifice to an idol. The table of the Lord is holy. The food we receive must come from the Priest-King Himself—pure, undefiled, and flowing from the Holiest of All.

Those who preach the substitute gospel have turned the church into a platform for their political agendas. They have exchanged the Gospel of the finished work for a gospel of social reform. They have exchanged the cross for a political platform. They have exchanged the throne of grace for a seat of power.

They have exchanged the rest that remains for the restless striving of the world. They have exchanged the Holiest of All for the outer courts of carnal religion. They are not shepherds of the flock; they are servants of the spirit of the age, offering food that cannot satisfy the soul.

The true church of the real Gospel is often small, overlooked, and ridiculed. But it knows the voice of the Shepherd. It does not follow the stranger. It abides in the Word. It dwells in the Holiest. The true church does not eat food sacrificed to idols. It does not bow to the false gods of the age.

It does not compromise the table of the Lord. It preaches the real Gospel—Christ and Him crucified. It preaches the finished work.

It preaches the endless life. It preaches the open way into the Holiest of All. It calls every soul to draw near. It calls every church to open the doors. It calls every believer to cease from striving and rest in the finished work of the Priest-King.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

Please follow COFE-CYEM and share our website.

Thank you for visiting us today, we value you beyond mere words.

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

Més dibuixets d'estiu! 🐐👒⛰️🥾

#illustration #graphic #drawing #artwork #illustrator #pastor #shepherd

El gazpacho de pastor una receta centenaria que aún sobrevive en Extremadura

https://tardigram.com/m/Cocina/t/43187

«The pastor is watching you» (2024)
Photo ©️ Dietmar Bachmann
📍Grossmünsterplatz, Zurich, Switzerland

#streetphoto #streetphotography #photography #blackandwhite #bnw #urbanphotography #monochrome #street #urban #urbanexploration #urbanism #pastor #church #woman #statue #bullinger #grossmunster #zurich #switzerland #schweiz #Strassenfotografie #Fotografie #SchwarzWeiss #Stadtfotografie #Stadt #Stadterkundung #Pfarrer #Kirche #Frau #Statue #city #citylife #monochrom

Casal de pastores é indiciado sob suspeita de abuso sexual de adolescentes em RR

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://iclnoticias.com.br/pastores-suspeita-abuso-sexual-adolescentes/

‘LESBO-JIHADIST!’: #Pastor Has TOTAL CONNIPTION Over #ZohranMamdani | The Kyle Kulinski Show #SecularTalk #yt

https://youtu.be/AJSwfO6dH-Q

At sentencing earlier this week, judge said the pastor showed zero remorse. “You choose rather to blame the victim and incredulously claim that you were the victim of abuse at her home, a 14-year-old child.” Silas Shelton was sentenced to the max, 15 yrs, for abuse back in 2019.
2023, he's telling his school board "I got sick reading that stuff" re: award winning (gay) graphic novel.
#ChristoFascists #GOP #priest #abuses #pastor #guilty #ChildMolester #BookBans #LGBTQ
https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/homphobic-pastor-sentenced-assaulting-child

At sentencing earlier this week, judge said the pastor showed zero remorse. “You choose rather to blame the victim and incredulously claim that you were the victim of abuse at her home, a 14-year-old child.” Silas Shelton was sentenced to the max, 15 yrs, for abuse back in 2019.
2023, he's telling his school board "I got sick reading that stuff" re: award winning (gay) graphic novel.
#ChristoFascists #GOP #priest #abuses #pastor #guilty #ChildMolester #BookBans #LGBTQ
https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/homphobic-pastor-sentenced-assaulting-child

At sentencing earlier this week, judge said the pastor showed zero remorse. “You choose rather to blame the victim and incredulously claim that you were the victim of abuse at her home, a 14-year-old child.” Silas Shelton was sentenced to the max, 15 yrs, for abuse back in 2019.
2023, he's telling his school board "I got sick reading that stuff" re: award winning (gay) graphic novel.
#ChristoFascists #GOP #priest #abuses #pastor #guilty #ChildMolester #BookBans #LGBTQ
https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/homphobic-pastor-sentenced-assaulting-child

At sentencing earlier this week, judge said the pastor showed zero remorse. “You choose rather to blame the victim and incredulously claim that you were the victim of abuse at her home, a 14-year-old child.” Silas Shelton was sentenced to the max, 15 yrs, for abuse back in 2019.
2023, he's telling his school board "I got sick reading that stuff" re: award winning (gay) graphic novel.
#ChristoFascists #GOP #priest #abuses #pastor #guilty #ChildMolester #BookBans #LGBTQ
https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/homphobic-pastor-sentenced-assaulting-child

At sentencing earlier this week, judge said the pastor showed zero remorse. “You choose rather to blame the victim and incredulously claim that you were the victim of abuse at her home, a 14-year-old child.” Silas Shelton was sentenced to the max, 15 yrs, for abuse back in 2019.
2023, he's telling his school board "I got sick reading that stuff" re: award winning (gay) graphic novel.
#ChristoFascists #GOP #priest #abuses #pastor #guilty #ChildMolester #BookBans #LGBTQ
https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/homphobic-pastor-sentenced-assaulting-child

Inmate serving life sentence charged with 1996 cold case murder of Georgia pastor

https://drinkofjesus.com/2026/06/28/inmate-serving-life-sentence-charged-with-1996-cold-case-murder-of-georgia-pastor/

@PinkNews @politics-PinkNews Oh, so this #Christian #nationalist #pastor combines #homophobia with #misogyny. Well, that's no surprise, is it, @HarriettMB, @christineburns?

