The idea of “playing” when it comes to our faith sounds a little silly. Yet, I am reminded of this especially over the past couple of weeks because of one of the pastors who I admire and have been thankful for his mentorship is retiring this month. As I write this letter, Rev. Chuck Erzkus, who was my internship supervisor when I served in Cumberland, Maryland, is retiring on August 13th after serving for over 35 years of ministry. I was able to attend his retirement party on August 6th and reminded of what excites me about serving as a pastor and especially with a congregation. The thing which excites me the most about ministry is having the ability to have fun or even play within one’s faith/calling.
Now, this makes it sound like Pastor
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This probably gives you an idea of why I am this goofy when it comes to worship. Jesus tells the disciples to “let the little children come” and we are told to have faith like a child. The reason, I believe we are to have faith like a child is because to a child, there are no restrictions when it comes to faith. Children are always curious, children are always excited (most of time), they always want to try, and they always want to play. As I have experienced, not lately but I am trying to relearn myself, is that when we play in our faith, we experience something different. We experience the love, passion, and grace which comes through God. I picture God playing when Creation took place, I mean look at the platypus. Sometimes, when we play in our faith, we feel God closer because it tears down the walls of us trying to put a box on God. Because of playing with our faith, there has been moments of excitement (look at raising cans just so I can wear something Pittsburgh Steelers). My friends, as we continue growing in our faith, may you play a little. Be willing to try something a little new, like talking about some of the silly things you heard in Pastor’s sermon or even in the Gospel lesson. You just might be surprised the other ways you can experience God’s love when
Red Rocks Church (RRC) is a non-denominational church located in multiple locations throughout the Denver-Metro area. Red Rocks strives to be one church in many places with campuses in Golden, Lakewood, Littleton, Denver, and Arvada. Red Rocks’ first campus, where it originally started, is located in Golden, Colorado. The church’s mission statement says that their prime objective is, “…to make Heaven more crowded, by welcoming prodigals home.”
A creative church is quite a powerful book that was written by, Todd Smith that takes the reader into the past, and gives the reader an opportunity to learn more about art and the history behind Art.
Westside Baptist Church has been blessed to serve our community under the direction of Pastor Dale Ingersoll for the past twenty-seven years. After many years of faithful service, Pastor Dale had made the decision to retire from ministry and notified the church of his decision in December 2014.
In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”
To know Jesus Christ is the best thing that can happen in a person life. It transforms your mind, body and sprint. I have picked the following three topics to share my experiences of knowing Jesus Christ. First, what can your local church do to better communicate God’s love to your community? Second, why are personal testimonies important in sharing the gospel? Third, Did Jesus claim to be God? These are the three topics that always spark my interest when talking about our Lord savoir Jesus Christ.
I was attending a chapel service and at Pittsburgh Theological seminars. I’m not sure who was ordained, because I’m still new, I know that these are my class mates, and we don’t really get in to who is ordained and who is not. So, I’m going to assume that they were all lay persons. There were about 6 people involved in the service, there were 3 musicians a 3 people that read different part of the service. It was a beautiful call and response type of service, which I thought was interesting. I want to say that the on participant is the one who runs our chapel service.
Women play a complex role in Robert Orsi’s The Madonna on 115th Street, at some points exercising power and at other points exercising less power than men. In Italian Harlem when describing a “domus,” the woman at the center is the one actually being described. A domus, according to Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie, “constitute[s] a formidable reservoir of power and counter-power which could hold out with some degree of success against the external powers surrounding it.” Italian women in Harlem had no direct power in the outside world, but they were able to use their sphere of influence to leave their mark. The power that women in Italian Harlem have is given to them by the matriarchal society modeled by the church.
