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Hey............we are going to disagree on something........... 
My church is far from "silly." Nor does it "hide" what it is or what it believes. Just the opposite. I'm not sure you have fully researched the definition of a Non-denominational church? Maybe.
Suggest you look into Church Denominations such as the Catholic church, Southern Baptist, Methodist and others, including certain Church of Christ organizations and see how they control their individual congregations/pastors, then you will better understand Non-denominational I believe.
My church is far from "silly." Nor does it "hide" what it is or what it believes. Just the opposite. I'm not sure you have fully researched the definition of a Non-denominational church? Maybe.
Suggest you look into Church Denominations such as the Catholic church, Southern Baptist, Methodist and others, including certain Church of Christ organizations and see how they control their individual congregations/pastors, then you will better understand Non-denominational I believe.
Not being an expert on this issue, I've usually seen 2 different kinds of non-denom issues.
1. Some churches go non-denom just to alter their name... often to obfuscate their beliefs.
E.g. "Bethel Church of Grace & the Eternal Covenant of Real Believers & Bible Stuff"
Ya know... what does THAT mean?
2. Some churches go non-denom for doctrinal purity (and authority to make biblical decisions).
If your church was a member of a large denomination, and your denomination was turning liberal, so you went "independent" to stay loyal to scripture... that seems biblical to me.
Back to choice of name:
Regarding the choice of name, I think that whether your church is in category #1 or category #2, it's probably best to just be straightforward. If you're a bunch of Methodists or Episcopalians, or whatever... just put that over the door.
It's good to let people know what you believe
My opinion about choice of name is STRICTLY OPINION.
There IS NOTHING IN SCRIPTURE ABOUT IT.
: )
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And many denominational churches have sound doctrine, plus affiliations. Because of what we've gone through, instead of starting a new church, (which rather defeats the concept of having pastors steeped in the word, if we started one lol), we did the research and found a good choice of sound denomination churches -- when we lived in the sticks, when we lived in the suburbs, and when we moved into the city. Good churches aren't lacking. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing some research to find out who believes what to find one that fits the Bible. That wasn't even hard to do before the Internet became big.
A
Yikes! Derek Prince was connected to that church with the electrical engineer as a pastor. Before him, there was another pastor who came very close to getting the members to drink the Kool-Aid. He took half the young people (singles and newlyweds) down to Florida with him to "minister to those great men." Really, he went down to Florida to take over those men, and brought the young people along with him to prove he could control... err, I mean "teach discipleship." Those 5-6 "great men" had no idea what was happening, up here, or to them, until the damage was done.
You're not really convincing me with that list of spiritual leaders you came up with. (Except for Billy Graham, an evangelist, not a pastor.) I came along right at the split, so I didn't know what I was getting into, except a co-worker telling me not to drink the Kool-Aid. (I met that conman/pastor once and was happy he was leaving, or I wasn't staying.) I was there 6-9 months later when many of the young people were defeated, weary, and wary. Know where they all are now? To a Man, not one of them is born again anymore (if they were born again to begin with, but they sure seemed the part.)
You're not really convincing me with that list of spiritual leaders you came up with. (Except for Billy Graham, an evangelist, not a pastor.) I came along right at the split, so I didn't know what I was getting into, except a co-worker telling me not to drink the Kool-Aid. (I met that conman/pastor once and was happy he was leaving, or I wasn't staying.) I was there 6-9 months later when many of the young people were defeated, weary, and wary. Know where they all are now? To a Man, not one of them is born again anymore (if they were born again to begin with, but they sure seemed the part.)
A
As far as I can see, there are two reasons churches split:
1. A group is straying from the word.
2. Stupid stuff like supralapsarianism vs. ultralapsarianism. (Did God plan Jesus coming to earth before or after he started the universe? How dumb can you get to split over something that silly? And, yeah, that's a cause for a Presby split, so I'm not saying my denom is perfect.)
I am a Presby. (Well, technically I'm not, because we're both disabled and can't go to church, but we used to be Presbys members.) To be exact, PCA -- Presbyterian Church in America. We used to be with what is now the PC-USA. We split when they started more to the doctrine of liberalism than anything in the Bible. (As long as you're a good person, you'll go to heaven mentality.) Good thing we split decades ago. They just ordained their first lesbian pastor and she got married the same day.