Abschied aber kein Lebewohl – A farewell, but not goodbye forever

(English below)

Am Pfingstmontag, 25.5.2026, fanden in unserer St. Concordia-Kirche zu Ruhla zwei Verabschiedungen im Gottesdienst statt.
In einer feierlichen Zeremonie wurde zunächst die Kantorkatechetin verabschiedet. Sie hat 20 Jahre lang mit Kindern und Familien gearbeitet und war zudem für die Kirchenmusik verantwortlich. Doch nachdem sie vor 25 Jahren in den Ruhestand getreten war, hat sie noch ein Vierteljahrhundert die Orgel bei Gottesdiensten, Hochzeiten, Trauerfeiern etc. gespielt. Dafür wurde ihr vom Superintendent des Kirchenkreises herzlich gedankt und ihr Engagement gewürdigt.

Die zweite Verabschiedung galt Pfarrer Reuther, der nach 22 Jahren Dienst in Ruhla Ende Juni 2026 in den Ruhestand geht.
Auch wenn sein Dienst in Ruhla endet, bedeutet das nicht das Ende des Bildungsprojekts in Ruanda! Der Ökumenische Eine-Welt-Kreis bleibt weiterhin bestehen und wird das Projekt in der gewohnten Weise fortführen. Mehr noch, Pfarrer Reuther bleibt Mitglied des Eine-Welt-kreises und wird die Leitung des Projekts behalten.

Beide Ruheständler hatten sich von den Besuchern und Gästen des Verabschiedungsgottesdienstes gewünscht, daß sie auf Geschenke verzichten, dafür aber eine Spende zu geben. Dafür hatten sie zwei Zwecke vorgegeben. Ein Zweck davon war unser Bildungsprojekt in Ruanda und wir sind dankbar für alle Spenden in Höhe von rund 800 Euro, die für unser Ruanda-Projekt gespendet wurden.

On Whit Monday, 25 May 2026, two farewells took place during the service at our St Concordia Church in Ruhla.
In a solemn ceremony, the cantor-catechist was first bid farewell. She had worked with children and families for 20 years and was also responsible for church music. However, after retiring 25 years ago, she continued to play the organ for another quarter of a century at church services, weddings, funerals and other occasions. The superintendent of the church district expressed his heartfelt thanks to her and paid tribute to her dedication.

The second farewell was for Pastor Reuther, who is retiring at the end of June 2026 after 22 years of service in Ruhla.
Even though his ministry in Ruhla is coming to an end, this does not mean the end of the education project in Rwanda! The Ecumenical One World Circle will continue to exist and will carry on the project in the usual way. What is more, Pastor Reuther will remain a member of the One World Circle and will continue to lead the project.

Both retirees had asked the visitors and guests at the farewell service to refrain from bringing gifts and instead to make a donation. They had specified two causes for this. One of these was our education project in Rwanda, and we are grateful for all the donations totalling around 800 euros that were made to our Rwanda project.

Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Translucent Beings? Pastors At UFO Disclosure Meet Shown Images Of Entities That May Herald A Dark Biblical Prophecy

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://in.mashable.com/science/109801/translucent-beings-pastors-at-ufo-disclosure-meet-shown-images-of-entities-that-may-herald-a-dark-bi

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/pete-hegseth-faith-rally-dc. "Rededicate 250... features #speakers including a #Detroit #pastor who has called the #Democratic platform 'demonic' &... pray[ed] at Trump’s second inauguration; a #rabbi who has defended the use of #torture & authored an essay titled The Virtue of Hate; & a #Christian author & radio host who said in 2020 he would die in the fight to keep Joe #Biden out of the #WhiteHouse & was later named in a #defamation suit over 2020 #election #fraud claims."

Doorstep by Amador #PASTOR Noheda, regional Minister for Education, Culture and Sport of the Government of #CastillaLaMancha of #Spain, at the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council (Education and Youth) #EYCS taking place on 11 May 2026 in #Brussels. https://newsroom.consilium.europa.eu/events/20260511-education-youth-culture-and-sport-council-may-2026/153829-doorstep-es-pastor-20260511
---
https://nitter.net/EUCouncilTVNews/status/2053792874471309405#m

Beware Of Deceptive Government Reports About To Be Released! | Perry Stone

What Is It?

The YouTube video Beware Of Deceptive Government Reports About To Be Released! | Perry Stone by the YouTube channel Perry Stone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37FQQdqvgCE

Description:

Product offer: https://perrystone.org/offer-153/

Join Perry on a tour of Israel!

https://perrystone.org/israel/

Check out our Social Media Pages Here: https://linktr.ee/PerryStoneMinistries

Perry Stone or anyone from our ministry will never comment on YouTube asking for money.

If you see someone do this, it is a SCAM, and please report it to YouTube directly. Thank you!

perrystone mannafest prophecy america christianity jesus jesuschrist revival prayer voiceofevangelism christiantelevision voe BibleTeaching propheticmessages HebraicRoots Evangelism hebrewroots

My Thoughts

I forgot about Perry Stone!

I used to watch some of his sermons back in the day.

He was among my favorite preachers because he talked about interesting topics like this.

So it was quite the surprise to learn about this video.

Thanks to several UFO / UAP / alien / non-human / semi-human-themed YouTube channels that I follow.

Hopefully the government, et cetera, will start to reveal more of this information to the public finally.

After all these years.

Something or several things have been going on.

The question is which combination of things is true.

And what can / should we do about it?

