#unityinchrist — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #unityinchrist, aggregated by home.social.
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Light for the World (Christian Music) = Just released a new Christian song 🎵 praising our Lord! Let the music touch your soul! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #ChristianYouth #SpiritualGuidance #PowerfulWorship #FaithfulJourney #UnityInChrist #WalkingInLight #BiblicalInspiration #UpliftingWorship #PraiseAndWorship #ChristianEmpowerment #ModernChristian #FaithAndDevotion #CommunityAndFaith #GodsLove #JesusSalvation #TruthAndWisdom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMFLG2NZMg
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Light for the World (Christian Music) = Just released a new Christian song 🎵 praising our Lord! Let the music touch your soul! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #ChristianYouth #SpiritualGuidance #PowerfulWorship #FaithfulJourney #UnityInChrist #WalkingInLight #BiblicalInspiration #UpliftingWorship #PraiseAndWorship #ChristianEmpowerment #ModernChristian #FaithAndDevotion #CommunityAndFaith #GodsLove #JesusSalvation #TruthAndWisdom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMFLG2NZMg
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Light for the World (Christian Music) = Just released a new Christian song 🎵 praising our Lord! Let the music touch your soul! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #ChristianYouth #SpiritualGuidance #PowerfulWorship #FaithfulJourney #UnityInChrist #WalkingInLight #BiblicalInspiration #UpliftingWorship #PraiseAndWorship #ChristianEmpowerment #ModernChristian #FaithAndDevotion #CommunityAndFaith #GodsLove #JesusSalvation #TruthAndWisdom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMFLG2NZMg
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Light for the World (Christian Music) = Just released a new Christian song 🎵 praising our Lord! Let the music touch your soul! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #ChristianYouth #SpiritualGuidance #PowerfulWorship #FaithfulJourney #UnityInChrist #WalkingInLight #BiblicalInspiration #UpliftingWorship #PraiseAndWorship #ChristianEmpowerment #ModernChristian #FaithAndDevotion #CommunityAndFaith #GodsLove #JesusSalvation #TruthAndWisdom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMFLG2NZMg
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Light for the World (Christian Music) = Just released a new Christian song 🎵 praising our Lord! Let the music touch your soul! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #ChristianYouth #SpiritualGuidance #PowerfulWorship #FaithfulJourney #UnityInChrist #WalkingInLight #BiblicalInspiration #UpliftingWorship #PraiseAndWorship #ChristianEmpowerment #ModernChristian #FaithAndDevotion #CommunityAndFaith #GodsLove #JesusSalvation #TruthAndWisdom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMFLG2NZMg
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Description:
"FOUND IN YOUR LIGHT" is a joyful celebration of unity, peace, and the life-changing presence of God. This short video captures the beauty of people across America—Black, White, and Latin—rejoicing in God's light with smiles, laughter, and worship. The song is a powerful reminder that no matter where we come from, we are one family when we stand in His love.Hashtags:
#FoundInYourLight
#WorshipTogether
#UnityInChrist
#FaithAndJoy
#GodsLoveShines -
This video delves into prioritizing faith, navigating disagreements, and the sacrifices required to follow Jesus. Learn about unity in Christ, adapting to obstacles, and the importance of helping others understand. Discover the path to true commitment and understanding. #Christianity #ChristianDiscipleship #FaithJourney #UnityInChrist #FollowingJesus #SermonSeries #BiblicalTeachings #SpiritualGrowth #PrioritiesOfFaith #OvercomingObstacles #ChristianLiving
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Explore the roots of division and the power of unity through biblical stories and insightful teachings. Discover how doubt, a key tactic of the devil, can lead to separation from God. Learn to identify and resist those who sow discord, embracing grace and multiplication. Join us! #UnityInChrist #OvercomeDoubt #BiblicalTeachings #ResistDivision #FaithOverFear #SpiritualWarfare #GraceAndMultiplication #DevilsTactics #ChristianLiving #SeekGodsUnity
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Explore the critical message of unity in Christ! We delve into Mark 3:24 and Romans 16:17, understanding how division weakens relationships, homes, and our connection with God. Discover how to identify and avoid those who cause separation from Christ. #UnityInChrist #FaithJourney #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #SpiritualGrowth #UnityInChrist #OvercomingDivision #Romans1617 #Mark324 #FaithCommunity #GodsLove
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John Wycliffe, a Protestant martyr, on the 6th Commandment. To kill is to not feed the feeble, those in pain, ashamed to beg, or made so by the sufferance of God.
Even if someone were in a sad state is due to God’s sufferance, Wycliffe would say a huge duty to feed: your fault for murder in death. Instead, do we now put dying people into the box of “God’s will”; go back to watching the game?
How can you avoid murder today?
#christian #unityinchrist #carboninequality #churchtoo #walkbyfaith
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John Wycliffe, a Protestant martyr, on the 6th Commandment. To kill is to not feed the feeble, those in pain, ashamed to beg, or made so by the sufferance of God.
Even if someone were in a sad state is due to God’s sufferance, Wycliffe would say a huge duty to feed: your fault for murder in death. Instead, do we now put dying people into the box of “God’s will”; go back to watching the game?
How can you avoid murder today?
#christian #unityinchrist #carboninequality #churchtoo #walkbyfaith
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John Wycliffe, a Protestant martyr, on the 6th Commandment. To kill is to not feed the feeble, those in pain, ashamed to beg, or made so by the sufferance of God.
Even if someone were in a sad state is due to God’s sufferance, Wycliffe would say a huge duty to feed: your fault for murder in death. Instead, do we now put dying people into the box of “God’s will”; go back to watching the game?
How can you avoid murder today?
#christian #unityinchrist #carboninequality #churchtoo #walkbyfaith
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John Wycliffe, a Protestant martyr, on the 6th Commandment. To kill is to not feed the feeble, those in pain, ashamed to beg, or made so by the sufferance of God.
Even if someone were in a sad state is due to God’s sufferance, Wycliffe would say a huge duty to feed: your fault for murder in death. Instead, do we now put dying people into the box of “God’s will”; go back to watching the game?
How can you avoid murder today?
#christian #unityinchrist #carboninequality #churchtoo #walkbyfaith
-
John Wycliffe, a Protestant martyr, on the 6th Commandment. To kill is to not feed the feeble, those in pain, ashamed to beg, or made so by the sufferance of God.
Even if someone were in a sad state is due to God’s sufferance, Wycliffe would say a huge duty to feed: your fault for murder in death. Instead, do we now put dying people into the box of “God’s will”; go back to watching the game?
How can you avoid murder today?
#christian #unityinchrist #carboninequality #churchtoo #walkbyfaith
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Everyone Welcome in our open Ecclesia
The Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ are a community of lovers of God, who follow the teachings of the Nazarene Master Teacher Jeshua, better known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
As followers of the Jewish man from Nazareth, we are aware that Jesus him being a Jew, worshipped the God of Israel, and asked to do his followers to do so too. That God of Abraham is a Singular Eternal Spirit Being, no man can see. Jesus did not come to earth to undo the Law of God or the Torah. He came to explain it and to show the Way to God. Therefore, we take the words of Jesus seriously as an indication of how to continue our life on the path laid in front of us by this rabbi, and keep to the Law of God, God and His son their teachings and wishes, instead of keeping to human doctrines.
Jesus preached love for all creatures of God, and that is why we find it necessary not only to show and share that love for the whole of creation (earth, plants, animals and human beings), but also to come up for the weaker ones and to help and defend those in need.
In case you are looking for making your life easier or want to know more about the present and the future and our position in the whole picture or Plan of God, then you are right at our address.
Even when you are not sure about the existence of God, you are welcome to join us at our meetings and Bible Classes. We also provide printed material which you are welcome to read and to question us about. Any time of the day someone shall be willing to help you with your questions or solving your problems.
At our ecclesiae we have meetings for studying and worshipping but also moments of gathering and sharing good time and food. Also, at those events you are very welcome.
In Wintertime, we also provide shelter for the night, in certain towns, for the homeless people. Waifs and strays are also welcome at our food supplies.
But our main occupation in the ecclesia is the provision to glorify God and praise Him with a merger in prayer and Bible reading in the unity of spirit.
For those gatherings, where they may take place (Leuven, Leefdaal-Bertem, Tervuren, Brussels, Nivelles-Nijvel, Mons or Newbury), we invite you to join us and to feel the spirit of our brotherhood.
In Belgium, we are financially very limited and do have no building of our own. We have to rent spaces and also use private houses, making house-church. For that reason it is not possible to offer set days and hours for our meetings. In Newbury, it is different. There our brethren and sisters have their own hall and offer services on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with regular events on different days as well. Never be afraid to contact them or us to have further contact or to know about their and/our activities.For the Carelinks (like the Antwerp Ecclesia) and Old Paths Christadelphians you shall have to contact them. We as Free Christadelphians are not bounded to any person or organisation and could be considered being part of the more progressive branch of Christadelphianism, having liberated ourselves from all boundaries of this world, only to be bounded to the sent one from God, the son of God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ.