Sometimes it's worth splitting, but usually one side or the other of the split happens for bad reasons. And, since every split means at least two churches when there used to be one, 50/50 on Bible-believing, God-believing vs. junk-religion.
50/50 is a much bigger number than "none." The implication for many on this thread is that "none" of the denoms are good.
1. A group is straying from the word.
2. Stupid stuff like supralapsarianism vs. ultralapsarianism. (Did God plan Jesus coming to earth before or after he started the universe? How dumb can you get to split over something that silly? And, yeah, that's a cause for a Presby split, so I'm not saying my denom is perfect.)
I am a Presby. (Well, technically I'm not, because we're both disabled and can't go to church, but we used to be Presbys members.) To be exact, PCA -- Presbyterian Church in America. We used to be with what is now the PC-USA. We split when they started more to the doctrine of liberalism than anything in the Bible. (As long as you're a good person, you'll go to heaven mentality.) Good thing we split decades ago. They just ordained their first lesbian pastor and she got married the same day.
Sometimes it's worth splitting, but usually one side or the other of the split happens for bad reasons. And, since every split means at least two churches when there used to be one, 50/50 on Bible-believing, God-believing vs. junk-religion.
50/50 is a much bigger number than "none." The implication for many on this thread is that "none" of the denoms are good.
you do know, don't you, that b.g., and his son, have committed spiritual frncation with the heresy (and b.g. was warned about it, by very bible believing and bible living conservative men of God in sound biblical churches, around 1947-1948, and did it anyway... (for money, support, numbers, and power)....)
i.e. b.g. and f.g.his son are not and have not been saved. almost no one they claim in their 'numbers game' for 'conversions' actually gets saved either, although by GOD'S GRACE alone, someone, some few, might have been saved by GOD in spite of the deception in the life and practices of b.g. ...
b.g. and f.g. have both proclaimed on public television that the leader of the heresy antichrist rcc is ,
quote
God's greatest gift to mankind
end quote
ick ick ick ick ick wash your screens with soap and water !
i.e. b.g. and f.g. are far far worse than derek seems to be.... and they all have deceived MULTITUDES ....
i.e. b.g. and f.g.his son are not and have not been saved. almost no one they claim in their 'numbers game' for 'conversions' actually gets saved either, although by GOD'S GRACE alone, someone, some few, might have been saved by GOD in spite of the deception in the life and practices of b.g. ...
b.g. and f.g. have both proclaimed on public television that the leader of the heresy antichrist rcc is ,
quote
God's greatest gift to mankind
end quote
ick ick ick ick ick wash your screens with soap and water !
i.e. b.g. and f.g. are far far worse than derek seems to be.... and they all have deceived MULTITUDES ....
Ephesians 4:11........And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers.
God knows how diverse we are, after all he created us and so he gave us different ways for us to hear the word. So one is not better than the other in God's eyes, for he made one to be better for our own hears that hear. Which ever one allows our ears to hear the word is the right one for us with Gods blessing and design.
We shouldn't knock down one form or the other rather simply let all connect to the one which connects to them as designed by the lord.
Personally, i did not like the normal churches because of what i saw a kid with the hypocrisy of the people attending. It was like they were godly one day a week and the rest of the week they were whatever they wanted to be. Never made sense to me.
Evangelists i thought were always just entertainers for money. That was until i accepted Christ and read the word of the new testament in full for myself. Now i realize that evangelists' messages are direct and true to the word, and the ones I've listen to all preach the same message true to the word.
It is up to us as individuals to weed out those who are true in the word and those who aren't. Whether that is an evangelist, a pastor, minister, priest etc. There are deceivers in all walks of the word.
If you do your own due diligence and read the new testament from front to back, read every day, even just a page a day, as we should be doing to feed our spirit with the word of God, then the vale of the deceivers will be clearly removed from our eyes and ears.
God bless
God knows how diverse we are, after all he created us and so he gave us different ways for us to hear the word. So one is not better than the other in God's eyes, for he made one to be better for our own hears that hear. Which ever one allows our ears to hear the word is the right one for us with Gods blessing and design.
We shouldn't knock down one form or the other rather simply let all connect to the one which connects to them as designed by the lord.