The end,

• John Jr

#Idaho #Pastor Sentenced for Being an #AI #Kik Kreeper

https://oldmantrench.com/2026/04/07/idaho-pastor-sentenced-for-being-an-ai-kik-kreeper/

#crime #truecrime #truecrimeblog #crimenews #notadragqueen

Democratic rising star extends love after #Hegseth #pastor prays for his #death

#WTF?

James Talarico, Texas Democratic state representative & Presbyterian seminarian, has said he forgives Pete Hegseth’s pastor for praying for his death

#Talarico said: “Jesus loves. #Christian #Nationalism kills. You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you”

Response comes after he wished for his death last on Christian a nationalist podcast

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/james-talarico-pete-hegseth-pastor

#immoral #evil #religion

Lees tip -> Moordenaar van pastor vraagt om doodstraf in Arizona | Verdachte van brute moord op pastor vraagt om de doodstraf voor afsluiting. Lees hier de details over de zaak in Arizona. | #Amerikaanserechtspraak #Arizona #doodstraf #kruisiging #moordzaak #pastor |

https://hbpmedia.nl/moordenaar-van-pastor-vraagt-om-doodstraf-in-arizona/

1527: #PaulHavsgaard is a former #pastor at #HarvestChristianFellowship #megachurch, of #Riverside, #California, a church closely associated with #TurningPointUSA #GOPSexualPredators #ChildRAPE 😡😡 goppredators.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/1...

I’ve absolutely loved #Mickey17.

Long story short: Imagine #WeylandYutani from #Alien being controlled by a crazy #evangelical #pastor that lost his last two #elections and now he wants to #colonize another #planet.

So he can be the sole ruler. As you can get even when being a #comedy. Sometimes gives me that vibe that in a future it’ll become a reality.

Worth the watch!

#HBOMAX #HBO #streaming #movies #movie #cinema #SciFi #ReligiousSatire #ReligiousHipocrisy #MickeyBarnes

A disgruntled #church member just exposed his #pastor's habitual #sermon #plagiarism

An anonymous #excongregant compiled more than 100 examples of Pastor #JoshWhitlow #plagiarizing other #preachers. Several examples are now up on #YouTube.

https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/a-disgruntled-church-member-just

#Prison #Chaplain Sues for Wrongful Termination

Suit was filed last week in a #Florida federal district court by a #Christian pastor who was terminated from his position as Senior Pastor at #MadisonCorrectionalInstitution after he refused to proctor a newly-hired #female #pastor.

Horst v. Florida Department of Corrections, (ND FL, filed 11/26/2025)

https://religionclause.blogspot.com/2025/12/prison-chaplain-sues-for-wrongful.html

#PeteHegseth should say if he shares this #pastor’s disdain for the #19thAmendment

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-vote-rcna224633

#Clarksburg #pastor #speaks after #UnitedMethodistChurch removes #restrictions on #LGBTQ #community.

The decision passed 523 to 161 and came among other similar #decisions by #leaders which included the #removal of a #ban on the #ordination of #homosexual #clergy and to #allow #clergy to #perform #samesexweddings.

https://www.wboy.com/news/harrison/clarksburg-pastor-speaks-after-united-methodist-church-removes-restrictions-on-lgbtq-community/

On February 19, #fundamentalist #Pastor #JohnMacArthur of Grace Community #Church in #California condemned a #Christian group for honoring #MartinLutherKingJr. in 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioAYBUlIa7g

MacArthur claimed #MLK was “not a Christian at all” and that the late #civilrights leader was “a #nonbeliever who misrepresented everything about #Christ and the #gospel.”

Incidentally, I like what I've seen so far of the updated #NRSV. I think I'll get one when it's out in large print (my eyes have decided that they are definitely middle aged now, so no 9-point font for me).

Any #NRSVUE #UpdatedNRSV users here with thoughts?

#Pastor #Clergy #Bible #BiblicalStudies #Pastors #Church #Churches #Scripture

I'm Matt Hambrick, Pastor of Costa Mesa First United Methodist Church. I love Jesus and I love people and it makes me a relentlessly open and affirming pastor in Orange County. I'm an existential theology junkie trying not to be a theobro. Søren Kierkegaard is my father in faith. I'm daily seeking to take a leap of faith.

#existentialism #progressivechristianity #methodist #wct #wmt #progressiveclergy #umc #kierkegaard #church #pastor #california #orangecounty #affirmingchristian #theology #oc

I'm Matt Hambrick, Lead Pastor at First United in Costa Mesa. I'm a relentlessly open and affirming pastor in Orange County. I love Jesus and I love people. I'm an existential theology junkie who is trying his damnedest not to be a theobro. Søren Kierkegaard is my father in faith. I'm daily seeking to take a leap of faith.

#existentialism #progressivechristianity #methodist #wct #wmt #progressiveclergy #umc #kierkegaard #church #pastor #california #orangecounty #affirmingchristian #theology #oc

This mural in memory of Desmond Tutu (3 photos)

https://streetartutopia.com/2021/12/26/this-mural-in-memory-of-desmond-tutu-3-photos/

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that Christians are a Moral Majority. For the Christadelphian community it was already very clear that Christendom had gone astray and that not many people knew the essence of the Divine Creator and His Plan.

In certain parts of the world we may find mega churches, like in the United states of America. But what we also see in those countries is that there is a very strange discrepancy between the way of life and the way presented in the Holy Scriptures. In the talks about pro-life issues and arguments at our website From Guestwriters this is made clear in the different reactions where some readers point out at the huge amount of abortions been done every day. Such points of discussion as the abortion debate show how values and attitudes have changed over the years.