One of us might have a strength in one area and another might be strong in another. We believe that when we can join hands to make ourselves stronger. We are convinced that when we come together in union, we all benefit and are made into the image of Christ.
We believe that all can help each other to grow in the Body of Christ, becoming more like Christ, pure and set apart. Coming together we give each other the opportunity to learn more about the Word of God, by sharing and discussing that set apart or holy Word. Together we can help each individual around us, to become part of a bigger unit, able to be compassionate, gentle, and to have a great capacity for mercy and forgiveness.
When coming to our ecclesia you should not be afraid that people would look at you as a strange intruder, because nobody would. Nobody shall go to point to the faults of yourself or others. Instead, you may find we try to use the strengths the Lord has given us to build up the body of Christ. We all have faults, and we all have gifts, and they are meant to work together. We all go for the same primary goal, to grow in the spirit according to God His Wishes, and to form a strong unit in the Body of Christ. By the influence of our fellowships you and we can have our character transformed.
At our ecclesia or church, we are people who want to share the hope in a better world. To reach that goal we know we have to start by ourselves and our own surroundings. We hope to inspire each other in our community of believers in Only One True God, but also to encourage those outside our community, to work at a relationship with Jesus, because when we seek him and not this world, he will teach us, and we will grow in all good things. A lot of this process is done through our brethren and sisters, who are here also for you!
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Please find also to read:
- Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth
- Words in the world
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Who are the Christadelphians
- Who are Brothers in Christ and why do they call themselves Christadelphian?
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Brothers and sisters in Christ for you
- History of the Christadelphians
- John Thomas
- Forming a Christian bond
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
- What Christadelphians teach
- Differences between Christadelphians and other churches in Christianity
- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Living as a believer in Christ
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- My faith
- Becoming brothers and sisters in Christ
- Christadelphians children of God
- Gathering or meeting of believers
- What and why Christadelphian Ecclesia‘
- The Ecclesia
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
- A participation in the body of Christ
- Looking for Christadelphian in your neighbourhood
- C4U (Christ For You – Christadelphians For You)
- Guide to Christadelphian Ecclesias
- Adresses of Brothers in Christ Worldwide
Rate this:
#BecomeLikeChrist #BecomingLikeChrist #BeingAChristadelphian #BelgianChristadelphians #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #BrotherSOfChrist #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Brussels #Carelinks #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianism #Christadelphians #Churchcommunity #Community #FollowerOfChrist #FollowerSOfGod #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingChrist #FollowingGod #FollowingGodSCommandments #FoodSupply #FreeChristadelphians #Gathering #GoalReaching #HavingSpiritOfChrist #HomelessPeople #HouseChurch #ImageOfChrist #Leefdaal #Leuven #LoversOfGod #Mons #NazareneManJeshua #Newbury #Nivelles #PathOfLife #PraiseGod #RelationshipWithJesusChrist #Sharing #SharingFaith #SharingFeedback #SharingFellowship #SharingGoodNews #SharingHope #Shelter #StudyingTheBible #Tervuren #TheWay #theWayToGod #toDefendWeakerOnes #toFollowGod #toGlorifyGod #toGrow #toGrowSpiritually #toHelpEachOther #toHelpThoseInNeed #toWorkTogether #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityOfTheSpirit #WorkingTogether #WorshippingGod
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Everyone Welcome in our open Ecclesia
The Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ are a community of lovers of God, who follow the teachings of the Nazarene Master Teacher Jeshua, better known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
As followers of the Jewish man from Nazareth, we are aware that Jesus him being a Jew, worshipped the God of Israel, and asked to do his followers to do so too. That God of Abraham is a Singular Eternal Spirit Being, no man can see. Jesus did not come to earth to undo the Law of God or the Torah. He came to explain it and to show the Way to God. Therefore, we take the words of Jesus seriously as an indication of how to continue our life on the path laid in front of us by this rabbi, and keep to the Law of God, God and His son their teachings and wishes, instead of keeping to human doctrines.
Jesus preached love for all creatures of God, and that is why we find it necessary not only to show and share that love for the whole of creation (earth, plants, animals and human beings), but also to come up for the weaker ones and to help and defend those in need.
In case you are looking for making your life easier or want to know more about the present and the future and our position in the whole picture or Plan of God, then you are right at our address.
Even when you are not sure about the existence of God, you are welcome to join us at our meetings and Bible Classes. We also provide printed material which you are welcome to read and to question us about. Any time of the day someone shall be willing to help you with your questions or solving your problems.
At our ecclesiae we have meetings for studying and worshipping but also moments of gathering and sharing good time and food. Also, at those events you are very welcome.
In Wintertime, we also provide shelter for the night, in certain towns, for the homeless people. Waifs and strays are also welcome at our food supplies.
But our main occupation in the ecclesia is the provision to glorify God and praise Him with a merger in prayer and Bible reading in the unity of spirit.
For those gatherings, where they may take place (Leuven, Leefdaal-Bertem, Tervuren, Brussels, Nivelles-Nijvel, Mons or Newbury), we invite you to join us and to feel the spirit of our brotherhood.
In Belgium, we are financially very limited and do have no building of our own. We have to rent spaces and also use private houses, making house-church. For that reason it is not possible to offer set days and hours for our meetings. In Newbury, it is different. There our brethren and sisters have their own hall and offer services on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with regular events on different days as well. Never be afraid to contact them or us to have further contact or to know about their and/our activities.For the Carelinks (like the Antwerp Ecclesia) and Old Paths Christadelphians you shall have to contact them. We as Free Christadelphians are not bounded to any person or organisation and could be considered being part of the more progressive branch of Christadelphianism, having liberated ourselves from all boundaries of this world, only to be bounded to the sent one from God, the son of God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ.
One of us might have a strength in one area and another might be strong in another. We believe that when we can join hands to make ourselves stronger. We are convinced that when we come together in union, we all benefit and are made into the image of Christ.
We believe that all can help each other to grow in the Body of Christ, becoming more like Christ, pure and set apart. Coming together we give each other the opportunity to learn more about the Word of God, by sharing and discussing that set apart or holy Word. Together we can help each individual around us, to become part of a bigger unit, able to be compassionate, gentle, and to have a great capacity for mercy and forgiveness.
When coming to our ecclesia you should not be afraid that people would look at you as a strange intruder, because nobody would. Nobody shall go to point to the faults of yourself or others. Instead, you may find we try to use the strengths the Lord has given us to build up the body of Christ. We all have faults, and we all have gifts, and they are meant to work together. We all go for the same primary goal, to grow in the spirit according to God His Wishes, and to form a strong unit in the Body of Christ. By the influence of our fellowships you and we can have our character transformed.
At our ecclesia or church, we are people who want to share the hope in a better world. To reach that goal we know we have to start by ourselves and our own surroundings. We hope to inspire each other in our community of believers in Only One True God, but also to encourage those outside our community, to work at a relationship with Jesus, because when we seek him and not this world, he will teach us, and we will grow in all good things. A lot of this process is done through our brethren and sisters, who are here also for you!
+
Please find also to read:
- Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth
- Words in the world
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Who are the Christadelphians
- Who are Brothers in Christ and why do they call themselves Christadelphian?
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Brothers and sisters in Christ for you
- History of the Christadelphians
- John Thomas
- Forming a Christian bond
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
- What Christadelphians teach
- Differences between Christadelphians and other churches in Christianity
- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Living as a believer in Christ
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- My faith
- Becoming brothers and sisters in Christ
- Christadelphians children of God
- Gathering or meeting of believers
- What and why Christadelphian Ecclesia‘
- The Ecclesia
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
- A participation in the body of Christ
- Looking for Christadelphian in your neighbourhood
- C4U (Christ For You – Christadelphians For You)
- Guide to Christadelphian Ecclesias
- Adresses of Brothers in Christ Worldwide
Rate this:
#BecomeLikeChrist #BecomingLikeChrist #BeingAChristadelphian #BelgianChristadelphians #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #BrotherSOfChrist #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Brussels #Carelinks #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianism #Christadelphians #Churchcommunity #Community #FollowerOfChrist #FollowerSOfGod #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingChrist #FollowingGod #FollowingGodSCommandments #FoodSupply #FreeChristadelphians #Gathering #GoalReaching #HavingSpiritOfChrist #HomelessPeople #HouseChurch #ImageOfChrist #Leefdaal #Leuven #LoversOfGod #Mons #NazareneManJeshua #Newbury #Nivelles #PathOfLife #PraiseGod #RelationshipWithJesusChrist #Sharing #SharingFaith #SharingFeedback #SharingFellowship #SharingGoodNews #SharingHope #Shelter #StudyingTheBible #Tervuren #TheWay #theWayToGod #toDefendWeakerOnes #toFollowGod #toGlorifyGod #toGrow #toGrowSpiritually #toHelpEachOther #toHelpThoseInNeed #toWorkTogether #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityOfTheSpirit #WorkingTogether #WorshippingGod
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Everyone Welcome in our open Ecclesia
The Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ are a community of lovers of God, who follow the teachings of the Nazarene Master Teacher Jeshua, better known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
As followers of the Jewish man from Nazareth, we are aware that Jesus him being a Jew, worshipped the God of Israel, and asked to do his followers to do so too. That God of Abraham is a Singular Eternal Spirit Being, no man can see. Jesus did not come to earth to undo the Law of God or the Torah. He came to explain it and to show the Way to God. Therefore, we take the words of Jesus seriously as an indication of how to continue our life on the path laid in front of us by this rabbi, and keep to the Law of God, God and His son their teachings and wishes, instead of keeping to human doctrines.
