Rasputin - ... never heard of Restoration Movement. I won't go into the history right now, but you can find info online in several places. There is a rather good write up on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_Movement ) It has gone through some ups and downs, fussings and feuds ... just like anything else man is involved in people and personalities clash from time to time.The North American Christian Convention was in Indianapolis this week. next year it will meet in Cincinnati. ( see http://www.gotonacc.org/ ) I would strongly suggest going to the National Missionary Convention that will meet this fall in Lexington ( see http://nationalmissionaryconvention.org/ ) Both are non-denominational organizations that are national gatherings for the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. Neither is supported / sponsored / controlled by a centralized religious denomination. OK, enough promoting. Back on topic ... I have to respectfully disagree about the primacy of doctrine. My parents come home from church quite often and ask each other "Did he listen to his own sermon?"... I understand, but the two are not necessarily related. Church leaders have been straying from what they seem to promote for ages. It is human frailty. Whenever someone sees themselves as being more righteous there is a tendency for them to think whatever they do must be right and the other, less righteous people must just simply be wrong. Get out your New Testament and consider way the Jewish leaders behaved. It isn't a new problem.And understand what I'm saying when I discuss doctrine. A lot of church "doctrine" is personal preference. I'm talking about what a preacher friend of mine calls U-Haul issues. There are a few things that are non-negotiable and as a preacher he feels if the church cannot agree to them he has no choice but load the U-Haul and move on. It's a very, very short list. People tend to major in the minors, minor things like manner of dress, music style, end times prophecy... minor stuff like that. And often times it is difficult to separate minors and majors. For instance something slightly controversial like homosexuality. We had a lesbian couple come to church one time to see a sister's kids in a VBS closing program. One of the younger deacons was just livid "We shouldn't even allow them in the building and here they are setting on the back row ..." You get the idea. I looked at him and calmly said something like (it had to be an inspired moment) "Can you think of a better place for them to be than here listening to God's Word?" Sometimes separating love for the sinner from hate for the sin is very hard to do. And this all ties back to doctrine. What are the basics, the U-Haul issues? What are personal preferences? How important are the personal preferences to you? I am reminded of a dear friend who has been gone quite a while now. She had her doctrine set in stone. Not something soft like concrete, stone. She knew what she believed and why and she was not going to change. We were discussing the contemporary music being played in the church. She said she really didn't care for it. But then she looked at some of the younger adults who were attending at least partly because of their musical preference and said "But I sure love those kids". Getting way back to the original question of this thread "Stay or Go?", it sounds to me like you have already chosen what you want to do, you're just wanting someone to justify it. Go. Visit. See if you fit better. But also look around and see if they are doing things you could bring back to the old church and help it.
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Edited by Mike SE IL 7/10/2010 10:39
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church hoppers?
