What Would It Take?

[Guest]

I have read a number of topics/comments here at CA about subjects related to "inactive Adventists" who no longer attend Church. The one topic here about that, which I thought was good, was regarding why young people leave the Church. Many good comments there. I have two questions which I would be interested in hearing about from others for this topic:

1) If you are currently attending Church; can you tell us why; and what would it take to make you quit going?

2) If you are not currently attending Church; can you explain why, and what would it take for you to come back?

[cricket]

I do attend church. It would take the second coming for me to quit fellowship with like believers here on earth.

[Guest]

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Christine Wall said:

I do attend church. It would take the second coming for me to quit fellowship with like believers here on earth.

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Fair enough...but what if the believers are no longer "like?"

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi CG,

I go to church because I love it. I love everything about it. I love talking about God and listening to other's talking about God. I love singing to God and singing with the congregation. I love preaching and teaching SS. I love meeting new people but most of all I love meeting with God. There is a deffinite blessing in meeting on Sabbath with God's people. If you're not experincing this ask and you will receive.

What would it take for me to stop going to church? That happened before and I never thought it would. I would like to think that death would be the only thing that kept me from going to church to meet with my Lord and Savior and His people. But I don't trust this heart of mine, I really don't and have to pray to God, please don't ever let me ever be so foolish as to stop going to church again.

Norman

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

CG

If you notice my signature, "No one can make you upset unless you choose to be, otherwise you're a slave to all and everything that "makes me mad"." you can see that I try not to let circumstances dictate my thoughts or my behavior. To do so would be giving in to bondage and I have been set free by my Lord Jesus Christ. So for me to stop going to church because of others, would be difficult. I would realized that I would be a slave again and stepped outside of the freedom given me by God.

Norman

[Bravus]

I assume you mean 'stop going to church entirely', not 'stop going to an SDA church'. If there was no SDA church in a town I moved to, or if there wasn't one that showed *some* fruits of the spirit, I'd probably move on to attending a church of another Christian denomination. Not saying I expect perfection, or even to be treated in a particular way, but attending a church so broken that it actually harmed my spiritual experience and/or family isn't really an option.

I'd be unlikely to stop attending church entirely unless I completely stopped believing, because I believe being part of a community is important. Having said that, I don't attend every single week (religiously, hehe) - sometimes it's better and more important to commune with the family and with nature than to hear another sermon.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I'm growing a bit disenchanted with church. I'm single and I've found that church - the sermons, the church service, the special events, just about everything - is geared towards couples/families. Geez....even Communion Sabbath has changed so that couples can do the footwashing with each other. Must be nice to have a *built-in* partner. And truth be told, I'm kinda tired of hearing sermons on marriage problems, family problems, and the like. []http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/Rudywoofs/icon_rolleyes.gif[/]

Seems like there's too many *special interest* groups: women's groups, men's groups, teen groups, over 55 groups, single's groups. Having so many *groups* seems somehow divisive. How come can't the church just be ONE and groups be open to anybody and everybody??

:::gets down off the soapbox:::

I guess to keep me in church, I'd like to hear something relevant. (Hearing about Christ would be nice.)

[Bravus]

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm beginning to side with JimBob! I'm hearing a lot of topical sermons (and, with all respect to our pastor, it's sometimes very obvious that he's got the topics from some sort of Internet service, rather than thought them up prayerfully himself and tailored them to specific needs in our congregation and area), and not a lot of preaching of the Bible or Jesus specifically.

But I think that for the church service stuff itself, it's partly a matter of getting beyond 'what am I getting out of it' (I imply no judgement of - or even comment on - anyone else's comments with this) and recognising that church is trying to be all things to all members, so that means it's going to be perfectly satisfying to no-one.

[Neil D]

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I'm single and I've found that church - the sermons, the church service, the special events, just about everything - is geared towards couples/families

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That is why you need to find a home bible study group to commune with... Traditional church is dependant upon the worship service...where as home bible studies groups tend to be the source of inspiration and growth...Church service then tends to be a time to have a group worship and fellowship... Just my opinion, and an idea whose time has come....Things [Life] really do change when you make the effort to have a home bible study with a few [less than 12] members...

Give it a try for a couple of months....see if it don't impact your life a bit differently...

[Clio]

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Bravus said:

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm beginning to side with JimBob! I'm hearing a lot of topical sermons (and, with all respect to our pastor, it's sometimes very obvious that he's got the topics from some sort of Internet service, rather than thought them up prayerfully himself and tailored them to specific needs in our congregation and area), and not a lot of preaching of the Bible or Jesus specifically.

But I think that for the church service stuff itself, it's partly a matter of getting beyond 'what am I getting out of it' (I imply no judgement of - or even comment on - anyone else's comments with this) and recognising that church is trying to be all things to all members, so that means it's going to be perfectly satisfying to no-one.

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I asked our pastor recently if he could provide one sermon a month that was deep, in depth study of a Jesus centered topic. Just because I tend to feel "starved" at church.

His reply? "We have so many new converts, I just can't do that right now. They would be lost. Not everyone can dig as deep as you want to."

How can digging deep into a Jesus centered topic be bad for new converts?

I'm still struggling with that one.

Home study groups... <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/coolhello.gif" alt="" /> That's where it's at all right! Ours is studying the prophetic symbolism of the Feasts of the Lord right now.

Clio <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/preach.gif" alt="" />

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

??? I've never heard of home Bible study groups. Could one of you tell me about them? (I don't mean to de-rail the thread...)