Jesus preached love for all creatures of God, and that is why we find it necessary not only to show and share that love for the whole of creation (earth, plants, animals and human beings), but also to come up for the weaker ones and to help and defend those in need.
In case you are looking for making your life easier or want to know more about the present and the future and our position in the whole picture or Plan of God, then you are right at our address.
Even when you are not sure about the existence of God, you are welcome to join us at our meetings and Bible Classes. We also provide printed material which you are welcome to read and to question us about. Any time of the day someone shall be willing to help you with your questions or solving your problems.
At our ecclesiae we have meetings for studying and worshipping but also moments of gathering and sharing good time and food. Also, at those events you are very welcome.
In Wintertime, we also provide shelter for the night, in certain towns, for the homeless people. Waifs and strays are also welcome at our food supplies.
But our main occupation in the ecclesia is the provision to glorify God and praise Him with a merger in prayer and Bible reading in the unity of spirit.
For those gatherings, where they may take place (Leuven, Leefdaal-Bertem, Tervuren, Brussels, Nivelles-Nijvel, Mons or Newbury), we invite you to join us and to feel the spirit of our brotherhood.
In Belgium, we are financially very limited and do have no building of our own. We have to rent spaces and also use private houses, making house-church. For that reason it is not possible to offer set days and hours for our meetings. In Newbury, it is different. There our brethren and sisters have their own hall and offer services on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with regular events on different days as well. Never be afraid to contact them or us to have further contact or to know about their and/our activities.For the Carelinks (like the Antwerp Ecclesia) and Old Paths Christadelphians you shall have to contact them. We as Free Christadelphians are not bounded to any person or organisation and could be considered being part of the more progressive branch of Christadelphianism, having liberated ourselves from all boundaries of this world, only to be bounded to the sent one from God, the son of God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ.
One of us might have a strength in one area and another might be strong in another. We believe that when we can join hands to make ourselves stronger. We are convinced that when we come together in union, we all benefit and are made into the image of Christ.
We believe that all can help each other to grow in the Body of Christ, becoming more like Christ, pure and set apart. Coming together we give each other the opportunity to learn more about the Word of God, by sharing and discussing that set apart or holy Word. Together we can help each individual around us, to become part of a bigger unit, able to be compassionate, gentle, and to have a great capacity for mercy and forgiveness.
When coming to our ecclesia you should not be afraid that people would look at you as a strange intruder, because nobody would. Nobody shall go to point to the faults of yourself or others. Instead, you may find we try to use the strengths the Lord has given us to build up the body of Christ. We all have faults, and we all have gifts, and they are meant to work together. We all go for the same primary goal, to grow in the spirit according to God His Wishes, and to form a strong unit in the Body of Christ. By the influence of our fellowships you and we can have our character transformed.
At our ecclesia or church, we are people who want to share the hope in a better world. To reach that goal we know we have to start by ourselves and our own surroundings. We hope to inspire each other in our community of believers in Only One True God, but also to encourage those outside our community, to work at a relationship with Jesus, because when we seek him and not this world, he will teach us, and we will grow in all good things. A lot of this process is done through our brethren and sisters, who are here also for you!
+
Please find also to read:
- Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth
- Words in the world
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Who are the Christadelphians
- Who are Brothers in Christ and why do they call themselves Christadelphian?
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Brothers and sisters in Christ for you
- History of the Christadelphians
- John Thomas
- Forming a Christian bond
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
- What Christadelphians teach
- Differences between Christadelphians and other churches in Christianity
- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Living as a believer in Christ
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- My faith
- Becoming brothers and sisters in Christ
- Christadelphians children of God
- Gathering or meeting of believers
- What and why Christadelphian Ecclesia‘
- The Ecclesia
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
- A participation in the body of Christ
- Looking for Christadelphian in your neighbourhood
- C4U (Christ For You – Christadelphians For You)
- Guide to Christadelphian Ecclesias
- Adresses of Brothers in Christ Worldwide
Rate this:
#BecomeLikeChrist #BecomingLikeChrist #BeingAChristadelphian #BelgianChristadelphians #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #BrotherSOfChrist #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Brussels #Carelinks #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianism #Christadelphians #Churchcommunity #Community #FollowerOfChrist #FollowerSOfGod #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingChrist #FollowingGod #FollowingGodSCommandments #FoodSupply #FreeChristadelphians #Gathering #GoalReaching #HavingSpiritOfChrist #HomelessPeople #HouseChurch #ImageOfChrist #Leefdaal #Leuven #LoversOfGod #Mons #NazareneManJeshua #Newbury #Nivelles #PathOfLife #PraiseGod #RelationshipWithJesusChrist #Sharing #SharingFaith #SharingFeedback #SharingFellowship #SharingGoodNews #SharingHope #Shelter #StudyingTheBible #Tervuren #TheWay #theWayToGod #toDefendWeakerOnes #toFollowGod #toGlorifyGod #toGrow #toGrowSpiritually #toHelpEachOther #toHelpThoseInNeed #toWorkTogether #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityOfTheSpirit #WorkingTogether #WorshippingGod
-
Everyone Welcome in our open Ecclesia
The Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ are a community of lovers of God, who follow the teachings of the Nazarene Master Teacher Jeshua, better known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
As followers of the Jewish man from Nazareth, we are aware that Jesus him being a Jew, worshipped the God of Israel, and asked to do his followers to do so too. That God of Abraham is a Singular Eternal Spirit Being, no man can see. Jesus did not come to earth to undo the Law of God or the Torah. He came to explain it and to show the Way to God. Therefore, we take the words of Jesus seriously as an indication of how to continue our life on the path laid in front of us by this rabbi, and keep to the Law of God, God and His son their teachings and wishes, instead of keeping to human doctrines.
Jesus preached love for all creatures of God, and that is why we find it necessary not only to show and share that love for the whole of creation (earth, plants, animals and human beings), but also to come up for the weaker ones and to help and defend those in need.
In case you are looking for making your life easier or want to know more about the present and the future and our position in the whole picture or Plan of God, then you are right at our address.
Even when you are not sure about the existence of God, you are welcome to join us at our meetings and Bible Classes. We also provide printed material which you are welcome to read and to question us about. Any time of the day someone shall be willing to help you with your questions or solving your problems.
At our ecclesiae we have meetings for studying and worshipping but also moments of gathering and sharing good time and food. Also, at those events you are very welcome.
In Wintertime, we also provide shelter for the night, in certain towns, for the homeless people. Waifs and strays are also welcome at our food supplies.
But our main occupation in the ecclesia is the provision to glorify God and praise Him with a merger in prayer and Bible reading in the unity of spirit.
For those gatherings, where they may take place (Leuven, Leefdaal-Bertem, Tervuren, Brussels, Nivelles-Nijvel, Mons or Newbury), we invite you to join us and to feel the spirit of our brotherhood.
In Belgium, we are financially very limited and do have no building of our own. We have to rent spaces and also use private houses, making house-church. For that reason it is not possible to offer set days and hours for our meetings. In Newbury, it is different. There our brethren and sisters have their own hall and offer services on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with regular events on different days as well. Never be afraid to contact them or us to have further contact or to know about their and/our activities.For the Carelinks (like the Antwerp Ecclesia) and Old Paths Christadelphians you shall have to contact them. We as Free Christadelphians are not bounded to any person or organisation and could be considered being part of the more progressive branch of Christadelphianism, having liberated ourselves from all boundaries of this world, only to be bounded to the sent one from God, the son of God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ.
One of us might have a strength in one area and another might be strong in another. We believe that when we can join hands to make ourselves stronger. We are convinced that when we come together in union, we all benefit and are made into the image of Christ.
We believe that all can help each other to grow in the Body of Christ, becoming more like Christ, pure and set apart. Coming together we give each other the opportunity to learn more about the Word of God, by sharing and discussing that set apart or holy Word. Together we can help each individual around us, to become part of a bigger unit, able to be compassionate, gentle, and to have a great capacity for mercy and forgiveness.
When coming to our ecclesia you should not be afraid that people would look at you as a strange intruder, because nobody would. Nobody shall go to point to the faults of yourself or others. Instead, you may find we try to use the strengths the Lord has given us to build up the body of Christ. We all have faults, and we all have gifts, and they are meant to work together. We all go for the same primary goal, to grow in the spirit according to God His Wishes, and to form a strong unit in the Body of Christ. By the influence of our fellowships you and we can have our character transformed.