Personally, i did not like the normal churches because of what i saw a kid with the hypocrisy of the people attending. It was like they were godly one day a week and the rest of the week they were whatever they wanted to be. Never made sense to me.
Evangelists i thought were always just entertainers for money. That was until i accepted Christ and read the word of the new testament in full for myself. Now i realize that evangelists' messages are direct and true to the word, and the ones I've listen to all preach the same message true to the word.
It is up to us as individuals to weed out those who are true in the word and those who aren't. Whether that is an evangelist, a pastor, minister, priest etc. There are deceivers in all walks of the word.
If you do your own due diligence and read the new testament from front to back, read every day, even just a page a day, as we should be doing to feed our spirit with the word of God, then the vale of the deceivers will be clearly removed from our eyes and ears.
God bless
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I've just read Spurgeon's evening devotional for today. (I read his morning one last year. lol) He's one of my Dead Guys and has a lot to say on the denom/nondenom "debate" way before even our grandparents were born. And he wasn't even talking about denom/nondenom.
"Blessed is he that watcheth."
Revelation 16:15
"We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world--that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display his omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
"Blessed is he that watcheth."
Revelation 16:15
"We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world--that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display his omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
E
This is a most excellent forum my friend and sister in Christ. We worry so much about "denomination" That we forget about Christ. Shouldnt Christ be our "denomination"? Shouldnt we be more concerned about Christ than what "doctrine" a certain denomination holds "high"? If Christ is the center then we should actually all be the same denomination. The Gospel of Christ has become so low on our "agenda" That we have divided the true Church of Christ. This is something we ignore. Satan has the perfect attack against the church. Divide them over these doctrines so much that they dont preach the Gospel of Christ. Yep, we are a divided church because we make it divided. If we were to actually focus more on what we agree on other than what we disagree on think of how many people could be won to Christ. But nope, to the non Christian us Christians have become a joke. Why would they even place an ounce of faith in God when we cannot agree to actually preach the Gospel of Christ instead of arguing over some "little" thing that has no bearing on our salvation.
E
The only name that should really matter to us is JESUS. Why can we not preach JESUS together and let God be God? Humility is one of the three words we lack the most. LOVE, RESPECT and HUMILITY are the only words we can use when preaching yet these are the three words we lack the most. You cannot preach to others and lack even a single one of these words.
E
Oh my sister I love you but I do have to disagree with you to a little point. I am a member of the Christian Missionary Alliance Church and we are "non denominational". Now i will admit that in some cases what you say is true. Some people start a "non denominational" church so they cant be held accountable to any governing body. But there are quite a few "non denominational" churches that go that way because they are "tired" of certain denominations changing bylaws or doctrine because they dont like a certain passage of Scripture. Take the Presby for example. They want to be more "polite" to "the common people" so they change the definition of marriage? What the stupid heck is that? So churches going "non denomination" many times are sticking to Gods Word but will not "lump" themselves into a denomination because these denominations are falling away from Gods Word. So, and i am sure you will agree, that non denominational is not always bad so we must be very careful on how we say certain things.
E
In the Church i attend their doctrine begins with the two words "Jesus first". Yeah i will attend there non denominational or not. If Jesus is first then I think they might be on the right track. There are Calvinists and Arminians both that attend my church but they agree that Jesus is first. All other points we can agree to disagree. We will spread the Gospel of Christ together as that is the one main point with which we should be basing our belief.
M
I dont really get the whole denomination thing.
I currently attend a Pentecostal church but I do not consider that I belong to a Pentecostal denomination.
I have friends who attend other churches I visit their's from time to time and they visit mine. Never once have I heard
people affiliate themselves with any one denomination only. This includes baptist, evangelical, Church of England (which has a very broad spectrum of churches ranging from the very traditional to the modern).
I know several pastors some as friends, who have preached in different churches without encountering the denomination
effect. I really don't get it at all.
The only "denomination which seems to stand alone is the Catholic Church, at least in my experience.
Maybe the denominational effect is felt more in other parts of the UK, I don't know. Maybe in my city it has been cancelled out
as many of the different churches work together.
One thing I do know is that in the next life there won't be a corner for baptists, a corner for Anglicans, a corner for Pentecostals etc. We will all worship the lamb together! Maybe we need to practice this more in this life.
I currently attend a Pentecostal church but I do not consider that I belong to a Pentecostal denomination.