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi Bravus,

For me, church means the SDA Church, I have no interest in any other. Why? Because when I returned to church I studied all the church doctrines and found them to be Biblical. I have not found that with any other church. This SDA church is the apple of God's eye. This I believe. There are nice, good and spiritual people in other churches but I have no interest in joining them for worship. (You've seen some of my posts, they'd probably boot me right out the door with the way I express myself at times)

If you would go to another church who am I to say anything? I just know that's not for me, I'd start an SDA church if there was none around.

Norman

[Guest]

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rudywoofs said:

??? I've never heard of home Bible study groups. Could one of you tell me about them? (I don't mean to de-rail the thread...)

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Please; "DERAIL" THIS THREAD SOME MORE!! IMHO, that's part of what this is all about.

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"An experience much higher, deeper, broader, than many have yet thought of having..." MH 503.002, GW.274.003

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for your "derailment!!" God will bless it!

[Clio]

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rudywoofs said:

??? I've never heard of home Bible study groups. Could one of you tell me about them? (I don't mean to de-rail the thread...)

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A home study group really reflects the personalities and individual relationships with Jesus of it's members.

Basically, it meets in one or more of the member's homes. Ours always meets in our home, but I've been a part of a group that rotated it's meetings among the members weekly.

Topics are agreed to among the group, study aids decided upon, and the progression of the study determined also among the group. Thus it reflects the needs of those involved and not a collective.

I have been aware of study groups that selected the topic of "Discipleship" for their groups. One of them stayed with that topic for an entire year, selecting several different study guides along with their Bibles to delve deeply into different aspects of being a Disciple. The other group stayed with that topic through the course of one set of study guides and moved on to another topic in about 6 months.

Most in home study groups always have snacks and finger foods available although one that a friend of mine belonged to always had a potluck meal as part of the group meeting.

Our study group meets on Sabbath morning. We are currently studying the Feasts and their prophetic meaning and fulfillments. There are 4 adult members and two teen members. We each take the topic for the next week's discussion and go out and find all the information on it we can. We organize it in a way that complements our study aids and make copies for the rest of the group.

Our study aids so far for the Feasts study are a Hebrew yearly calendar, a traditional yearly calendar, a list of the symbols and every meaning we can locate for those symbols, Bible texts supporting the meanings, and references to any other meanings we've been able to identify. We also have an "event line" in very broad outline of the events portrayed in Daniel and Revelation with an over lay of Jesus life.

We use our whiteboard, as well as putting our study aids up on the wall in the living room.

We always have soft praise music playing and sometimes will get out the guitar and sing, just to sing. Prayer is a big part of our study group as well. We bring prayer requests to the group, and keep a prayer journal.

We still participate and fellowship with the "traditional" church by attending quilting guild on Thursday nights, and prayer meeting on Tuesday nights. We also attend church on Communion Sabbath.

Hope this helps!

Clio <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

A home Bible study group is a good place to start - whether or not one attends Church.

There are so many ways of doing it, as Clio alluded above; it really depnds upon your interest and personality.

One thing is for sure; and this ties in with the original topic of this thread, is that God desires, for our own good that we experience His Word for ourselves. This needs to be done all the time - both in our homes and in the Church.

Proclaiming the Sabbath "more fully," simply involves a spirit-filled people, proclaiming in their daily walk, a spirit-filled message. Home Bible studies will definitely help in this direction.

Church can be hard for singles in locations where there are not many young people attending. I was single in the Church for over 10 years; so I have some advanced training in that area. But, once again, any kind of home Bible study would help there. If going to Church every single week is not working out; you can try staying home and using the extra time to research Bible topics of personal interest to you. Pray for one or two to join you on such days when you stay home. I am sure God would be glad to provide! "No good thing will he withold from them that love Him..." (ps.84:11)

[Neil D]

The type of home bible study you need depends a lot upon what you are seeking. Another name for home bible study is 'cell group' or 'cell group study'. Those buzz words are used to create an more interesting life. Granted they take an hour to 3 hours out of your life, but in return, the rest of the week seems to take on more vibrancy. And your focus is more acute. After you complete a study [which should be no more than 8 weeks], you tend to have better experiences with the people that you have worship with, and better knowledge of them in general. I like these 'short' studys as they last as long as 3 weeks or can last up to 6 months. Usually they only go to about 8 weeks as that is enough time to study and fellowship at that time. Then, you life changes and it becomes necessary to reschedule your bible study to another time. It is necessary for that reason to change days and that results in new people to see, usually.

Subjects to be studied are as varied as the people studying. You can make this as elaborate as you wish, with no refreshments or with a full blown potluck. It just depend upon you and what you work out with the people you study with.

Most people tend to study with memmbers of thier church. However, there are community study groups that can sponsered by a church, usually a non-denominational church that can be as rewarding as a denominational sponsered group. Again, it depends upon you and what you are seeking.

Hope this helps a bit. I problably didn't give you any more information that wasn't already out there, but since *I* was the one that suggested it, I thought I had best confirm what others have said.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Thanks, Clio, David, and Neil, for the explanations! I think I'd like the home Bible study groups! I'm pretty sure my church doesn't have anything like that, but I'm not in the *in* crowd there, so maybe there's things there that I don't know about. And the fact that I live 30 miles from town makes it a bit tricky to be in a group too..... but I'd sure love to!!!! I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a nondenominational study group - to tell you the truth, I'd be afraid I might get confused if doctrinal issues came up. I don't have a good solid base yet.....but I'm working on it!