Any "Are You Welcome" tests out there? - Page 2

KWSS1976 · #11 05-24-2013, 08:21 AM

Well if you are Female then wear pants for a while and see if they try to change you with a "bible study" on Det 22:5 if they don't then I would stay if they do I would leave.

NewbieMisfits · #12 05-24-2013, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Cool! If the shoe fits

I liked our second UPC church much better than the first... Issues there... I was already too damaged by the first to be able to listen to the evangelists that had the 'screaming preaching' style and spent a lot of services sitting in the foyer or in the bathroom to avoid it... It was still very attendance and performance based and I work long hours and have a farm.

And yes I do know what you mean about the dead Baptists... we belonged to a Baptist church that called a new preacher and within 2 weeks wanted to fire him because his wife lifted her hands during worship and they thought it as 'charismatic'... Sheesh!

Hope it works out for you!

I fully understand the attendance, our's is a number 1 rule (but I honestly like that, even given I cannot go to Wednesday service due to evening class). Would you tell a tale of Performance Based?

Lifting hands up.... Another thing we are not a custom to...

We were both raised to do the opposite by the baptist. Honestly, simply thinking about doing anything but standing there like a wooden board brings great anxiety to both of us. The Baptist (who we were with all our youth till we moved to TX) were SOooooo judgmental that it has apparently made us extremely paranoid, to the point of causing hardships in worship...

Our middle name of the month is...
Newbie (never had freedom to enjoy worship before & don't know how to handle it) Misfits

NewbieMisfits · #13 05-24-2013, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWSS1976

Well if you are Female then wear pants for a while and see if they try to change you with a "bible study" on Det 22:5 if they don't then I would stay if they do I would leave.

We both dress modest.... not based on Deuteronomy.... but for the needed discipline in our lives... it very much keeps us on the right place, and is a constant reminder of what our mission is, and it does work.... (learned from the Menno's teachings, even though they also include Det.)

NewbieMisfits · #14 05-24-2013, 08:38 AM

The test I have on hand at this point....

After our 1 month marker this Sunday, I will call my (mentor/new inquisitive friend) there Monday and tell him the following...

The deal is we want to make sure we are a good fit and not a misfit, we want to make sure we are truly welcome.
I know this is hard for Churches to say, so I'll make it very easy for both of us.
On Wednesday night, ask & see, then if so, and only after Wednesday, call me and invite us to Church. If you do we'll gladly accept, but if not we fully understand and enjoy what time we've had. Note, we do not want any invitation out of pity.

Thoughts?

Titus2woman · #15 05-24-2013, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewbieMisfits

I fully understand the attendance, our's is a number 1 rule (but I honestly like that, even given I cannot go to Wednesday service due to evening class). Would you tell a tale of Performance Based?

Sure... in our churches one's spirituality was directly equated with participation in 'church'. As soon as one is deemed 'worthy' to participate by having the proper dress code and conforming to the rules (for us they were-no TV, no movies, no sports, no swimming, no dancing) then one is expected to begin working for the church. This usually meant ramping up attendance to about six days a week with two services on Sunday. Ladies prayer meeting (am), Some other prayer meeting pm, choir practices, making dinners or peanut brittle, fund raisers... all AT the church. There were many weeks I was there every single day of the week for something.

I understand that some people love this... and initially I did too... The issues came when my job got busier and the farm work picked up and I just could not do it... It was then that I had people suggest right to my face that perhaps I was waxing cold.... And I realized how much of how one is seen at church has to do not with being faithful to Jesus and His teachings but with being faithful to the church... and how much of the chruch's 'work' is about taking care of those within the church and not about reaching others with the Good News. Anyway I got burned out on it... and of course the result is that I am not in church... so I am certainly not advocating that you take any advice from me if what you are seeking is to get into a church.

TGBTG · #16 05-24-2013, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Your churches must be a lot more liberal than ours, where a pastor approached a visitor we had invited on his third visit... draped his arm over the fellow's shoulders, and within my husband's hearing, said "You see all those good men out there?... You notice what they don't have?... Yes, a mustache... and next time I see you, I don't want you to have one either." ... And Rodney, after over 20 years of his adult life wearing facial hair came back to church the next service clean shaven... Of course a couple services later he disappeared and was never heard from again... I wonder what was asked of him that time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC1

These are the stories that makes my heart ache for the ignorance. These men who feel they have been called of God to proclaim the gospel are going to stand before God in judgement of ignorant things they have done to come between people and God.

Matt 23
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14] [b]

Titus2woman · #17 05-24-2013, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewbieMisfits

The test I have on hand at this point....

After our 1 month marker this Sunday, I will call my (mentor/new inquisitive friend) there Monday and tell him the following...

The deal is we want to make sure we are a good fit and not a misfit, we want to make sure we are truly welcome.
I know this is hard for Churches to say, so I'll make it very easy for both of us.
On Wednesday night, ask & see, then if so, and only after Wednesday, call me and invite us to Church. If you do we'll gladly accept, but if not we fully understand and enjoy what time we've had. Note, we do not want any invitation out of pity.

Thoughts?

I think I am more getting your queston... So here is a better answer, maybe.

You accept the church by attending and participating.

The church accepts you as a seeker now even though you probably consider yourself a Christian... They do not believe you have 'full truth'.

They will accept you as a brother and sister in Christ when you have spoken in tongues and been baptized in Jesus name... We kind of noticed that the whole repentance part was not required as we were already some other kind of half cooked Christians from another denomination.

hth

MawMaw · #18 05-24-2013, 09:11 AM

From what I'm reading, alot of you really dislike UPC churches.

There are no churches perfect, but, I really hate to see this
denomination talked about in such negative ways, especially
on an Apostolic forum.

Do not all churches have certain standards that they believe?

NewbieMisfits · #19 05-24-2013, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

I think I am more getting your queston... So here is a better answer, maybe.

You accept the church by attending and participating.

The church accepts you as a seeker now even though you probably consider yourself a Christian... They do not believe you have 'full truth'.

They will accept you as a brother and sister in Christ when you have spoken in tongues and been baptized in Jesus name... We kind of noticed that the whole repentance part was not required as we were already some other kind of half cooked Christians from another denomination.

hth

We consider ourselves God Fearing.... We know God, & do all that we can inward & outward, based on our factual relationship with Him. When I say factual, I mean just that (what we have witnessed & been shown thru Him during our life so far).

We are not "saved" but are not "damned". I know the definition of a Christian and we are not, but we are not claiming such as so many we witness do.....

Why are we not? We do not openly feel (based on our personal relationship with God) that literally anyone can repent and be saved. There are evils here, there are those that will indeed suffer eternal damnation regardless.

So we are not, as we don't feel one can simply have an honest thought & be Christian. We feel this requires good works, discipline, respect, and a at least a life-cumulative positive balance of good-vs-evil .....
Only then do we feel we can honestly begin to be saved....

NewbieMisfits · #20 05-24-2013, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacey

From what I'm reading, alot of you really dislike UPC churches.

There are no churches perfect, but, I really hate to see this
denomination talked about in such negative ways, especially
on an Apostolic forum.

Do not all churches have certain standards that they believe?

You must not have read my post lol We LUV this UPC Church!

BTW, very funny "Half-Cooked Christian" comment Titus