At our ecclesia or church, we are people who want to share the hope in a better world. To reach that goal we know we have to start by ourselves and our own surroundings. We hope to inspire each other in our community of believers in Only One True God, but also to encourage those outside our community, to work at a relationship with Jesus, because when we seek him and not this world, he will teach us, and we will grow in all good things. A lot of this process is done through our brethren and sisters, who are here also for you!
+
Please find also to read:
- Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth
- Words in the world
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Who are the Christadelphians
- Who are Brothers in Christ and why do they call themselves Christadelphian?
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Brothers and sisters in Christ for you
- History of the Christadelphians
- John Thomas
- Forming a Christian bond
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
- What Christadelphians teach
- Differences between Christadelphians and other churches in Christianity
- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Living as a believer in Christ
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- My faith
- Becoming brothers and sisters in Christ
- Christadelphians children of God
- Gathering or meeting of believers
- What and why Christadelphian Ecclesia‘
- The Ecclesia
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
- A participation in the body of Christ
- Looking for Christadelphian in your neighbourhood
- C4U (Christ For You – Christadelphians For You)
- Guide to Christadelphian Ecclesias
- Adresses of Brothers in Christ Worldwide
Rate this:
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The Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ are a community of lovers of God, who follow the teachings of the Nazarene Master Teacher Jeshua, better known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
As followers of the Jewish man from Nazareth, we are aware that Jesus him being a Jew, worshipped the God of Israel, and asked to do his followers to do so too. That God of Abraham is a Singular Eternal Spirit Being, no man can see. Jesus did not come to earth to undo the Law of God or the Torah. He came to explain it and to show the Way to God. Therefore, we take the words of Jesus seriously as an indication of how to continue our life on the path laid in front of us by this rabbi, and keep to the Law of God, God and His son their teachings and wishes, instead of keeping to human doctrines.
Jesus preached love for all creatures of God, and that is why we find it necessary not only to show and share that love for the whole of creation (earth, plants, animals and human beings), but also to come up for the weaker ones and to help and defend those in need.
In case you are looking for making your life easier or want to know more about the present and the future and our position in the whole picture or Plan of God, then you are right at our address.
Even when you are not sure about the existence of God, you are welcome to join us at our meetings and Bible Classes. We also provide printed material which you are welcome to read and to question us about. Any time of the day someone shall be willing to help you with your questions or solving your problems.
At our ecclesiae we have meetings for studying and worshipping but also moments of gathering and sharing good time and food. Also, at those events you are very welcome.
In Wintertime, we also provide shelter for the night, in certain towns, for the homeless people. Waifs and strays are also welcome at our food supplies.
But our main occupation in the ecclesia is the provision to glorify God and praise Him with a merger in prayer and Bible reading in the unity of spirit.
For those gatherings, where they may take place (Leuven, Leefdaal-Bertem, Tervuren, Brussels, Nivelles-Nijvel, Mons or Newbury), we invite you to join us and to feel the spirit of our brotherhood.
In Belgium, we are financially very limited and do have no building of our own. We have to rent spaces and also use private houses, making house-church. For that reason it is not possible to offer set days and hours for our meetings. In Newbury, it is different. There our brethren and sisters have their own hall and offer services on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with regular events on different days as well. Never be afraid to contact them or us to have further contact or to know about their and/our activities.For the Carelinks (like the Antwerp Ecclesia) and Old Paths Christadelphians you shall have to contact them. We as Free Christadelphians are not bounded to any person or organisation and could be considered being part of the more progressive branch of Christadelphianism, having liberated ourselves from all boundaries of this world, only to be bounded to the sent one from God, the son of God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ.
One of us might have a strength in one area and another might be strong in another. We believe that when we can join hands to make ourselves stronger. We are convinced that when we come together in union, we all benefit and are made into the image of Christ.
We believe that all can help each other to grow in the Body of Christ, becoming more like Christ, pure and set apart. Coming together we give each other the opportunity to learn more about the Word of God, by sharing and discussing that set apart or holy Word. Together we can help each individual around us, to become part of a bigger unit, able to be compassionate, gentle, and to have a great capacity for mercy and forgiveness.
When coming to our ecclesia you should not be afraid that people would look at you as a strange intruder, because nobody would. Nobody shall go to point to the faults of yourself or others. Instead, you may find we try to use the strengths the Lord has given us to build up the body of Christ. We all have faults, and we all have gifts, and they are meant to work together. We all go for the same primary goal, to grow in the spirit according to God His Wishes, and to form a strong unit in the Body of Christ. By the influence of our fellowships you and we can have our character transformed.
At our ecclesia or church, we are people who want to share the hope in a better world. To reach that goal we know we have to start by ourselves and our own surroundings. We hope to inspire each other in our community of believers in Only One True God, but also to encourage those outside our community, to work at a relationship with Jesus, because when we seek him and not this world, he will teach us, and we will grow in all good things. A lot of this process is done through our brethren and sisters, who are here also for you!
+
Please find also to read:
- Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth
- Words in the world
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Who are the Christadelphians
- Who are Brothers in Christ and why do they call themselves Christadelphian?
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- Brothers and sisters in Christ for you
- History of the Christadelphians
- John Thomas
- Forming a Christian bond
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
- What Christadelphians teach
- Differences between Christadelphians and other churches in Christianity
- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Living as a believer in Christ
- Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
- My faith
- Becoming brothers and sisters in Christ
- Christadelphians children of God
- Gathering or meeting of believers
- What and why Christadelphian Ecclesia‘
- The Ecclesia
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- Reasons to come together
- Congregate, to gather, to meet
- Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
- What makes a consecrated Christian
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
- A participation in the body of Christ
- Looking for Christadelphian in your neighbourhood
- C4U (Christ For You – Christadelphians For You)
- Guide to Christadelphian Ecclesias
- Adresses of Brothers in Christ Worldwide
Rate this:
https://christadelphians.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/everyone-welcome-in-our-open-ecclesia/
#BecomeLikeChrist #BecomingLikeChrist #BeingAChristadelphian #BelgianChristadelphians #BodyOfChrist #BrotherInChrist #BrotherSOfChrist #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #Brussels #Carelinks #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphianism #Christadelphians #Churchcommunity #Community #FollowerOfChrist #FollowerSOfGod #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingChrist #FollowingGod #FollowingGodSCommandments #FoodSupply #FreeChristadelphians #Gathering #GoalReaching #HavingSpiritOfChrist #HomelessPeople #HouseChurch #ImageOfChrist #Leefdaal #Leuven #LoversOfGod #Mons #NazareneManJeshua #Newbury #Nivelles #PathOfLife #PraiseGod #RelationshipWithJesusChrist #Sharing #SharingFaith #SharingFeedback #SharingFellowship #SharingGoodNews #SharingHope #Shelter #StudyingTheBible #Tervuren #TheWay #theWayToGod #toDefendWeakerOnes #toFollowGod #toGlorifyGod #toGrow #toGrowSpiritually #toHelpEachOther #toHelpThoseInNeed #toWorkTogether #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityOfTheSpirit #WorkingTogether #WorshippingGod
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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:
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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:
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-
The Big conversation Why it matters
Looking at our small community we must remember that it is God Who calls and for what we can offer in our community He takes what we have and makes it go further!
- Church is the place to bring empty lives for God to fill.
- Church is about meeting not just meetings!
In our previous postings we also pointed out that some people may have a wrong opinion about unity and expect all people in a community to say the same and to act the same. But “being one” doesn’t mean “being a clone”. God blesses unity! And we should have and should share our unity in Christ and unity with Christ. All being one in following the teachings of Christ, believing what he says and following up what he asked his followers to do. Not just following a church because it pleases us but because it follows the teachings of the son of God, Jesus Christ, and stays truthful to the Words of God, following God’s Will and willing to share His Gospel. Our union should be in the love for God which should be noticeable for outsiders, being a union of loving people, loving Jehovah God and His son Christ Jesus, Jeshua the Messiah, as lovers of the truth, sharing this love and Good News and spreading unselfish, mutual, unconditional Agape brotherly love and love for all creation under the Covenant of love as beloved disciples and as Bible lovers making a circle of love under the Royal Law of love.
Having different people coming together there should be allowance for every one to have their say. All gathered should have respect for all present and give them the opportunity to share their ideas. Being together it also must be an occasion where public confession, based on a word from God, can take place. This may demand courage to stand up and declare truth, but in a real church of God this should not be a problem because that has to be a place of sharing the love of Christ and working at getting the love of God.
Spending time together to study the Word of God, must do something to those present. Change is inevitable…
except from a vending machine
said Arne Roberts, on October the tenth, at the Big Conversation. For him it is clear what is going to happen to other Bible Students which all came form the same source.
Here’s what will happen to Jehovah’s Witnesses: They will become increasingly like the religious group that influenced Charles Russell: The Christadelphians…
The Christadelphians were once an outspoken, vibrant, edgy “Christian” group who spread their urgent end-times message far and wide. They grew exponentially in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but their heyday is long past. For several decades now they resemble a heavy rusty old steam locomotive that is running out of speed as it lumbers along ill-kept tracks, but still tries to muster the motion needed to take on steep mountain slopes.
