Real People with Real Issues.

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Tumaini

Guest
#1
#1
Is it not great to fellowship in a church that accepts that we are weak at heart and are human beings who can err. Than to fellowship with people who act holier than thou and condemn others.

My question is ..would you rather fellowship with real people with real issues or with holier than thou kind of people. do you have an experience of either of the two that you can share.

My experience is my church accepted me the way i was, and i fellowshipped there for many years until last year when i gave my life to Christ, what i like is no one condemned me or pushed me away but i can say there are times i would go to other churches that would make me feel not worth, reason because i had not given my life to Christ.
 
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kenisyes

Guest
#2
#2
It's our jobs to allow Jesus to be real. Most Christians are not doing their job.
 
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iTOREtheSKY

Guest
#3
#3
Well Tumaini,I can remember back at the first church I decided to attend,I had given my life to Christ at that point,but felt I should find a church...I had very long hair at the time,3 earings in one ear,dressed in jeans & concert t-shirts,into heavy metal music & looked,I suppose to most church going types like a thug or biker. The pastor & the congregation accepted me & never put me down for looking like I did. I kept the long hair for a few more years & finally cut it because I got sick of it,not because anyone ever judged me for it. Turns out later that a few people in the congregation that I was now close to,admitted to me that when I first set foot in the church & they saw the long hair,it was a stumbling block to them,but they obeyed the Holy Spirit & let it go & never said a peep...they just loved me. I was blown away by that & thanked them for being so honest. We never know what other brothers & sisters in the body are going through or dealing with until we sit down face to face & communicate. Assumptions are never a good thing & condemnation just brings division & is a horrible witness to the world. I'm so blessed to hear about your experience in your church Tumaini...that's the way all churches should conduct themselves.:) with love & acceptance in Christ.
 
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Tumaini

Guest
#4
#4
iTOREtheSKY said:
Well Tumaini,I can remember back at the first church I decided to attend,I had given my life to Christ at that point,but felt I should find a church...I had very long hair at the time,3 earings in one ear,dressed in jeans & concert t-shirts,into heavy metal music & looked,I suppose to most church going types like a thug or biker. The pastor & the congregation accepted me & never put me down for looking like I did. I kept the long hair for a few more years & finally cut it because I got sick of it,not because anyone ever judged me for it. Turns out later that a few people in the congregation that I was now close to,admitted to me that when I first set foot in the church & they saw the long hair,it was a stumbling block to them,but they obeyed the Holy Spirit & let it go & never said a peep...they just loved me. I was blown away by that & thanked them for being so honest. We never know what other brothers & sisters in the body are going through or dealing with until we sit down face to face & communicate. Assumptions are never a good thing & condemnation just brings division & is a horrible witness to the world. I'm so blessed to hear about your experience in your church Tumaini...that's the way all churches should conduct themselves.:) with love & acceptance in Christ.
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Your story there ITORethesky is so familiar to me and i wish everyone would be so welcoming in church instead of been so judgmental.
 
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iTOREtheSKY

Guest
#5
#5
Tumaini said:
Your story there ITORethesky is so familiar to me and i wish everyone would be so welcoming in church instead of been so judgmental.
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Me too! Just think of how many more people would be saved. It's all about showing people love. Jesus never cared about how people looked...he judged their hearts. We as christians need to know how to accept others...not in a worldly way by trying to be politically correct,but in the way Jesus accepts others. Unfortunately,most of us have yet to renew our minds in this area fully & we still judge people by the outward.
 
Fenner

Fenner

Senior Member
#6
Jan 26, 2013
7,507
111
0
#6
I'd much rather worship with people who are accepting rather then judgemental.
 
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SeatBelt

Guest
#7
#7
There's one fella at church that goes forward for prayers almost quarterly. The church loves and embraces him. We don't shoo him out the door just because he struggles with same sex attraction. There's another fella who seems to be on the verge of relapse every time I see him. He struggles with drugs and alcohol and we all know it, but more than that, he struggles with the relationship with his brother and the pain of the relationship with his now deceased father. Three weeks ago someone was requesting prayer about how their pride got in the way and contributed to their husband's affair. We Embrace All These People. We are a stodgy, traditional, not in step with the times congregation that started back in the 40's and now experiencing about 3,000 people as the sum total of the two morning services. We've got leaders that own more guns and hunt more often than those blokes on Duck Dynasty. We've got deacons that drive american steel from the 1960's that is painted hot rod flat black, with no intention of another coat. We've got Shepherds on motorcycles. We've got elders with big diesel trucks. Once or twice someone will drive their off road rig in just to prove it is still street legal. We've had our fair share of longhairs, a few mohawks (the hairdo, not the tribe... though this is Oklahoma) and a goth or two. We have people serving who have, by God's grace, overcome infidelity. We have a little bit of everything.

I'll never forget the day there was a young man down front requesting the forgiveness of the church for his struggles with chemical and behavioral addictions and anger spilling out as physical abuse on his family....and he was just engulfed by Christians young and old, who I have seen since that day stand by this mess of a man, and serve as God's hands in making a man out of the mess. He was someone I knew of, not the sort worth getting your boots dirty over. Now he is someone I'm proud to know, because he choose to change and let God change him.

You would possibly not know much if any of this stuff if you didn't slow down enough to get to know us. But, if you do pause, you will discover that while we are up in no ones face about the diversity of experience, that we are in fact a very approachable church family.
I prefer the fact that we're not up in anyone's face about it. But I like that we are real about having real issues.
 
seoulsearch

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
#8
May 23, 2009
17,712
6,479
113
#8
I'd much rather ask for the grace to deal with an ugly truth than be told a pretty lie (or shown a shiny Christian facade.)
 
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