Extend Your Welcome

-
15 Reasons Why First Time Guests May Not Return

Comments

  1. Anonymous9:13 AM

    These are not only good reasons as to why visitors do not return. They are even better reasons as to why people are leaving. There is no Christian attitude present. So many of our shrinking churches are only interested in the few main members who are in control. In fact our failing churches are no longer Churches of God, they have become small social groups to only benefit the 2-3 families in control.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:17 PM

    I believe this should be titled 15 Excuses Why First Time Guest May Not Return.

    It seems to me that people can find any reason at all why not to attend a Church.

    You see people in other countries that go through HELL just to worship I bet they are not complaining about who is greeting them. They are there to WORSHIP their GOD!!!

    I do think a Church should be a friendly and inviting place but I get tired of having to babysit and pamper adults.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:23 AM

    Anonymous #2

    You are so right! And I am also so sick of babysitting and pampering our church leaders who make all kinds of excuses for their actions! They should be there to WORSHIP GOD!!! NOT control their little empire.
    Anonymous #3

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apostles and Earrings

-
Image
I wonder if this belonged to one of the apostles? Simon the Zealot strikes me as the kind of guy who would wear an earring. I recall the time, when I was graduating from seminary, I received an invitation to start a new congregation in a college town. In the letter, they outlined the vision, the demographics of the community, and their expectations for the pastor. The letter ended with a p.s. -- "and of course, your wife will not be permitted to wear earrings." They forgot say anything about ME wearing earrings. For a while, I was tempted to go ahead, take the position, and get my ear pierced.
Read more

Apostolic Succession

-
Image
I was ordained July 10, 1987, when General Superintendent, Dr. Earle Wilson, laid hands on me, shook my hand, and declared, "Take Thou Authority to Preach the Word!" I was thinking about that recently, and began to wonder how far back I could go with the succession of my ordination. So, I did a little research. I was ordained by Earle Wilson Earle Wilson was ordained by Pilgrim Holiness General Superintendent, William Neff William Neff was ordained by the Pilgrim founder, Seth Rees Seth Rees was ordained by Nazarene founder, Phineas Bresee Phineas Bresee was ordained by Methodist Bishop, Levi Scott Levi Scott was ordained by Elijah Hedding. Elijah Hedding was ordained by Francis Asbury Francis Asbury was ordained by a renegade Anglican priest named John Wesley John Wesley was ordained by Anglican Bishop (of Oxford) John Potter. From Potter -- there's a trail all the way back to St. Peter!! You can see the chart here. (Potter is at the bottom of the page #90. Now, how abo...
Read more

How Would You Answer My Friend?

-
A pastor friend e-mailed me with this question yesterday: I am working with a well-intentioned man who is considering becoming a part of our congregation. After exploring Wesleyan Doctrine, he is hung up on one thing- that we allow women in ministry. He believes that 1Timothy 2:8-15 is a clear Biblical prohibition against females in ministry. I have always understood Paul's teaching on women in public worship environements in Corinthians and Timothy to be context driven and not a broad theological statement. This has been a learning experience for me because I learned that I was unprepared to defend our Wesleyan position, I had just accepted it. Any Biblical direction, orginal language clues, or historical perspective you could offer would be most welcomed. He is not bigoted about women, he feels they are equal in the eyes of the Lord but have been assigned different duties/roles in the kingdom. How would you respond to his question?
Read more