The Christadelphians ooze sad irrelevance and faded glory of times well passed. They are an old people’s religion – old people who don’t have the self- and other-awareness to see that they are clinging to a dead dream. The Christadelphians have long since passed their used-by date and the only ones who still ‘practice’ this religion are older individuals who cannot muster the strength to look out their windows at the real world passing them by.
This is the future of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who will not go out with a bang, but who will slowly whimper to an ever slower crawl as the decades pass and the world, in its infinite fascination with religious novelty, will fix its distractable attention on to other more modern belief systems.
For Arne Roberts that is not the end. He asks us to keep in mind that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
We as followers of Christ should make sure that the Clarion of the Torah may sound. We hearing the sound loudly should make sure that there might be a stimulant for others in our community to become co-workers, helping each other, not working against each other, or not considering each other rivals. As individual beings, planets or stars, we may be totally different, but together we are one part of the universe, just some small elements in the creation of God.
Our very tiny community at a Breaking of Bread gathering at our regular meeting place, the service centre in Heverlee, Leuven.When people just not come to join others because they are part of a small community than that community shall never have any chance of growing. When people keep waiting before willing to join a small community because it does not attract them for it is so small that they shall be noticed, we do have to convince them that they should not hide themselves behind the numbers. It is true that when there is a small church people will be noticed. In a mega church nobody shall notice it when you come in later, slip out earlier, shall fall asleep or shall not be attentional. When we encounter such doubting people who are afraid to join a small church we can ask them
How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
It is up to us that God is in our life and that we want to share it with them. They should not be afraid to feel having a naked identity it such a small group, because as followers of Christ Jesus we have abandoned our sinful ‘I’ and actually have taken an other identity, no identity of our own apart from our union with Christ. Not that we have no unique personality or value or purpose, but that Christ defines our new life. It is that inseparable connection within Christ as a believer, which unites us and in the love of Christ we found the love for each other and have to show the world that we want to share that love. When we fail to see our true existence in Christ and fail to find our life and, thus, seek it outside of Christ we shall become victim of our own vain pursuit that only leads to frustration and angst in our God-thirsty soul.
We must understand that whatever happens the majority of people will not want to take the divine Creator as their God and lots of people shall prefer to be part of the contemporary world, belonging to it, being in it, and enjoying a worldly philosophy, inventions of men designed to rob you of your inheritance (Col.2:8-10) and as such shall not be so much attracted to the Christadelphian world, which demands a change in their attitude. The friendship with the world is for most people much more important than the friendship with God loving people. Most shall prefer to stay in the Godless world having not to wonder about their own responsibilities.
It is up to the lovers of God to show the others the light of the world and that no one should worry to much about living in this world. When people could come to know that New world better they might think twice and be prepared easier to leave the Old world for what it is, looking forward to a better and perfect world. We understand it is not easy for man to get away with the worldly traditions, so this shall always be some of the obstacles to join or to stay in our community. But people should not be afraid that they cannot take part in worldly events in a Godless world. Christadelphians for sure also can enjoy worldly life, having enough time fore worldly pleasures, and not to become frustrated under the yoke of the world.
+
Preceding articles:
The Big conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
++
Additional reading
- A call easy to understand
- Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
- How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
- He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The business of this life
- Church sent into the world
- Work with joy and pray with love
- Love for each other attracting others
- How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
- Love is like playing the piano
- Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Misunderstandings concerning C.T. Russell
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Was Russell and Rutherford “Illuminati”?
- Charles Taze Russell and what he started
- Jesse Hemery and the The Goshen Fellowship
- To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
- Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
- Different approach in organisation of services #1
- Different approach in organisation of services #2
- Different approach in organisation of services #3
- A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- Dissolution of Bijbelvorsers (Bible scholars), Association for Bible study
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Christadelphian people
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- What Christadelphians teach
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- 19° Century London Christadelphians
- Breathing and growing with no heir
- Preaching to an unbelieving world
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- What part of the Body am I?
- The Church, Body of Christ and remnant Israel synonymous
- United people under Christ
- Fellowship
- The Ecclesia
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- Our ecclesia or Christadelphian-church
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
- Communion and day of worship
- Christadelphians today
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Harvest in Belgium
+++
Further readings:
- I Once Was Blind but Now I See
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Cornerstones
- Narcissist Case Studies – How We Know The Pharisees Were Narcissists, Part 2
- Jesus The Cornerstone Of The Church
- Hey You, Cornterstone! (Who???….me?) Yeah, You!
- God Is Not Human
- Where to Draw the Line: Culture vs Religion
- The Cornerstone: The Response of the Church in Violent Times
- Gospel Doctrine 2015 – Lesson 39 – “For the Perfecting of the Saints”
- Finding Joy in the Little Things
- Word Wednesday: Jesus Our Cornerstone
- The Cornerstone of Your Life
- Cornerstone
- Walking With Intentionality
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
+++
Related articles
- Jesus Christ is not REAL to most Christians (finalcall07.wordpress.com)
- Loving the Sinner (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
- We stand together proudly (chronicle.augusta.com)
- A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
- Spiritual Growth (faithandfootsteps.wordpress.com)
- “By the Power Invested in Me” (breakawaybylintrollins.wordpress.com)
- Victory (myspiritualbreakfast.com)
- Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about the migrant crisis? (jewishnews.co.uk)
- Slavery (thought.dcwillis.com)
- The differing origins of humankind (iol.co.za)
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-
The Big conversation Why it matters
Looking at our small community we must remember that it is God Who calls and for what we can offer in our community He takes what we have and makes it go further!
- Church is the place to bring empty lives for God to fill.
- Church is about meeting not just meetings!
In our previous postings we also pointed out that some people may have a wrong opinion about unity and expect all people in a community to say the same and to act the same. But “being one” doesn’t mean “being a clone”. God blesses unity! And we should have and should share our unity in Christ and unity with Christ. All being one in following the teachings of Christ, believing what he says and following up what he asked his followers to do. Not just following a church because it pleases us but because it follows the teachings of the son of God, Jesus Christ, and stays truthful to the Words of God, following God’s Will and willing to share His Gospel. Our union should be in the love for God which should be noticeable for outsiders, being a union of loving people, loving Jehovah God and His son Christ Jesus, Jeshua the Messiah, as lovers of the truth, sharing this love and Good News and spreading unselfish, mutual, unconditional Agape brotherly love and love for all creation under the Covenant of love as beloved disciples and as Bible lovers making a circle of love under the Royal Law of love.
Having different people coming together there should be allowance for every one to have their say. All gathered should have respect for all present and give them the opportunity to share their ideas. Being together it also must be an occasion where public confession, based on a word from God, can take place. This may demand courage to stand up and declare truth, but in a real church of God this should not be a problem because that has to be a place of sharing the love of Christ and working at getting the love of God.
Spending time together to study the Word of God, must do something to those present. Change is inevitable…
except from a vending machine
said Arne Roberts, on October the tenth, at the Big Conversation. For him it is clear what is going to happen to other Bible Students which all came form the same source.
Here’s what will happen to Jehovah’s Witnesses: They will become increasingly like the religious group that influenced Charles Russell: The Christadelphians…
The Christadelphians were once an outspoken, vibrant, edgy “Christian” group who spread their urgent end-times message far and wide. They grew exponentially in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but their heyday is long past. For several decades now they resemble a heavy rusty old steam locomotive that is running out of speed as it lumbers along ill-kept tracks, but still tries to muster the motion needed to take on steep mountain slopes.
The Christadelphians ooze sad irrelevance and faded glory of times well passed. They are an old people’s religion – old people who don’t have the self- and other-awareness to see that they are clinging to a dead dream. The Christadelphians have long since passed their used-by date and the only ones who still ‘practice’ this religion are older individuals who cannot muster the strength to look out their windows at the real world passing them by.
This is the future of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who will not go out with a bang, but who will slowly whimper to an ever slower crawl as the decades pass and the world, in its infinite fascination with religious novelty, will fix its distractable attention on to other more modern belief systems.
For Arne Roberts that is not the end. He asks us to keep in mind that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
We as followers of Christ should make sure that the Clarion of the Torah may sound. We hearing the sound loudly should make sure that there might be a stimulant for others in our community to become co-workers, helping each other, not working against each other, or not considering each other rivals. As individual beings, planets or stars, we may be totally different, but together we are one part of the universe, just some small elements in the creation of God.
Our very tiny community at a Breaking of Bread gathering at our regular meeting place, the service centre in Heverlee, Leuven.When people just not come to join others because they are part of a small community than that community shall never have any chance of growing. When people keep waiting before willing to join a small community because it does not attract them for it is so small that they shall be noticed, we do have to convince them that they should not hide themselves behind the numbers. It is true that when there is a small church people will be noticed. In a mega church nobody shall notice it when you come in later, slip out earlier, shall fall asleep or shall not be attentional. When we encounter such doubting people who are afraid to join a small church we can ask them
How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
It is up to us that God is in our life and that we want to share it with them. They should not be afraid to feel having a naked identity it such a small group, because as followers of Christ Jesus we have abandoned our sinful ‘I’ and actually have taken an other identity, no identity of our own apart from our union with Christ. Not that we have no unique personality or value or purpose, but that Christ defines our new life. It is that inseparable connection within Christ as a believer, which unites us and in the love of Christ we found the love for each other and have to show the world that we want to share that love. When we fail to see our true existence in Christ and fail to find our life and, thus, seek it outside of Christ we shall become victim of our own vain pursuit that only leads to frustration and angst in our God-thirsty soul.
