A Community Church

We recently started a small group with 2 other older couples from our church.  The study follows our pastor's messages each Sunday, which have been on Margaret Feinberg's Verbs of God.  It's a great sermon series and study, but an off topic discussion got me thinking the other night.  All of us in our small group come from different denomination backgrounds.  That is bound to happen in a "community church" such as ours.  A comment was made last Tuesday at our 2nd group meeting about a difference compared to another church.  Having to do with an altar call.  Then another gentleman proceeded to reason why it was different at our church, and that he'd be a little uncomfortable with that type of thing since he's not used to it having been from different background.  The discussion could have gotten heated, but we all understand that we come from different backgrounds and have varying opinions on what should be included in a church service.  So the discussion was just that.  A discussion about what one thought could be better but what another was a little wary of.

Another prime example of discussion was lead by our pastor on Sunday.  We have an open forum for Q/A at the end of each sermon because our pastor is much more the "teaching" type than any pastor I've ever listened to.  One lady asked a particular question that could have caused a huge uproar because it's just one of those topics.  It was in regards to "calling."  Pastor Shannon wisely shared his thoughts, but steered clear of giving an answer that would divide.  He said that we should dig into the word for further study for ourselves.  Though he hasn't said it outright, I see that he is an advocate of making sure we're all on the same page regarding dogma, and the overarching beliefs of Christianity, but tries not to get members of our community church to take sides on other things that are more opinion.

This is why I love community churches.  I've never really understood denominations.  Aren't we all one in Christ?  I grew up in a denominational church, went through confirmation and learned about the history of the church in general and our specific denomination.  This church then became in essence non-denominational when the higher ups of the denomination were doing things that our church didn't think was right.  Then I went to a Wesleyan college and my whole belief system seemed to be quite different from theirs.  I had some of them challenged in particular classes, but I see now that it was good to think about what I actually believe.  Since getting married we've had a bad experience with a denominational church and 2 good ones with community churches.

I think that those who've come from a specific background and way of doing things have a hard time when their beliefs are challenged. Of course...who wouldn't?  But the great thing about a community church is that we all have our own opinions and as long as we keep the main thing, the main thing we can find solutions to the problems/differences that come up.  After all, Jesus was one to completely go off the beaten path and do things completely against the norm in his culture.

I wanted to lay out all my beliefs in the post but it might have to wait for another time.  This topic has just been on my mind lately.  I don't like divisions over things that won't matter in eternity.  The important thing is to know that God sent his only son to redeem us from our own sins.  To have a relationship with that son, Jesus Christ through prayer and reading the Word, and heeding the calls and nudgings of the Holy Spirit.