Sunday, June 28, 2009

Church Should Be A Safe Place


My family and I went this morning to the church we occasionally attend. It's part of a well-known denomination and they meet in an office space with about 25 people. This Sunday they had Communion. I haven't taken Communion in about a year. It was nice. No fanfare, no pre-offering sermon, no personal stories about the Richard Petty racing experience, hunting trips to the Yukon, McDonald's Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches or references to an airplane that the speaker did not actually own. There was just a sermon from Psalm 24 about God's holiness, our sin and God's mercy toward us.

I came out of the service today reminded how church is supposed to be a safe place, not a place to be preyed upon. At my old Word of Faith church they used to say "It's a matter of life and death where you go church." It's true. Because of the narcissistic and exploitative leadership, the sins that went on and the disturbing culture that was developed in the church, it was death to many people in many ways.

5 comments:

  1. awesome post. Thats the way my new church is. Simple and sincere, no flash, no pride!

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  2. Great post!!! And so completely true!

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  3. WOW,, that was good!!!!!!!

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  4. I heard that statement many times and even said it myself a few times. You are right! MFC was death to many people because it led them away from the true gospel of Jesus Christ into a false hope, faith in riches, and a man - a man who called himself "a man of God," but ended up being a man who led many away from God.

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  5. I'm developing a blog focused on helping to unite people in every state that have left the Word of Faith teaching and are looking for other people in their area/state/region to be able to develop a support group. Check it out at bibletruthseekers.blogspot.com . Thank you so much for sharing your journey. It's so encouraging to know that we are not alone!

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