We must understand that whatever happens the majority of people will not want to take the divine Creator as their God and lots of people shall prefer to be part of the contemporary world, belonging to it, being in it, and enjoying a worldly philosophy, inventions of men designed to rob you of your inheritance (Col.2:8-10) and as such shall not be so much attracted to the Christadelphian world, which demands a change in their attitude. The friendship with the world is for most people much more important than the friendship with God loving people. Most shall prefer to stay in the Godless world having not to wonder about their own responsibilities.
It is up to the lovers of God to show the others the light of the world and that no one should worry to much about living in this world. When people could come to know that New world better they might think twice and be prepared easier to leave the Old world for what it is, looking forward to a better and perfect world. We understand it is not easy for man to get away with the worldly traditions, so this shall always be some of the obstacles to join or to stay in our community. But people should not be afraid that they cannot take part in worldly events in a Godless world. Christadelphians for sure also can enjoy worldly life, having enough time fore worldly pleasures, and not to become frustrated under the yoke of the world.
+
Preceding articles:
The Big conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
++
Additional reading
- A call easy to understand
- Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
- How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
- He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The business of this life
- Church sent into the world
- Work with joy and pray with love
- Love for each other attracting others
- How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
- Love is like playing the piano
- Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Misunderstandings concerning C.T. Russell
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Was Russell and Rutherford “Illuminati”?
- Charles Taze Russell and what he started
- Jesse Hemery and the The Goshen Fellowship
- To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
- Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
- Different approach in organisation of services #1
- Different approach in organisation of services #2
- Different approach in organisation of services #3
- A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- Dissolution of Bijbelvorsers (Bible scholars), Association for Bible study
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Christadelphian people
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- What Christadelphians teach
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- 19° Century London Christadelphians
- Breathing and growing with no heir
- Preaching to an unbelieving world
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- What part of the Body am I?
- The Church, Body of Christ and remnant Israel synonymous
- United people under Christ
- Fellowship
- The Ecclesia
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- Our ecclesia or Christadelphian-church
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
- Communion and day of worship
- Christadelphians today
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Harvest in Belgium
+++
Further readings:
- I Once Was Blind but Now I See
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Cornerstones
- Narcissist Case Studies – How We Know The Pharisees Were Narcissists, Part 2
- Jesus The Cornerstone Of The Church
- Hey You, Cornterstone! (Who???….me?) Yeah, You!
- God Is Not Human
- Where to Draw the Line: Culture vs Religion
- The Cornerstone: The Response of the Church in Violent Times
- Gospel Doctrine 2015 – Lesson 39 – “For the Perfecting of the Saints”
- Finding Joy in the Little Things
- Word Wednesday: Jesus Our Cornerstone
- The Cornerstone of Your Life
- Cornerstone
- Walking With Intentionality
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
+++
Related articles
- Jesus Christ is not REAL to most Christians (finalcall07.wordpress.com)
- Loving the Sinner (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
- We stand together proudly (chronicle.augusta.com)
- A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
- Spiritual Growth (faithandfootsteps.wordpress.com)
- “By the Power Invested in Me” (breakawaybylintrollins.wordpress.com)
- Victory (myspiritualbreakfast.com)
- Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about the migrant crisis? (jewishnews.co.uk)
- Slavery (thought.dcwillis.com)
- The differing origins of humankind (iol.co.za)
Rate this:
#19Century #Agape #ArneRoberts #BeingOfTheWorld #BibleStudents #BrotherlyLove #CharlesRussell #ChristadelphianCommunity #ChristadelphianWorld #Confession #Cornerstone #Courage #FellowCitizens #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingAChurch #FollowingChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingTheSon #FollowingWordOfGod #FriendOfTheWorld #Frustration #Gathering #GodCalling #GodlessWorld #HouseholdOfGod #JehovahWitnesses #JehovahSWitnesses #LightOfTheWorld #LivingInThisWorld #LoveForChrist #LoveForCreation #LoveOfChrist #MegaChurch #ModernBeliefSystems #Respect #RespectForEachother #Share #SmallChurch #SmallCommunity #Stimulant #toGather #TorahSClarionCall #Union #UnionWithChristJesus #UnionWithGod #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityWithChrist #WordOfGod #WorldlyLife #WorldlyTraditions
-
The Big conversation Why it matters
Looking at our small community we must remember that it is God Who calls and for what we can offer in our community He takes what we have and makes it go further!
- Church is the place to bring empty lives for God to fill.
- Church is about meeting not just meetings!
In our previous postings we also pointed out that some people may have a wrong opinion about unity and expect all people in a community to say the same and to act the same. But “being one” doesn’t mean “being a clone”. God blesses unity! And we should have and should share our unity in Christ and unity with Christ. All being one in following the teachings of Christ, believing what he says and following up what he asked his followers to do. Not just following a church because it pleases us but because it follows the teachings of the son of God, Jesus Christ, and stays truthful to the Words of God, following God’s Will and willing to share His Gospel. Our union should be in the love for God which should be noticeable for outsiders, being a union of loving people, loving Jehovah God and His son Christ Jesus, Jeshua the Messiah, as lovers of the truth, sharing this love and Good News and spreading unselfish, mutual, unconditional Agape brotherly love and love for all creation under the Covenant of love as beloved disciples and as Bible lovers making a circle of love under the Royal Law of love.
Having different people coming together there should be allowance for every one to have their say. All gathered should have respect for all present and give them the opportunity to share their ideas. Being together it also must be an occasion where public confession, based on a word from God, can take place. This may demand courage to stand up and declare truth, but in a real church of God this should not be a problem because that has to be a place of sharing the love of Christ and working at getting the love of God.
Spending time together to study the Word of God, must do something to those present. Change is inevitable…
except from a vending machine
said Arne Roberts, on October the tenth, at the Big Conversation. For him it is clear what is going to happen to other Bible Students which all came form the same source.
Here’s what will happen to Jehovah’s Witnesses: They will become increasingly like the religious group that influenced Charles Russell: The Christadelphians…
The Christadelphians were once an outspoken, vibrant, edgy “Christian” group who spread their urgent end-times message far and wide. They grew exponentially in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but their heyday is long past. For several decades now they resemble a heavy rusty old steam locomotive that is running out of speed as it lumbers along ill-kept tracks, but still tries to muster the motion needed to take on steep mountain slopes.
The Christadelphians ooze sad irrelevance and faded glory of times well passed. They are an old people’s religion – old people who don’t have the self- and other-awareness to see that they are clinging to a dead dream. The Christadelphians have long since passed their used-by date and the only ones who still ‘practice’ this religion are older individuals who cannot muster the strength to look out their windows at the real world passing them by.
This is the future of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who will not go out with a bang, but who will slowly whimper to an ever slower crawl as the decades pass and the world, in its infinite fascination with religious novelty, will fix its distractable attention on to other more modern belief systems.
For Arne Roberts that is not the end. He asks us to keep in mind that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
We as followers of Christ should make sure that the Clarion of the Torah may sound. We hearing the sound loudly should make sure that there might be a stimulant for others in our community to become co-workers, helping each other, not working against each other, or not considering each other rivals. As individual beings, planets or stars, we may be totally different, but together we are one part of the universe, just some small elements in the creation of God.
Our very tiny community at a Breaking of Bread gathering at our regular meeting place, the service centre in Heverlee, Leuven.When people just not come to join others because they are part of a small community than that community shall never have any chance of growing. When people keep waiting before willing to join a small community because it does not attract them for it is so small that they shall be noticed, we do have to convince them that they should not hide themselves behind the numbers. It is true that when there is a small church people will be noticed. In a mega church nobody shall notice it when you come in later, slip out earlier, shall fall asleep or shall not be attentional. When we encounter such doubting people who are afraid to join a small church we can ask them
How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
It is up to us that God is in our life and that we want to share it with them. They should not be afraid to feel having a naked identity it such a small group, because as followers of Christ Jesus we have abandoned our sinful ‘I’ and actually have taken an other identity, no identity of our own apart from our union with Christ. Not that we have no unique personality or value or purpose, but that Christ defines our new life. It is that inseparable connection within Christ as a believer, which unites us and in the love of Christ we found the love for each other and have to show the world that we want to share that love. When we fail to see our true existence in Christ and fail to find our life and, thus, seek it outside of Christ we shall become victim of our own vain pursuit that only leads to frustration and angst in our God-thirsty soul.
We must understand that whatever happens the majority of people will not want to take the divine Creator as their God and lots of people shall prefer to be part of the contemporary world, belonging to it, being in it, and enjoying a worldly philosophy, inventions of men designed to rob you of your inheritance (Col.2:8-10) and as such shall not be so much attracted to the Christadelphian world, which demands a change in their attitude. The friendship with the world is for most people much more important than the friendship with God loving people. Most shall prefer to stay in the Godless world having not to wonder about their own responsibilities.