Those people who call themselves Christian either are not so much interested in having an active faith or going to worship services or when they want to go to worship services they expect them to be relaxing and entertaining. For many the entertaining factor receives priority. This makes it understandable why certain churches in the States get full house whilst the churches really interested in and giving eye and ear for the Word of God do not have so many people coming to their service.

In general people are very much influenced by the media and television and show business are not the instruments who, today,  bring the people to God. the television church services are full of show elements and short quoting form a few words taken from Scripture but also taken out of context. No time is given to sincerely listen and to sincerely study a full paragraph of a Bible chapter.

Our very fast changing world can do with a sort of new reformation. What’s needed now, in shifting times, is neither a doubling-down on the status quo nor a pullback into isolation. Instead, we need a church that speaks to social and political issues with a bigger vision in mind: that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christianity seems increasingly strange, and even subversive, to our culture, we have the opportunity to reclaim the freakishness of the gospel, which is what gives it its power in the first place.

We should seek the kingdom of God, before everything else and we should love to bring others to the entrance gate of that Kingdom. We connect that kingdom agenda to the culture around us, both by speaking it to the world and by showing it in our churches. As we do so, we remember our mission to oppose demons, not to demonise opponents. As we advocate for human dignity, for religious liberty, for family stability, let’s do so as those with a prophetic word that turns everything upside down.

Today more than ever those who feel the connection with the Nazarene master teacher Jeshua should connect with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and show their love for each other. Not staying in their small local cocoon, but also connecting to other brethren and sisters from all over. They should be welcoming any visiting brother or sister and when they receive mail from some brother or sister form somewhere in the world they should take time to answer that mail and to show their love to that correspondent by not ignoring him or her but letting those writers be feeling recognised as brothers and sisters of the body of Christ.

Though that Body of Christ may be composed of different nationalities, different cultured races, they should all show that they have union in that body of Christ by the unity of spirit in Christ. Unity should be shown by their willingness to communicate with each other and to be respectful for the different characters and different opinions. Unity does not have to mean that all have to say exactly the same or have to use the same bible translation, read the same books, may not have different ways of civilian life, may not have different tastes. Those differences make the world coloured and not boring. We should be happy with such diversity and the differences between ecclesiae may provide different pastures for bible believers to find themselves at ease in one or the other ecclesia.

In Jesus time the apostles were also of different character and different opinion or used not always the same words. We should neither. In our way of reaching people we should recognise that they should not know Christadelphianisms and may have a religious vocabulary closer to the denomination to which they belonged originally or still belong. By preaching to them we do have to be able to use different words and different Bible translations so that they can come to understand what the Word of God is saying. We are just some intermediaries who want to show them that Jesus is our mediator and the Way to God.

Those we want to attract to the Word of God we have to convince that it are not the megachurches or the churches with the most members that are really following the Word of God and would not have false teachings or wrong doctrines. Lots of people may also put their hope in such megachurches because they expect megachurch pastors to have all the answers and that those churches could grow so much because those pastors are personally successful as well as leaders of successful churches because they can offer the best for man.

At conferences such preachers also may attract a lot of attention because many think they have the solution for today’s problem, a diminishing church.

and so we come to see what crumbs of wisdom they might cast our way that will help us and our small churches be”successful” like they are.

writes pastor Jim in his article “Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?“. Like many of us in the Christadelphian community is has seen Abraham and should have gathered enough experience to have some sound opinion. He believes that such leaders of mega churches may deliver good sermons. For sure they probably are good administrators, very good players with words or good speakers having a good deal of charisma. He correctly points out

Their churches offer tons of programs for children and adults—from support groups for people with various problems to children’s ministry and everything in between. But are a variety of programs offered to attract large numbers of people to their church a measure of success as  Jesus defined success?  I’m not so sure of this… {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

He is leading a Home Fellowship Group in a Bible Study of the Gospel of Mark.  At their last session they discussed this question of “supersize” as Jesus seemed to see it.

He accepted the large crowds he attracted—some so large along the Sea of Galilee that he acquired a boat to get in so he would not be crushed by the crowds seeking to touch him and be healed. But Jesus tends to see those crowds as no reason for gratification. He feels that many of them are there for the wrong reason, to be healed of their infirmities and to see the miraculous. Jesus heals them and has compassion for them, but proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God is his main mission. That proclamation is his main mission because it  has the power to transform people’s lives, and sometimes people who are only seeking physical healing and entertainment can get in the way of that proclamation. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

In those days Jesus also had to get listening ears. In that age people were much more willing to listen and to go into discussion about religious and spiritual matters. There was much more interest in God than today. But Jesus knew that from the many that came around to hear him speak, there were also many who came out of curiosity or wanted to see miracles or hear controversial talks.

Jesus saw the crowds to whom he sought to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God in the same way as a sower.

Only a small portion of the crowd would actually be transformed by the good news of the Kingdom of God.  The rest would let other things choke it out of their lives and die unchanged. Thus I feel Jesus was not impressed with numbers but with changes in the lives of people who heard him. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?} {Please do read also Mark 4: 1-9}

Too often people think it our the numbers that make it to be good. Perhaps the numbers show the popularity, but for sure they do not always show the integrity or the good value of a product or group.

The pastor thinks the answer to his and our question “Is Bigger Better?” as it pertains to churches is this:

it is not size alone that leads to success of any church, large or small, but it is  its ability to follow Jesus and in doing so  transform the lives of those who are a part of that church and those who that church reaches out to.   The measure of a church’s success is the number of lives that have been changed and transformed due to its proclamation both in word and in deed of the Kingdom of God.   The successful church  is the “good soil” in the Parable of the Sower” that brings forth transformation  of people’s lives and nurtures their growth in relationship to God and God’s Kingdom.

