We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue.
I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
What are several characteristics that you think should identify your church?
4 comments:
Thanks for asking a question to stimulate us to articulate what we believe about church.
Here's some thoughts: the ideal church would teach and live out a gospel that reconciles and restores and calls people to transformed lives--not just as individuals bound for heaven but as a community of Christ preparing for heaven to come to earth. Such a church would be known for its faithful response to Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension. That response includes equipping people in all areas of life, taking care of its "widows and orphans" and reaching out to the wider community in the same way. This church would not hinder women from using their gifts of leadership and teaching, it would set an exammple for sustainable use of resources, and it would create beautifully aesthetic culture instead of imitating the mediocrity around it. This church would not be a stumbling block for people who believe in evolution, people who have lived in poverty for generations, or gay and lesbian people. It would be characterized by varied and communal forms of worship including a weekly Eucharist. It may be small and localized to a given community or neighborhood, and it would be known for its hospitality instead of its amenities.
bw,
Thanks for your comment. What a wonderful portrayal of what the church should look like and be doing. Excellent thoughts.
Have had many conversations about this lately, Pastorial and Elder Authority, Discipline, Baptism and the thief on the Cross, Are Catholics Christian, I'm a Christian but don't want to go to Church, comments like that.
If God is there and Christ Truely did what the Bible claims, we must be very careful it seems, not to supercede His Authority even though we can't see Him.
Most know Wesley and Whitfields names. But who can remmember the Church leaders that wouldn't let them speak in the English Churches of that time.
I thank God for His Church and Churches, but thank God more for God. MERCY!
His,
Harry
Thanks Harry coe.
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