I am a member of Community Church, which is an amazing ministry located in Chesapeake, Virginia. It is a non-denominational, multicultural, multisite church that believes in teaching the Word of God and sharing the hope and love of Jesus Christ both locally and globally. Our church is led by Pastors Michael Brueseke and his wife Pastor Megan Brueseke, who are amazing preachers who love God, who have amazing hearts of service, who have an amazing vision for the church, who are honest about their struggles and weaknesses. Aside from the awesome messages that are applicable to my life and stretch me, the ability to connect and know that my Pastor has the same struggles as I appealed to me. I no longer felt that I had to be perfect to be loved
Base of the different church structure mentioned, there’s no conclusive evident that one church model is better than the others, it’s a matter of prefer to the believers on which model they will follow. The scripture show no evident that any one model should be followed. Whatever model a believer chooses cannot prove by scripture that their model is mandated. The only visible scriptural goal for all the models would have a structure that is harmonious, has revelation of God’s plan and should be use according to His purpose. An ideal church structure is nearly impossible from what I can see. Unless we go back to Eden, where it all begin and change what Adam and Eve did in the garden, church structure will always be flawed. Free will has changed God’s plan for man, and there will always be people who will not transform by the renewing of their minds. The NT only speaks about Jesus’ church, also known as Ecclesia from two words. Ek means “out” and kaleo means “to call”, so the gathering of the called-out believers is the Church. The ideal church structure would be the believers who are called-out to represent Jesus’s church. Scripture does not mention the traditional church, organic church, hybrid church, or the attractional church (Gray, 2012). In my opinion the simple church would be more ideal for me. Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger confirmed through a case study on churches that the kingdom is expanding through churches with simple process and the more complex
The church I decided to study was St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, Texas. I selected this church because my best friend attends this church and I sought to go out of my norm and learn more about my friend’s religious background. I normally attend the non-denominational church of Trinity Fellowship. I am considered to be a Conservative and my friend is a Liberal. Many Presbyterian churches in Amarillo are liberal, but the majority of Presbyterian churches are known to be conservative because of their beliefs. I assumed it would be interesting to visit this church due to the fact it would help me to keep an open mind of how people worship and have different beliefs than I do.
I grew up going to Catholic Church my whole life. I have completed all my sacraments and attended 11 years of catechism. I am very comfortable in a Catholic Church and feel very at ease with the atmosphere and rituals performed in a Catholic church. The only time I have ever stepped foot in a church that was not Catholic has only been for a wake or a wedding. So when it comes to experiencing different kinds of cultural and religious practices, I am very naïve. Catholic mass is very quiet and serene. We sing the same hymns and keep the decibels very low. Mass always follows the same pattern and it is very structured. Although I feel connected to the Catholic Church, I have stopped attending on a regular basis as I have gotten older. I feel that I have stopped attending because I would often leave church not feeling fulfilled. I have a friend who has been inviting to her church for a few years. I took this essay as an opportunity to finally attend.
The Chinese Christian church in the United States often has ethnic characteristics, but different Chinese churches often have special concentration in the composition of the congregation, which reflects the tide of Chinese immigrants in different stages. For example, descendants of early immigrants from southern China usually have their fixed church. International students from the mainland of China have the church which they set up together. And other "informal immigrants" also formed Christian organizations. According to Aihui Lee, she divides American Chinese Christianity into four categories.
In 1974 Dulles published Models of the Church to address questions concerning ecclesiology-the study of the church. Many people believe that they know the meaning of the church, which is a place to become closer to God. However, there is more than what meets the eye when it comes to the Church, since it is a very complex organization. Dulles' book identifies and describes the different functions the Church possesses which Jesus Christ founded and continues to oversee today. He categorizes the models into five aspects: Church as institution, Church as mystical communion, Church as sacrament, Church as herald, Church as servant, and lastly his new model Church as community. In this
I was raised in a church, and although I am not religious, I found many great opportunities to volunteer through my church. I loved serving people and volunteering for as many service projects as I could, and this really changed my perspectives for the better and opened my eyes. When I got older I was able to decide for myself if I wanted to attend church or not, and I decided to get involved with the philanthropy side of my church and other churches in my area. We cleaned up roadsides and had multiple canned food drives, but I really enjoyed going into the city and passing out food and goods while getting to talk to people.
Since the day I was born my parents took my sister and me to church ever Sunday. I grew up in a loving Christian home and was encouraged at an age where I could fully understand, to purse a relationship with Jesus. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was in the second grade and was baptized in the fourth grade at age 10. Growing up I have always been super involved in Church. I have a heart for people and love serving. Since 3rd grade until now, my senior year of high school I have been on the leadership team with my youth group. I can not imagine my life without Jesus as the center. I have been pushed to step out of my comfort zone and because of that I have grown in several different ways. For example, I am an extrovert and enjoy getting new people, but never liked public speaking as I felt nervous and intimidated. By the many adult leaders, and pastors coming along side of me and encouraging me to step of on my comfort zone I now highly enjoy speaking and spreading the truth about The Lord in big groups of people. I am so thankful for the many God loving people that have come in my life and helped stretch me. Jesus is my entire life and I am nothing without him.