I have friends who attend other churches I visit their's from time to time and they visit mine. Never once have I heard
people affiliate themselves with any one denomination only. This includes baptist, evangelical, Church of England (which has a very broad spectrum of churches ranging from the very traditional to the modern).
I know several pastors some as friends, who have preached in different churches without encountering the denomination
effect. I really don't get it at all.
The only "denomination which seems to stand alone is the Catholic Church, at least in my experience.
Maybe the denominational effect is felt more in other parts of the UK, I don't know. Maybe in my city it has been cancelled out
as many of the different churches work together.
One thing I do know is that in the next life there won't be a corner for baptists, a corner for Anglicans, a corner for Pentecostals etc. We will all worship the lamb together! Maybe we need to practice this more in this life.
[video=youtube;oy2rDllbh3s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy2rDllbh3s[/video]
Well, Old Buddha was a man and I'm sure that he meant well
But I pray for his disciples lest they wind up in hell
And I'm sure that old Mohammed thought he knew the way
But it won't be Hare Krishna we stand before on The Judgment Day.
No, it won't be old Buddha that's sitting on the throne
And it won't be old Mohammed that's calling us Home
And it won't be Hare Krishna that plays that trumpet tune
And we're going to see The Son not Reverend Moon!
Well, I don't hate anybody so please don't take me wrong
But there really is a message to this simple song
You see there's only one way, Jesus, if eternal life is your goal;
and a life of meditation won't save your soul.
No, it won't be old Buddha that's sitting on the throne
And it won't be old Mohammed that's calling us Home
And it won't be Hare Krishna that plays that trumpet tune
And we're going to see The Son, not Reverend Moon!
Well, you can call yourself a Baptist and not be born again
A Presbyterian or a Methodist and still die in your sin
You can even be Charismatic shout and dance and jump a pew
But if you hate your brother you won't be one of The Chosen Few.
Cause it won't be a Baptist that's sitting on The Throne
A Presbyterian or a Methodist that's calling us Home
And it won't be a Charismatic that plays that trumpet tune
So let's all just live for Jesus 'cause He's coming back real soon.
[Chorus:]
But I pray for his disciples lest they wind up in hell
And I'm sure that old Mohammed thought he knew the way
But it won't be Hare Krishna we stand before on The Judgment Day.
No, it won't be old Buddha that's sitting on the throne
And it won't be old Mohammed that's calling us Home
And it won't be Hare Krishna that plays that trumpet tune
And we're going to see The Son not Reverend Moon!
Well, I don't hate anybody so please don't take me wrong
But there really is a message to this simple song
You see there's only one way, Jesus, if eternal life is your goal;
and a life of meditation won't save your soul.
No, it won't be old Buddha that's sitting on the throne
And it won't be old Mohammed that's calling us Home
And it won't be Hare Krishna that plays that trumpet tune
And we're going to see The Son, not Reverend Moon!
Well, you can call yourself a Baptist and not be born again
A Presbyterian or a Methodist and still die in your sin
You can even be Charismatic shout and dance and jump a pew
But if you hate your brother you won't be one of The Chosen Few.
Cause it won't be a Baptist that's sitting on The Throne
A Presbyterian or a Methodist that's calling us Home
And it won't be a Charismatic that plays that trumpet tune
So let's all just live for Jesus 'cause He's coming back real soon.
[Chorus:]
M
When was it ever different? I can only say the mass is - and always was - wall to wal scripture, more than any evangelical sect or protestant denomination I belonged to. Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Lamb get a hundred mentions in the mass. Mary only two in the context of "pray for us" along with other saints. You cannot get more "lamb centric" than the catholic mass. I suspect it is peoples awareness of what RCC really thinks and does that has changed, rather than folklore about it.
It is true that catholics do not evangelise enough, and certainly are not called to proselytize (AKA switch sell!). We do on the other hand explain our thinking if people are willing to listen, but considering the barriage of abuse we get, based mostly on myth not reality, it is not surprising we are not inclined to do more!
It is true that catholics do not evangelise enough, and certainly are not called to proselytize (AKA switch sell!). We do on the other hand explain our thinking if people are willing to listen, but considering the barriage of abuse we get, based mostly on myth not reality, it is not surprising we are not inclined to do more!