It is up to the lovers of God to show the others the light of the world and that no one should worry to much about living in this world. When people could come to know that New world better they might think twice and be prepared easier to leave the Old world for what it is, looking forward to a better and perfect world. We understand it is not easy for man to get away with the worldly traditions, so this shall always be some of the obstacles to join or to stay in our community. But people should not be afraid that they cannot take part in worldly events in a Godless world. Christadelphians for sure also can enjoy worldly life, having enough time fore worldly pleasures, and not to become frustrated under the yoke of the world.
+
Preceding articles:
The Big conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
++
Additional reading
- A call easy to understand
- Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
- How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
- He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The business of this life
- Church sent into the world
- Work with joy and pray with love
- Love for each other attracting others
- How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
- Love is like playing the piano
- Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Misunderstandings concerning C.T. Russell
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Was Russell and Rutherford “Illuminati”?
- Charles Taze Russell and what he started
- Jesse Hemery and the The Goshen Fellowship
- To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
- Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
- Different approach in organisation of services #1
- Different approach in organisation of services #2
- Different approach in organisation of services #3
- A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- Dissolution of Bijbelvorsers (Bible scholars), Association for Bible study
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Christadelphian people
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- What Christadelphians teach
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- 19° Century London Christadelphians
- Breathing and growing with no heir
- Preaching to an unbelieving world
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- What part of the Body am I?
- The Church, Body of Christ and remnant Israel synonymous
- United people under Christ
- Fellowship
- The Ecclesia
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- Our ecclesia or Christadelphian-church
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
- Communion and day of worship
- Christadelphians today
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Harvest in Belgium
+++
Further readings:
- I Once Was Blind but Now I See
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Cornerstones
- Narcissist Case Studies – How We Know The Pharisees Were Narcissists, Part 2
- Jesus The Cornerstone Of The Church
- Hey You, Cornterstone! (Who???….me?) Yeah, You!
- God Is Not Human
- Where to Draw the Line: Culture vs Religion
- The Cornerstone: The Response of the Church in Violent Times
- Gospel Doctrine 2015 – Lesson 39 – “For the Perfecting of the Saints”
- Finding Joy in the Little Things
- Word Wednesday: Jesus Our Cornerstone
- The Cornerstone of Your Life
- Cornerstone
- Walking With Intentionality
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
+++
Related articles
- Jesus Christ is not REAL to most Christians (finalcall07.wordpress.com)
- Loving the Sinner (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
- We stand together proudly (chronicle.augusta.com)
- A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
- Spiritual Growth (faithandfootsteps.wordpress.com)
- “By the Power Invested in Me” (breakawaybylintrollins.wordpress.com)
- Victory (myspiritualbreakfast.com)
- Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about the migrant crisis? (jewishnews.co.uk)
- Slavery (thought.dcwillis.com)
- The differing origins of humankind (iol.co.za)
Rate this:
#19Century #Agape #ArneRoberts #BeingOfTheWorld #BibleStudents #BrotherlyLove #CharlesRussell #ChristadelphianCommunity #ChristadelphianWorld #Confession #Cornerstone #Courage #FellowCitizens #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingAChurch #FollowingChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingTheSon #FollowingWordOfGod #FriendOfTheWorld #Frustration #Gathering #GodCalling #GodlessWorld #HouseholdOfGod #JehovahWitnesses #JehovahSWitnesses #LightOfTheWorld #LivingInThisWorld #LoveForChrist #LoveForCreation #LoveOfChrist #MegaChurch #ModernBeliefSystems #Respect #RespectForEachother #Share #SmallChurch #SmallCommunity #Stimulant #toGather #TorahSClarionCall #Union #UnionWithChristJesus #UnionWithGod #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityWithChrist #WordOfGod #WorldlyLife #WorldlyTraditions
-
The Big conversation Why it matters
Looking at our small community we must remember that it is God Who calls and for what we can offer in our community He takes what we have and makes it go further!
- Church is the place to bring empty lives for God to fill.
- Church is about meeting not just meetings!
In our previous postings we also pointed out that some people may have a wrong opinion about unity and expect all people in a community to say the same and to act the same. But “being one” doesn’t mean “being a clone”. God blesses unity! And we should have and should share our unity in Christ and unity with Christ. All being one in following the teachings of Christ, believing what he says and following up what he asked his followers to do. Not just following a church because it pleases us but because it follows the teachings of the son of God, Jesus Christ, and stays truthful to the Words of God, following God’s Will and willing to share His Gospel. Our union should be in the love for God which should be noticeable for outsiders, being a union of loving people, loving Jehovah God and His son Christ Jesus, Jeshua the Messiah, as lovers of the truth, sharing this love and Good News and spreading unselfish, mutual, unconditional Agape brotherly love and love for all creation under the Covenant of love as beloved disciples and as Bible lovers making a circle of love under the Royal Law of love.
Having different people coming together there should be allowance for every one to have their say. All gathered should have respect for all present and give them the opportunity to share their ideas. Being together it also must be an occasion where public confession, based on a word from God, can take place. This may demand courage to stand up and declare truth, but in a real church of God this should not be a problem because that has to be a place of sharing the love of Christ and working at getting the love of God.
Spending time together to study the Word of God, must do something to those present. Change is inevitable…
except from a vending machine
said Arne Roberts, on October the tenth, at the Big Conversation. For him it is clear what is going to happen to other Bible Students which all came form the same source.
Here’s what will happen to Jehovah’s Witnesses: They will become increasingly like the religious group that influenced Charles Russell: The Christadelphians…
The Christadelphians were once an outspoken, vibrant, edgy “Christian” group who spread their urgent end-times message far and wide. They grew exponentially in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but their heyday is long past. For several decades now they resemble a heavy rusty old steam locomotive that is running out of speed as it lumbers along ill-kept tracks, but still tries to muster the motion needed to take on steep mountain slopes.
The Christadelphians ooze sad irrelevance and faded glory of times well passed. They are an old people’s religion – old people who don’t have the self- and other-awareness to see that they are clinging to a dead dream. The Christadelphians have long since passed their used-by date and the only ones who still ‘practice’ this religion are older individuals who cannot muster the strength to look out their windows at the real world passing them by.
This is the future of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who will not go out with a bang, but who will slowly whimper to an ever slower crawl as the decades pass and the world, in its infinite fascination with religious novelty, will fix its distractable attention on to other more modern belief systems.
For Arne Roberts that is not the end. He asks us to keep in mind that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
We as followers of Christ should make sure that the Clarion of the Torah may sound. We hearing the sound loudly should make sure that there might be a stimulant for others in our community to become co-workers, helping each other, not working against each other, or not considering each other rivals. As individual beings, planets or stars, we may be totally different, but together we are one part of the universe, just some small elements in the creation of God.
Our very tiny community at a Breaking of Bread gathering at our regular meeting place, the service centre in Heverlee, Leuven.When people just not come to join others because they are part of a small community than that community shall never have any chance of growing. When people keep waiting before willing to join a small community because it does not attract them for it is so small that they shall be noticed, we do have to convince them that they should not hide themselves behind the numbers. It is true that when there is a small church people will be noticed. In a mega church nobody shall notice it when you come in later, slip out earlier, shall fall asleep or shall not be attentional. When we encounter such doubting people who are afraid to join a small church we can ask them
How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
It is up to us that God is in our life and that we want to share it with them. They should not be afraid to feel having a naked identity it such a small group, because as followers of Christ Jesus we have abandoned our sinful ‘I’ and actually have taken an other identity, no identity of our own apart from our union with Christ. Not that we have no unique personality or value or purpose, but that Christ defines our new life. It is that inseparable connection within Christ as a believer, which unites us and in the love of Christ we found the love for each other and have to show the world that we want to share that love. When we fail to see our true existence in Christ and fail to find our life and, thus, seek it outside of Christ we shall become victim of our own vain pursuit that only leads to frustration and angst in our God-thirsty soul.
We must understand that whatever happens the majority of people will not want to take the divine Creator as their God and lots of people shall prefer to be part of the contemporary world, belonging to it, being in it, and enjoying a worldly philosophy, inventions of men designed to rob you of your inheritance (Col.2:8-10) and as such shall not be so much attracted to the Christadelphian world, which demands a change in their attitude. The friendship with the world is for most people much more important than the friendship with God loving people. Most shall prefer to stay in the Godless world having not to wonder about their own responsibilities.
It is up to the lovers of God to show the others the light of the world and that no one should worry to much about living in this world. When people could come to know that New world better they might think twice and be prepared easier to leave the Old world for what it is, looking forward to a better and perfect world. We understand it is not easy for man to get away with the worldly traditions, so this shall always be some of the obstacles to join or to stay in our community. But people should not be afraid that they cannot take part in worldly events in a Godless world. Christadelphians for sure also can enjoy worldly life, having enough time fore worldly pleasures, and not to become frustrated under the yoke of the world.
