I'm leaving the principles of the doctrine...!

[Felicity]

Originally Posted by RevBuddy

Now, RevRandy,

I wasn't directing this thread to an issue. Quite to the contrary, we need to move away from issue-oriented thinking to SOUL-oriented thinking. We can certainly appreciate The excellent Foundation we are standing on, but move forward to the task of building the House of God with a fresh anointing and energy.

302,875,487 SOULS are waiting for us to get our eyes off The Foundation and prepare a beautiful, inviting House of God where they are welcomed, ministered to and nurtured into His great kingdom. That's 302+ million SOULS who continue to wait while we debate, argue and sermonize our individual perspectives and takes on nonsensical issues...or better yet, continue to preach to one another until we're blue in the face...reassuring ourselves that we "still believe what we've always believed."

If we had a determination and strong confidence in our doctrine and ministry, and didn't need reassuring so much, maybe we could accomplish real evangelism that was effective and far-reaching.

I'm happy to give my brother and sister leeway on issues while joining with them in reaching SOULS. I'll respect and give the local pastor the authority and mandate to teach and preach as the Lord directs him, but in the greater scheme of evangelism, let's get with God's mandate to reach the world...we could start next door...

Good post overall, but I don't think the problem with the Church's reaching the lost more effectively is a lack of strong confidence in doctrine and ministry.