Church notes and my new toy.
I've been in kind of a strange way spiritually in recent months. Over the summer I realized that I wasn't being fed at the church I was going to, which brought the added complecation of one of the ministers being a childhood mentor of mine. However, after a discussion of my mother I decided to go "church hopping," or looking for a new home.
Which brought me eventually to today's church...one of the disciples of christ.
Back in the early part of the 19th century two men named Barton Stone and John Campbell decided to split with the presbyterian church over several matters. First and foremost, they saw denominations as being divisive elements in the christian body where there should be none. In their new churches they got rid of most of the liturgy and favored a very simple service. I never appreciated how simple the service was until these past few months. The service has some variations, but in most cases it is as follows: Singing 3 or 4 songs or hymns depending on the preferences of the body, followed by a prayer, followed by communion and offering, and ended by a service. Some churches have an alter call at the end of the service, some do not. We do not say the Lord's prayer, or any other formulaic pre-written prayer. There are no "responses" sung or spoken. There is not the endless standing and then sitting again that I've been enduring these past few months.
And so, what became known as the "Restoration Movement" was happy with it's simplicity until the late 1940's. When some of the churches decided that they needed to denominationalize for various reasons. My family came down firmly on the non-denominational front. Our churches became known as the Independent Churches of Christ/Christian Churches. To this day there is no central leadership and each congregation continues to decide various issues concerning church rule by themselves. The churches who formed a denomination became known as the Disciples of Christ.
Even though I never thought twice about attending a presbyterian, methodist, or baptist church, I seriously contemplated whether going to a disciples church was wise. In the end, I decided what the heck, I know most of their beliefs already. I'll be used to the service. I was looking forward to a nice, simple, short service, similiar to the kind I grew up with.
I was not expecting liturgical strictness rivaling the methodists that went on for 2 1/2 hours. Whoo. I'm glad I'm visiting family this week. I'll have to talk this one over with my cousins and get their views (any previous generation lived through the denomination fight and isn't quite open minded when it comes to these things). I like knowing that I won't be preached anything contrary to my theological beliefs, but I also don't know how many of those services I can stand. Quite honestly, I'm used to a 1/2 page program listing what songs will be sung and then the serman title, all that reading in unison throws me off every time. Especially around communion time when I just want to be quiet with my own thoughts.
As for my new toy...it's at www.pandora.com. It's streaming music radio very much individualized. I likes it.
Which brought me eventually to today's church...one of the disciples of christ.
Back in the early part of the 19th century two men named Barton Stone and John Campbell decided to split with the presbyterian church over several matters. First and foremost, they saw denominations as being divisive elements in the christian body where there should be none. In their new churches they got rid of most of the liturgy and favored a very simple service. I never appreciated how simple the service was until these past few months. The service has some variations, but in most cases it is as follows: Singing 3 or 4 songs or hymns depending on the preferences of the body, followed by a prayer, followed by communion and offering, and ended by a service. Some churches have an alter call at the end of the service, some do not. We do not say the Lord's prayer, or any other formulaic pre-written prayer. There are no "responses" sung or spoken. There is not the endless standing and then sitting again that I've been enduring these past few months.
And so, what became known as the "Restoration Movement" was happy with it's simplicity until the late 1940's. When some of the churches decided that they needed to denominationalize for various reasons. My family came down firmly on the non-denominational front. Our churches became known as the Independent Churches of Christ/Christian Churches. To this day there is no central leadership and each congregation continues to decide various issues concerning church rule by themselves. The churches who formed a denomination became known as the Disciples of Christ.
Even though I never thought twice about attending a presbyterian, methodist, or baptist church, I seriously contemplated whether going to a disciples church was wise. In the end, I decided what the heck, I know most of their beliefs already. I'll be used to the service. I was looking forward to a nice, simple, short service, similiar to the kind I grew up with.
I was not expecting liturgical strictness rivaling the methodists that went on for 2 1/2 hours. Whoo. I'm glad I'm visiting family this week. I'll have to talk this one over with my cousins and get their views (any previous generation lived through the denomination fight and isn't quite open minded when it comes to these things). I like knowing that I won't be preached anything contrary to my theological beliefs, but I also don't know how many of those services I can stand. Quite honestly, I'm used to a 1/2 page program listing what songs will be sung and then the serman title, all that reading in unison throws me off every time. Especially around communion time when I just want to be quiet with my own thoughts.
As for my new toy...it's at www.pandora.com. It's streaming music radio very much individualized. I likes it.