Good Saturday Afternoon!
James Kelm
Cindy Handel
Christopher & Tracey
hello everyone -- greetings from Salt Lake City, where it is almost balmy by comparison with both Minnesota and Pennsylvania, as we are in the low to mid 30's -- our bitter cold and snow spell typical for December and January was broken about a week ago, and we are therefore enjoying the brief warm spell before the next storm comes in from the Gulf of Alaska and western Canada and the cold and snow will return (although we did have snow flurries all day today)
we have no new dramatic update, other than our elderly female cat has four kidney stones currently stuck in her bladder and is urinating blood everywhere (although she is now isolated in a comfortable bed in the laundry room unless she is under direct supervision) -- she has been to the Vet and we are working through what ever the process is to help her through what is undoubtedly a very painful infirmity -- she is not complaining however about all of the extra TLC and time she has in my wife's lap -- our other cat is a young male, about 4 years old and a Russian Blue, is currently sitting on my desk directly in front of my monitor screen; so please do not blame me personally for any typo's
I do hope and pray that this finds you all doing well, and I wish you the very best as we all look forward to spring.
Blessings, always, Christopher
Rev/Chaplain Christopher P. Brown, MHS
Michael Aleman
everybody's viewpoint. The question is this... What are the elements
that help define the overall "personality" of a congregation/church and
who determines them?
Thanks in advance for your feed back!
Mike Aleman
Kimberly Sue Kelm
body sets the tone along with the Pastor for the long haul. That is just
what I feel.
I pray you all stay worm and safe on this beautiful Sunday.
Sincerely,
Kimberly
> --
> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
> Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.12.11/2089 -
> Release Date: 4/30/2009 5:53 PM
>
Cindy Handel
In order to be recognized, by the U.S. government, as a church, there are
things the body needs to do to formalize their meeting together. Therefore,
leaders meet and determine the direction of the new church. In the case of
my church, which has just consolidated from two congregations to one, a
mission and purpose statement was written, a constitution and by-laws were
drafted, and these things give the church structure. But, part of these
statements (if it's a true Bible believing church) must be the church's
relationship with God and making it clear that God is the head of the church
and the personality and direction must come from Him.
Cindy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Aleman" <mic...@strattech.biz>
To: <fc...@googlegroups.com>
Christopher & Tracey
Mike, and all, good afternoon. This is a complex question, not one I am sure I can answer to your satisfaction, but I hope and pray that you will allow my missive to be a bit longer and prayerfully contribute. You have structure and programming which Cindy mentioned; which does, hopefully, establish boundaries for acceptable behavior within any given Parish, Church or Congregation. However those boundaries are established by belief systems which change from group to group; if it did not, we would not have denominations, and divisions within denominations. For two thousand years "Christians" have looked at, read, dwelled upon and interpreted the meaning of scripture differently. That perceived "meaning" frames our "beliefs," which in turn frames our behavior both within the church body and in the world around us.
My wife and I arrived in the heavily dominated LDS/Mormon Salt Lake City area now almost three years ago, and we have yet to find a Church which meets our needs. First, the LDS Church influences virtually all aspect of personal, civic, social, religious, cultural and governmental, life in the State of Utah. For the first time in my life, I know what it is like to be truly discriminated against. Their belief system clearly defines, for them, the answer to your question, i.e. the "personality" within their 1.6 million followers within the State of Utah.
We know from Paul's letters that he continually had to deal with the Churches, collectively and individually, which is why he wrote them the letter's which he did. The reality is however, that he also wrote those letter's to us, today, to our Churches, because nothing has changed. Everything in life is political, including Church life. Many Pastor's come and go from any specific Church, because of his popularity or lack thereof with the congregation, or with the Board. So is it the Pastor who sets tone for the personality of the Church, or is it the Board, or the congregation, or is it the denomination, or is it the boundaries established to govern Church behavior, or is it that the Church is a business which seeks to thrive and survive, or is it the Pastor and his wife who are overwhelmed with the burden of ministry and do not receive the help they need, or is it the politics between those who are in leadership roles who continually squabble between themselves, and on, and on, and on.
As my wife and I search for a home Church in our City, we are assessing ALL of these characteristics and attributes when we visit for a Sunday service or two. What are they teaching; what is worship like; is the sanctuary filled with reverence and awe or is it filled with coffee from the espresso cart; what is the message from the pulpit; who is in leadership; what is their reputation in the community; how long has the Pastor or Minister been there, and why did they come and why did the former Pastor leave; what is the vision for the future; do they have an understaning about the days in which we live; are they equipping the Saints; is the Church liberal or conservative; is their Church sponsored community outreach; and so forth (each of these is a piece of the puzzle which frame the "personality" which you have asked about, each assessed differently by each individual Chrisitian as appropriate or inappropriate, which explains why my wife and I still seek a solid and mature group of believers to fellowship with here in Salt Lake City, only made worse by the fact that we consider ourselves non-denominational).
To be a Pastor or a Minister they must not only be a well founded Man-of-God, but also a teacher, a leader, a politician, a parent, a counselor, a lawyer, a student, a facilities contractor, a baby-sitter and hand-holder, and do all of this as a representative of Jesus Christ. Congregations expect their Pastor's to be perfect, which is entirely unfair (and shows the congregations own lack of maturity) and only adds to the political tug-of-wars within congregations.
The Church, the Body of Christ, is clearly lacking perfection even after two thousand years. Time is drawing short and it can cause personal pause if you take the time to wonder how in the world the Bride of Christ with all of her dysfunctional members will ever be put together in a functional way. Only God Almighty will be able to accomplish such a task. I have no clue if this assists you in answering your question, but these are my thoughts and I hope it is of some help to you.
Blessings, always, Christopher
Rev/Chaplain Christopher P. Brown, MHS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Aleman" <mic...@strattech.biz>
To: fc...@googlegroups.com