A successful church, regardless of the names on the roster, changes people into devoted followers of Jesus and his teachings as they live their lives each day.   Small churches can be just as successful as large churches in changing people’s lives as they live the great commandment to love God and neighbor as yourself.”   Sometimes because small churches are more personal, they are able to live this better than those with thousands on their membership roster. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

The Christadelphians are a very tiny community. We only can hope that all people in this small community bear their hearts on the right place. God knows the heart and it is for him that we should work and go out in the world getting people to know the Master works of God.

We may not forget that by being such a small community we have the advantage that we can get together in small cosy groups and feel much more the unity of the small group than in such mega churches were everybody can sit next to each other without knowing the other. When sitting in a stadium, arena or in such a huge church were there are hundreds or thousands of people it can well be that the individual may be drowning in the numbers.

We should be ready to throw out the lifeline and to pull those people who are looking for the Truth, to get to our meetings and let them feel that we are real followers of Jesus, keeping to his teachings and not adoring human doctrines, but keeping to Biblical doctrines, studying the infallible Word of God daily.

+

Preceding:

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

The Right One to follow and to worship

Wanting to live in Christ’s city

A participation in the body of Christ

Positive Preaching Day 2015

Doubting and going astray

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

++

Additional reading:

1. Who are the Christadelphians
2. What are Brothers in Christ
3. Christadelphian people
4. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
5. Strange Fire conference 2013
6. Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
7. Being Missional
8. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
9. Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
10. Good or bad preacher
11. Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
12. Reflection for today: hating your brother

+++

Further reading:

1. Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
2. A Vision of Holiness
3. Praying in Circles
4. In this Moment
5. Wanting to be Heard
6. truth nugget #66
7. Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
8. Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
9. The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
10. Millennials And Christianity!
11. In Delight of the Deca-Church
12. [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
13. Agree to Disagree
14. Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
15. Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
16. 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
17. Missed Opportunities
18. Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
19. Welcome to the Club
20. 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
21. Extravaganza City
22. Instructed In God’s Ways
23. Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
24. Book Review: The Blessed Church
25. My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
26. I don’t believe in mega churches
27. American Christian Idol

+++

Related articles

• LISTEN: The Body of Believers, Part 2 (Onward Christian Soldiers #98 with Daniel Whyte III) (blackchristiannews.com)
• The Truth About The Roman Catholic Church (nowtheendbegins.com)
• 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 Taking a Spiritual Self-Exam (jimerwin.com)
• Lessons From The Road (beyondthemiryclay.wordpress.com)
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 21 September 2015 (prayersandmeditations.com)
• Such A Time As This (mylordmyfriend.com)
• A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
• How Long Will You Waver? (juicyecumenism.com)
• Pastors & Patriots Dinner – for such a time as this! (christian-reporter-news.ticketleap.com)
• No More Youth Pastors? (Part I) (joshuaziefle.net)

Rate this:

#BeingInUnion #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #Brotherhood #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Charisma #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianisms #Christian #ChristianChurch #ChurchService #Communication #Denomination #Disunion #Diversity #EntertainmentInChurch #GoodSoil #HomeFellowship #HumanDoctrines #Ignoring #IgnoringOthers #Lifeline #Media #MegaChurch #Mission #MoralMajority #NeglectingOthers #NewReformation #NoticingOthers #NumbersAmount_ #Opinion #Orator #ParticipationInBodyOfChrist #Pastor #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaiming #Proclamation #Quantity #ReligiousCommunity #ReligiousDiversity #ReligiousFreedom #ReligiousVocabulary #SisterInChrist #SistersInChrist #SmallGroup #SpiritInChrist #Successfulness #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WorshipService

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that Christians are a Moral Majority. For the Christadelphian community it was already very clear that Christendom had gone astray and that not many people knew the essence of the Divine Creator and His Plan.

In certain parts of the world we may find mega churches, like in the United states of America. But what we also see in those countries is that there is a very strange discrepancy between the way of life and the way presented in the Holy Scriptures. In the talks about pro-life issues and arguments at our website From Guestwriters this is made clear in the different reactions where some readers point out at the huge amount of abortions been done every day. Such points of discussion as the abortion debate show how values and attitudes have changed over the years.

Those people who call themselves Christian either are not so much interested in having an active faith or going to worship services or when they want to go to worship services they expect them to be relaxing and entertaining. For many the entertaining factor receives priority. This makes it understandable why certain churches in the States get full house whilst the churches really interested in and giving eye and ear for the Word of God do not have so many people coming to their service.

In general people are very much influenced by the media and television and show business are not the instruments who, today,  bring the people to God. the television church services are full of show elements and short quoting form a few words taken from Scripture but also taken out of context. No time is given to sincerely listen and to sincerely study a full paragraph of a Bible chapter.

Our very fast changing world can do with a sort of new reformation. What’s needed now, in shifting times, is neither a doubling-down on the status quo nor a pullback into isolation. Instead, we need a church that speaks to social and political issues with a bigger vision in mind: that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christianity seems increasingly strange, and even subversive, to our culture, we have the opportunity to reclaim the freakishness of the gospel, which is what gives it its power in the first place.

We should seek the kingdom of God, before everything else and we should love to bring others to the entrance gate of that Kingdom. We connect that kingdom agenda to the culture around us, both by speaking it to the world and by showing it in our churches. As we do so, we remember our mission to oppose demons, not to demonise opponents. As we advocate for human dignity, for religious liberty, for family stability, let’s do so as those with a prophetic word that turns everything upside down.

