In light of the fact that my next post will be a doozy, I'll keep this short and sweet.
I've been tagged by Lauren and Laurel Wreath for a couple of book memes, and I'll get to those as soon as I can. Thank you ladies for thinking of me!
I learned from my little girlfriend Kayla's dad today that she's been in the hospital for a week(!) recovering from a car accident. Kayla is my daughter's soccer teammate from last year. She's doing well and expected to go home with her dad tomorrow, but she is lucky to be alive (the car flipped and hit a tree.) I've mentioned her before at the end of this post. Her dad is optimistic that they can work things out, and I'm so thankful for God's intervention. He is good. All the time.
I found an interesting post here , and I'd like to hear your thoughts. Agree or disagree? Let me know!
Hope the rest of your week is fantabulous!
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Oooh, Brenda. That is one of the things that I was wondering about when I was asking about church discipline at 'This one's for the Girls.' I need to check into the references he listed. I'll get to it, I promise!
And thanks for your research on my behalf regarding God's sovereignty. Very encouraging.
Praying for Kayla.
Good news about your daughter's friend.
I admittedly didn't get through his whole article but I think I got the "gist."
It seems to me there is a lot of "walking on eggshells" in Christiandom...it's gone past "in love, prefering one another," and moved into the realm of "tickling the ears."
Lots of live and let live, but Truth is not relative and Christianity is not a democracy.
Yeah...I'm not the most popular person in the blogosphere! ;)
Brenda, I read the post and I think I agree with the idea that we need to draw the line somewhere with inactive members, but where? When do we take them off the roll? And if they come back to that home church and become active again, then what? If they're saved, they wouldn't need to be rebaptized, so how would that be handled? If they join another Southern Baptist or Missionary Baptist Church, how would they handle that? We usually send "letters" for our members when they move their membership, but if they've been taken off the roll, will they have to join by statement, or what?
I just have a lot of questions about actually putting this into practice.
Just for the record, I believe in Biblical church discipline, but again, where do you start? And who is worthy to stand in judgment these days?
Oh, the questions I have. You opened a can of worms, girl. Thanks for the food for thought, Brenda.
Have a splendiferous week yourself, and Happy Hump Day (Wednesday, middle day of the week!) to you, my friend. :-)
I'm lined up with Diane on this I think. We attend a church of 1600 or so. Who actually attend. Our
"membership" is likely much more. We've only enacted church discipline a couple of times since we began attending over 10 years ago, removing a number of people from membership but that was for blatant disobedience to scripture. I'm a middle child at heart, not very confrontational, and I've also seen people leave over something, then come back and you can see in their eyes the hope that the door is still open, even if they left in a huff. Or people who just hit a dry spell from whatever they were going through, and wander back in after awhile. So I surely dont have the answer.
Just a thought though - if we're "family" - if my child left our home, went out the door, stayed away, would I remove them from our family? Or would I leave the light on just in case they ever decided to come back home? Just a thought?
I agree that members are not prospects. Members are people who have gone through some sort of church indroduction ("this is what we believe"). I think a Member should be able to give a testimony, and have alreay acepted Christ. As for the ones who fall away, I believe the church has the responsibility to follow up on them, do what they can to maybe help them. But after repeated attempts, and they do not return, I do not believe they should be listed as a church member.
I hope I got this topic right. But basically I do agree with the article.
I am happy to hear your friends daughter is going to be ok.
I think we have to tread lightly in this area.
If we as a church decide to drop
"inactive" members from the roll, who will that serve? Our ego? God? The inactive member? I think that dropping the person from the roll lets us escape our responsiblity as a church to disciple and exhort our brothers and sisters.
I also believe that if we as Southern Baptists would not put so much emphasis on walking the aisle every Sunday, that people would not feel the pressure to "join." Then, maybe people would understand what becoming a Christian truly means, what being a member means,and then make these decisions with full knowledge. I think that once a person is saved, she is always saved. I also believe people have walked the aisle and never accepted Christ. These may be some of the people who "fall away"- we have to hold on to them, to reach out to them, find out why they left, and help them back. They may have been lost all along and bound for an eternity of suffering. And, if they are saved, they need to know it is time to grow with our help.
Thanks for the discussion!
I agree with Bev and Melanie on this. I would never turn out that porch light. We're all children of God and all children need to know they can come home and be welcomed back into the fold. How can we possibly presume to know what caused them to go away in the first place. I do believe they're more likely to come back if they're just accepted back with open arms and not made to feel guilty.
On a completely different subject, am I the only one out here eagerly anticipating your next post? Can't wait.
I have been enjoying people's 100th posts post. So, looking forward to yours!
Oh, I can't wait to read your 100th post! :)
Hi Brenda, it's late and I don't have time to read the article. Maybe when I come back for your 100th post I'll have time then.
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