+
Preceding articles:
The Big conversation follow up
Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
++
Additional reading
- A call easy to understand
- Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
- How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
- He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
- The business of this life
- Church sent into the world
- Work with joy and pray with love
- Love for each other attracting others
- How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
- Love is like playing the piano
- Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
- Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
- Misunderstandings concerning C.T. Russell
- Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
- Was Russell and Rutherford “Illuminati”?
- Charles Taze Russell and what he started
- Jesse Hemery and the The Goshen Fellowship
- To remove the whitewash of the Jehovah Witnesses as being the only true Bible Students and Bible Researchers
- Using the name Jehovah but not a witness of that name
- Different approach in organisation of services #1
- Different approach in organisation of services #2
- Different approach in organisation of services #3
- A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- Dissolution of Bijbelvorsers (Bible scholars), Association for Bible study
- Two new encyclopaedic articles
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
- Christadelphian people
- Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
- About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
- What Christadelphians teach
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Priority to form a loving brotherhood
- 19° Century London Christadelphians
- Breathing and growing with no heir
- Preaching to an unbelieving world
- Commitment to Christian unity
- Parts of the body of Christ
- What part of the Body am I?
- The Church, Body of Christ and remnant Israel synonymous
- United people under Christ
- Fellowship
- The Ecclesia
- The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
- The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- Our ecclesia or Christadelphian-church
- Intentions of an Ecclesia
- An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
- Communion and day of worship
- Christadelphians today
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Harvest in Belgium
+++
Further readings:
- I Once Was Blind but Now I See
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Day 28: Where Are They?
- Cornerstones
- Narcissist Case Studies – How We Know The Pharisees Were Narcissists, Part 2
- Jesus The Cornerstone Of The Church
- Hey You, Cornterstone! (Who???….me?) Yeah, You!
- God Is Not Human
- Where to Draw the Line: Culture vs Religion
- The Cornerstone: The Response of the Church in Violent Times
- Gospel Doctrine 2015 – Lesson 39 – “For the Perfecting of the Saints”
- Finding Joy in the Little Things
- Word Wednesday: Jesus Our Cornerstone
- The Cornerstone of Your Life
- Cornerstone
- Walking With Intentionality
- What is God’s Will For Your Life?
+++
Related articles
- Jesus Christ is not REAL to most Christians (finalcall07.wordpress.com)
- Loving the Sinner (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
- We stand together proudly (chronicle.augusta.com)
- A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
- Spiritual Growth (faithandfootsteps.wordpress.com)
- “By the Power Invested in Me” (breakawaybylintrollins.wordpress.com)
- Victory (myspiritualbreakfast.com)
- Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about the migrant crisis? (jewishnews.co.uk)
- Slavery (thought.dcwillis.com)
- The differing origins of humankind (iol.co.za)
Rate this:
#19Century #Agape #ArneRoberts #BeingOfTheWorld #BibleStudents #BrotherlyLove #CharlesRussell #ChristadelphianCommunity #ChristadelphianWorld #Confession #Cornerstone #Courage #FellowCitizens #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingAChurch #FollowingChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingTheSon #FollowingWordOfGod #FriendOfTheWorld #Frustration #Gathering #GodCalling #GodlessWorld #HouseholdOfGod #JehovahWitnesses #JehovahSWitnesses #LightOfTheWorld #LivingInThisWorld #LoveForChrist #LoveForCreation #LoveOfChrist #MegaChurch #ModernBeliefSystems #Respect #RespectForEachother #Share #SmallChurch #SmallCommunity #Stimulant #toGather #TorahSClarionCall #Union #UnionWithChristJesus #UnionWithGod #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityWithChrist #WordOfGod #WorldlyLife #WorldlyTraditions
-
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.
Guestspeaker’s 1° article 2014 March 26 on “From Guestwriters”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.
Jubilant Joel Osteen Juice MegachurchIn 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.
The Lord’s Hall a Christian megachurch in the Philippines that is managed by the Day by Day Christian Ministries DBD since 2005 situated and leased from the CCP, due to numerous concerns at the time though the church is known as DBD’s flagship church, and is known for being a venue for massive Christian gatherings by Rev Gamaliel Alba and Sun Cruises, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd.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 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
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
++
Additional reading:
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Christadelphian people
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Strange Fire conference 2013
- Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
- Being Missional
- Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
- Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
- Good or bad preacher
- Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
- Reflection for today: hating your brother
+++
Further reading:
- Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
- A Vision of Holiness
- Praying in Circles
- In this Moment
- Wanting to be Heard
- truth nugget #66
- Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
- Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
- The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
- Millennials And Christianity!
- In Delight of the Deca-Church
- [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
- Agree to Disagree
- Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
- Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
- Missed Opportunities
- Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
- Welcome to the Club
- 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
- Extravaganza City
- Instructed In God’s Ways
- Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
- Book Review: The Blessed Church
- My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
- I don’t believe in mega churches
- 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.
Guestspeaker’s 1° article 2014 March 26 on “From Guestwriters”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.
Jubilant Joel Osteen Juice MegachurchIn 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.
The Lord’s Hall a Christian megachurch in the Philippines that is managed by the Day by Day Christian Ministries DBD since 2005 situated and leased from the CCP, due to numerous concerns at the time though the church is known as DBD’s flagship church, and is known for being a venue for massive Christian gatherings by Rev Gamaliel Alba and Sun Cruises, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd.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 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
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
++
Additional reading:
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Christadelphian people
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Strange Fire conference 2013
- Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
- Being Missional
- Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
- Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
- Good or bad preacher
- Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
- Reflection for today: hating your brother
+++
Further reading:
- Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
- A Vision of Holiness
- Praying in Circles
- In this Moment
- Wanting to be Heard
- truth nugget #66
- Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
- Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
- The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
- Millennials And Christianity!
- In Delight of the Deca-Church
- [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
- Agree to Disagree
- Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
- Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
- Missed Opportunities
- Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
- Welcome to the Club
- 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
- Extravaganza City
- Instructed In God’s Ways
- Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
- Book Review: The Blessed Church
- My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
- I don’t believe in mega churches
- 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.
Guestspeaker’s 1° article 2014 March 26 on “From Guestwriters”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.
Jubilant Joel Osteen Juice MegachurchIn 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.
The Lord’s Hall a Christian megachurch in the Philippines that is managed by the Day by Day Christian Ministries DBD since 2005 situated and leased from the CCP, due to numerous concerns at the time though the church is known as DBD’s flagship church, and is known for being a venue for massive Christian gatherings by Rev Gamaliel Alba and Sun Cruises, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd.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 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
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
++
Additional reading:
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Christadelphian people
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Strange Fire conference 2013
- Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
- Being Missional
- Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
- Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
- Good or bad preacher
- Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
- Reflection for today: hating your brother
+++
Further reading:
- Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
- A Vision of Holiness
- Praying in Circles
- In this Moment
- Wanting to be Heard
- truth nugget #66
- Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
- Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
- The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
- Millennials And Christianity!
- In Delight of the Deca-Church
- [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
- Agree to Disagree
- Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
- Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
- Missed Opportunities
- Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
- Welcome to the Club
- 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
- Extravaganza City
- Instructed In God’s Ways
- Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
- Book Review: The Blessed Church
- My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
- I don’t believe in mega churches
- American Christian Idol
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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)
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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.
Guestspeaker’s 1° article 2014 March 26 on “From Guestwriters”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.
Jubilant Joel Osteen Juice MegachurchIn 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.
The Lord’s Hall a Christian megachurch in the Philippines that is managed by the Day by Day Christian Ministries DBD since 2005 situated and leased from the CCP, due to numerous concerns at the time though the church is known as DBD’s flagship church, and is known for being a venue for massive Christian gatherings by Rev Gamaliel Alba and Sun Cruises, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd.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 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
Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other
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Additional reading:
- Who are the Christadelphians
- What are Brothers in Christ
- Christadelphian people
- Small churches of the few Christadelphians
- Strange Fire conference 2013
- Bloggers for Christ and Bloggers for Peace
- Being Missional
- Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
- Atonement And Fellowship 5/8
- Good or bad preacher
- Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
- Reflection for today: hating your brother
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Further reading:
- Lessons Learned at Strange Fire
- A Vision of Holiness
- Praying in Circles
- In this Moment
- Wanting to be Heard
- truth nugget #66
- Unite against their corruption, not our church’s
- Prosperity Gospel – The Bane of The True Gospel
- The Conference Every Mega-Church Pastor Should Attend
- Millennials And Christianity!
- In Delight of the Deca-Church
- [TL;DR] In Defense of the Mega-Church
- Agree to Disagree
- Kingdom Building: The Large Church and the Small Church Working Together
- Mega Churches: What’s the big deal?
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Go To A Small Church
- Missed Opportunities
- Pastoral Environment and the Fight for Holiness
- Welcome to the Club
- 365 Day Photo Challenge 167/365 “Church on the Hill”
- Extravaganza City
- Instructed In God’s Ways
- Why Black Mega Church Pastors Catch Such Heat
- Book Review: The Blessed Church
- My Two Cents… conderning a famous mega-church preacher
- I don’t believe in mega churches
- 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