Today more than ever those who feel the connection with the Nazarene master teacher Jeshua should connect with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and show their love for each other. Not staying in their small local cocoon, but also connecting to other brethren and sisters from all over. They should be welcoming any visiting brother or sister and when they receive mail from some brother or sister form somewhere in the world they should take time to answer that mail and to show their love to that correspondent by not ignoring him or her but letting those writers be feeling recognised as brothers and sisters of the body of Christ.

Though that Body of Christ may be composed of different nationalities, different cultured races, they should all show that they have union in that body of Christ by the unity of spirit in Christ. Unity should be shown by their willingness to communicate with each other and to be respectful for the different characters and different opinions. Unity does not have to mean that all have to say exactly the same or have to use the same bible translation, read the same books, may not have different ways of civilian life, may not have different tastes. Those differences make the world coloured and not boring. We should be happy with such diversity and the differences between ecclesiae may provide different pastures for bible believers to find themselves at ease in one or the other ecclesia.

In Jesus time the apostles were also of different character and different opinion or used not always the same words. We should neither. In our way of reaching people we should recognise that they should not know Christadelphianisms and may have a religious vocabulary closer to the denomination to which they belonged originally or still belong. By preaching to them we do have to be able to use different words and different Bible translations so that they can come to understand what the Word of God is saying. We are just some intermediaries who want to show them that Jesus is our mediator and the Way to God.

Those we want to attract to the Word of God we have to convince that it are not the megachurches or the churches with the most members that are really following the Word of God and would not have false teachings or wrong doctrines. Lots of people may also put their hope in such megachurches because they expect megachurch pastors to have all the answers and that those churches could grow so much because those pastors are personally successful as well as leaders of successful churches because they can offer the best for man.

At conferences such preachers also may attract a lot of attention because many think they have the solution for today’s problem, a diminishing church.

and so we come to see what crumbs of wisdom they might cast our way that will help us and our small churches be”successful” like they are.

writes pastor Jim in his article “Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?“. Like many of us in the Christadelphian community is has seen Abraham and should have gathered enough experience to have some sound opinion. He believes that such leaders of mega churches may deliver good sermons. For sure they probably are good administrators, very good players with words or good speakers having a good deal of charisma. He correctly points out

Their churches offer tons of programs for children and adults—from support groups for people with various problems to children’s ministry and everything in between. But are a variety of programs offered to attract large numbers of people to their church a measure of success as  Jesus defined success?  I’m not so sure of this… {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

He is leading a Home Fellowship Group in a Bible Study of the Gospel of Mark.  At their last session they discussed this question of “supersize” as Jesus seemed to see it.

He accepted the large crowds he attracted—some so large along the Sea of Galilee that he acquired a boat to get in so he would not be crushed by the crowds seeking to touch him and be healed. But Jesus tends to see those crowds as no reason for gratification. He feels that many of them are there for the wrong reason, to be healed of their infirmities and to see the miraculous. Jesus heals them and has compassion for them, but proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God is his main mission. That proclamation is his main mission because it  has the power to transform people’s lives, and sometimes people who are only seeking physical healing and entertainment can get in the way of that proclamation. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

In those days Jesus also had to get listening ears. In that age people were much more willing to listen and to go into discussion about religious and spiritual matters. There was much more interest in God than today. But Jesus knew that from the many that came around to hear him speak, there were also many who came out of curiosity or wanted to see miracles or hear controversial talks.

Jesus saw the crowds to whom he sought to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God in the same way as a sower.

Only a small portion of the crowd would actually be transformed by the good news of the Kingdom of God.  The rest would let other things choke it out of their lives and die unchanged. Thus I feel Jesus was not impressed with numbers but with changes in the lives of people who heard him. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?} {Please do read also Mark 4: 1-9}

Too often people think it our the numbers that make it to be good. Perhaps the numbers show the popularity, but for sure they do not always show the integrity or the good value of a product or group.

The pastor thinks the answer to his and our question “Is Bigger Better?” as it pertains to churches is this:

it is not size alone that leads to success of any church, large or small, but it is  its ability to follow Jesus and in doing so  transform the lives of those who are a part of that church and those who that church reaches out to.   The measure of a church’s success is the number of lives that have been changed and transformed due to its proclamation both in word and in deed of the Kingdom of God.   The successful church  is the “good soil” in the Parable of the Sower” that brings forth transformation  of people’s lives and nurtures their growth in relationship to God and God’s Kingdom.

A successful church, regardless of the names on the roster, changes people into devoted followers of Jesus and his teachings as they live their lives each day.   Small churches can be just as successful as large churches in changing people’s lives as they live the great commandment to love God and neighbor as yourself.”   Sometimes because small churches are more personal, they are able to live this better than those with thousands on their membership roster. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

The Christadelphians are a very tiny community. We only can hope that all people in this small community bear their hearts on the right place. God knows the heart and it is for him that we should work and go out in the world getting people to know the Master works of God.

We may not forget that by being such a small community we have the advantage that we can get together in small cosy groups and feel much more the unity of the small group than in such mega churches were everybody can sit next to each other without knowing the other. When sitting in a stadium, arena or in such a huge church were there are hundreds or thousands of people it can well be that the individual may be drowning in the numbers.

We should be ready to throw out the lifeline and to pull those people who are looking for the Truth, to get to our meetings and let them feel that we are real followers of Jesus, keeping to his teachings and not adoring human doctrines, but keeping to Biblical doctrines, studying the infallible Word of God daily.

+

Preceding:

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

The Right One to follow and to worship

Wanting to live in Christ’s city

A participation in the body of Christ

Positive Preaching Day 2015

Doubting and going astray

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

++

Additional reading:

1. Who are the Christadelphians
2. What are Brothers in Christ
3. Christadelphian people
4. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
5. Strange Fire conference 2013
6. Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
7. Being Missional
8. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
9. Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
10. Good or bad preacher
11. Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
12. Reflection for today: hating your brother

+++

Further reading:

1. Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
2. A Vision of Holiness
3. Praying in Circles
4. In this Moment
5. Wanting to be Heard
6. truth nugget #66
7. Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
8. Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
9. The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
10. Millennials And Christianity!
11. In Delight of the Deca-Church
12. [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
13. Agree to Disagree
14. Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
15. Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
16. 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
17. Missed Opportunities
18. Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
19. Welcome to the Club
20. 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
21. Extravaganza City
22. Instructed In God’s Ways
23. Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
24. Book Review: The Blessed Church
25. My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
26. I don’t believe in mega churches
27. American Christian Idol

+++

Related articles

• LISTEN: The Body of Believers, Part 2 (Onward Christian Soldiers #98 with Daniel Whyte III) (blackchristiannews.com)
• The Truth About The Roman Catholic Church (nowtheendbegins.com)
• 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 Taking a Spiritual Self-Exam (jimerwin.com)
• Lessons From The Road (beyondthemiryclay.wordpress.com)
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 21 September 2015 (prayersandmeditations.com)
• Such A Time As This (mylordmyfriend.com)
• A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
• How Long Will You Waver? (juicyecumenism.com)
• Pastors & Patriots Dinner – for such a time as this! (christian-reporter-news.ticketleap.com)
• No More Youth Pastors? (Part I) (joshuaziefle.net)

Rate this:

#BeingInUnion #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #Brotherhood #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Charisma #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianisms #Christian #ChristianChurch #ChurchService #Communication #Denomination #Disunion #Diversity #EntertainmentInChurch #GoodSoil #HomeFellowship #HumanDoctrines #Ignoring #IgnoringOthers #Lifeline #Media #MegaChurch #Mission #MoralMajority #NeglectingOthers #NewReformation #NoticingOthers #NumbersAmount_ #Opinion #Orator #ParticipationInBodyOfChrist #Pastor #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaiming #Proclamation #Quantity #ReligiousCommunity #ReligiousDiversity #ReligiousFreedom #ReligiousVocabulary #SisterInChrist #SistersInChrist #SmallGroup #SpiritInChrist #Successfulness #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WorshipService

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that Christians are a Moral Majority. For the Christadelphian community it was already very clear that Christendom had gone astray and that not many people knew the essence of the Divine Creator and His Plan.

In certain parts of the world we may find mega churches, like in the United states of America. But what we also see in those countries is that there is a very strange discrepancy between the way of life and the way presented in the Holy Scriptures. In the talks about pro-life issues and arguments at our website From Guestwriters this is made clear in the different reactions where some readers point out at the huge amount of abortions been done every day. Such points of discussion as the abortion debate show how values and attitudes have changed over the years.

Those people who call themselves Christian either are not so much interested in having an active faith or going to worship services or when they want to go to worship services they expect them to be relaxing and entertaining. For many the entertaining factor receives priority. This makes it understandable why certain churches in the States get full house whilst the churches really interested in and giving eye and ear for the Word of God do not have so many people coming to their service.

In general people are very much influenced by the media and television and show business are not the instruments who, today,  bring the people to God. the television church services are full of show elements and short quoting form a few words taken from Scripture but also taken out of context. No time is given to sincerely listen and to sincerely study a full paragraph of a Bible chapter.

Our very fast changing world can do with a sort of new reformation. What’s needed now, in shifting times, is neither a doubling-down on the status quo nor a pullback into isolation. Instead, we need a church that speaks to social and political issues with a bigger vision in mind: that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christianity seems increasingly strange, and even subversive, to our culture, we have the opportunity to reclaim the freakishness of the gospel, which is what gives it its power in the first place.

We should seek the kingdom of God, before everything else and we should love to bring others to the entrance gate of that Kingdom. We connect that kingdom agenda to the culture around us, both by speaking it to the world and by showing it in our churches. As we do so, we remember our mission to oppose demons, not to demonise opponents. As we advocate for human dignity, for religious liberty, for family stability, let’s do so as those with a prophetic word that turns everything upside down.

Today more than ever those who feel the connection with the Nazarene master teacher Jeshua should connect with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and show their love for each other. Not staying in their small local cocoon, but also connecting to other brethren and sisters from all over. They should be welcoming any visiting brother or sister and when they receive mail from some brother or sister form somewhere in the world they should take time to answer that mail and to show their love to that correspondent by not ignoring him or her but letting those writers be feeling recognised as brothers and sisters of the body of Christ.

Though that Body of Christ may be composed of different nationalities, different cultured races, they should all show that they have union in that body of Christ by the unity of spirit in Christ. Unity should be shown by their willingness to communicate with each other and to be respectful for the different characters and different opinions. Unity does not have to mean that all have to say exactly the same or have to use the same bible translation, read the same books, may not have different ways of civilian life, may not have different tastes. Those differences make the world coloured and not boring. We should be happy with such diversity and the differences between ecclesiae may provide different pastures for bible believers to find themselves at ease in one or the other ecclesia.

In Jesus time the apostles were also of different character and different opinion or used not always the same words. We should neither. In our way of reaching people we should recognise that they should not know Christadelphianisms and may have a religious vocabulary closer to the denomination to which they belonged originally or still belong. By preaching to them we do have to be able to use different words and different Bible translations so that they can come to understand what the Word of God is saying. We are just some intermediaries who want to show them that Jesus is our mediator and the Way to God.

Those we want to attract to the Word of God we have to convince that it are not the megachurches or the churches with the most members that are really following the Word of God and would not have false teachings or wrong doctrines. Lots of people may also put their hope in such megachurches because they expect megachurch pastors to have all the answers and that those churches could grow so much because those pastors are personally successful as well as leaders of successful churches because they can offer the best for man.

At conferences such preachers also may attract a lot of attention because many think they have the solution for today’s problem, a diminishing church.

and so we come to see what crumbs of wisdom they might cast our way that will help us and our small churches be”successful” like they are.

writes pastor Jim in his article “Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?“. Like many of us in the Christadelphian community is has seen Abraham and should have gathered enough experience to have some sound opinion. He believes that such leaders of mega churches may deliver good sermons. For sure they probably are good administrators, very good players with words or good speakers having a good deal of charisma. He correctly points out

Their churches offer tons of programs for children and adults—from support groups for people with various problems to children’s ministry and everything in between. But are a variety of programs offered to attract large numbers of people to their church a measure of success as  Jesus defined success?  I’m not so sure of this… {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

He is leading a Home Fellowship Group in a Bible Study of the Gospel of Mark.  At their last session they discussed this question of “supersize” as Jesus seemed to see it.

He accepted the large crowds he attracted—some so large along the Sea of Galilee that he acquired a boat to get in so he would not be crushed by the crowds seeking to touch him and be healed. But Jesus tends to see those crowds as no reason for gratification. He feels that many of them are there for the wrong reason, to be healed of their infirmities and to see the miraculous. Jesus heals them and has compassion for them, but proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God is his main mission. That proclamation is his main mission because it  has the power to transform people’s lives, and sometimes people who are only seeking physical healing and entertainment can get in the way of that proclamation. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

In those days Jesus also had to get listening ears. In that age people were much more willing to listen and to go into discussion about religious and spiritual matters. There was much more interest in God than today. But Jesus knew that from the many that came around to hear him speak, there were also many who came out of curiosity or wanted to see miracles or hear controversial talks.

Jesus saw the crowds to whom he sought to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God in the same way as a sower.

Only a small portion of the crowd would actually be transformed by the good news of the Kingdom of God.  The rest would let other things choke it out of their lives and die unchanged. Thus I feel Jesus was not impressed with numbers but with changes in the lives of people who heard him. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?} {Please do read also Mark 4: 1-9}

Too often people think it our the numbers that make it to be good. Perhaps the numbers show the popularity, but for sure they do not always show the integrity or the good value of a product or group.

The pastor thinks the answer to his and our question “Is Bigger Better?” as it pertains to churches is this:

it is not size alone that leads to success of any church, large or small, but it is  its ability to follow Jesus and in doing so  transform the lives of those who are a part of that church and those who that church reaches out to.   The measure of a church’s success is the number of lives that have been changed and transformed due to its proclamation both in word and in deed of the Kingdom of God.   The successful church  is the “good soil” in the Parable of the Sower” that brings forth transformation  of people’s lives and nurtures their growth in relationship to God and God’s Kingdom.

A successful church, regardless of the names on the roster, changes people into devoted followers of Jesus and his teachings as they live their lives each day.   Small churches can be just as successful as large churches in changing people’s lives as they live the great commandment to love God and neighbor as yourself.”   Sometimes because small churches are more personal, they are able to live this better than those with thousands on their membership roster. {Is “Bigger Better” in Churches?}

The Christadelphians are a very tiny community. We only can hope that all people in this small community bear their hearts on the right place. God knows the heart and it is for him that we should work and go out in the world getting people to know the Master works of God.

We may not forget that by being such a small community we have the advantage that we can get together in small cosy groups and feel much more the unity of the small group than in such mega churches were everybody can sit next to each other without knowing the other. When sitting in a stadium, arena or in such a huge church were there are hundreds or thousands of people it can well be that the individual may be drowning in the numbers.

We should be ready to throw out the lifeline and to pull those people who are looking for the Truth, to get to our meetings and let them feel that we are real followers of Jesus, keeping to his teachings and not adoring human doctrines, but keeping to Biblical doctrines, studying the infallible Word of God daily.

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Preceding:

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

The Right One to follow and to worship

Wanting to live in Christ’s city

A participation in the body of Christ

Positive Preaching Day 2015

Doubting and going astray

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

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Additional reading:

1. Who are the Christadelphians
2. What are Brothers in Christ
3. Christadelphian people
4. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
5. Strange Fire conference 2013
6. Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
7. Being Missional
8. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
9. Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
10. Good or bad preacher
11. Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
12. Reflection for today: hating your brother

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Further reading:

1. Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
2. A Vision of Holiness
3. Praying in Circles
4. In this Moment
5. Wanting to be Heard
6. truth nugget #66
7. Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
8. Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
9. The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
10. Millennials And Christianity!
11. In Delight of the Deca-Church
12. [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
13. Agree to Disagree
14. Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
15. Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
16. 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
17. Missed Opportunities
18. Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
19. Welcome to the Club
20. 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
21. Extravaganza City
22. Instructed In God’s Ways
23. Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
24. Book Review: The Blessed Church
25. My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
26. I don’t believe in mega churches
27. American Christian Idol

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• Lessons From The Road (beyondthemiryclay.wordpress.com)
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