Churchless Christian

Moving to the South Island

by philipedwards @ 25/07/2008 – 20:54:41

Yesterday I got the news that I had been accepted for a Transfer to Christchurch through Community Probation & Psychological Services which I work for. I think we are still in shock but basically I am starting work down there in the last week of August.

Some of the reasons we are moving are

1. We want to give the kids an experience of seeing the South Island (Lord Of the Rings Country) and this is a great way of seeing it on a limited income!

2. We now have a good number of our family and friends living in Christchurch including parents, siblings, nephews etc.

3. Autism NZ is based in Christchurch and will provide some good back up for Isaac and Alex which we are in desperate need for.

4. It will be a good move career wise for my job (which I am finding really rewarding) in the future.

5. We feel that we have got a bit boring lately and its time for an adventure.

6. Its a lot cheaper to live then in the big smoke for a Govt employee!

At the same time we feel really emotional about leaving after being here for around 12years and all the special people we have had the privilege of getting to know. BUT Christchurch is only an hour away by plane and only around $180.00 return! We have made a decision to get a house with a spare room so you had better come and use it ! We will be up and down as we have committments up here etc.

I was planning to tell people personally but with working 7 days at the moment and the news already getting out I thought I had better email it out. Please send it to others as I have lost a lot of peoples addresses.

Please pray for us at this time for peace for the kids especially the younger two and also as we juggle the finances to get down there etc etc.
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- moving
Religious T-Shirts

by philipedwards @ 14/07/2008 – 17:25:45
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- religious t shirts
Church Txting

by philipedwards @ 07/07/2008 – 17:02:37
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- txting; church
4 Interesting Christian Stats!

by philipedwards @ 07/07/2008 – 16:47:15

Three independent New Zealand research projects show half of those who leave gangs do because they become Christian.

Arthur C. Brooks demonstrated in his 2006 book Who Really Cares? that religious believers in the US are far more giving than secular liberals, donating considerably more money, giving more blood and volunteering more of their time. They're more generous to all charities, including non-religious ones, and are some 57 per cent more likely than a secularist to help a homeless person.

When it comes to volunteering, there's no contest. Without the churches "dealing with many of our social ills," says George Gallup, "the tax burden would be crushing".

Last month, the Anglican Church in Britain released a commissioned report called Moral, But No Compass, which showed if a monetary value was put on the charitable work done by its congregations and clergy - some 50,000 volunteers providing a multitude of services "without judgment or conditions attached" - it would run into hundreds of millions of pounds. Yet the Government's secular agenda and a climate of liberal suspicion are undermining that work. Tapu Misa
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- church; volunteers; community
Leaving Church

by philipedwards @ 29/06/2008 – 18:31:29

poached from opensource theology

People keep leaving the “church” to go to house churches (which may be more of the “church” than our buildings in warehouses with pastors wearing cutoff jeans and bleaching their hair to be relevant), and now I understand why.

I’m hanging in there because I think the church can sort it out… but these are the five reasons I would cite to leave the church:

5. My pastor hasn’t had a relationship with a non-believer in over 10 years

4. The leaders of my church are workaholics and I find it hard to believe they have a healthy relationship with the Lord when they don’t have the time for their family

3. I’m sick of it being about one man. Be that the pastor, or the musician or whatever, I want to see them raising up other people and sending them out, content to have many small churches instead of one mega church

2. There are 1,000 people who attend my church. I know 50 and only care about 20 of them. I attend a small group to go deeper with those I care about, but I have no reason to remember the name of the guy whose hand I shake between worship and the sermon

1. There is no place to really do ministry, the leaders will not let go of control. I want to pray for people, bless people, watch out for people, be there for people. I want to be invited to do what the Lord has called me to do.
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- church leavers
Things they tell Church Planters That are simply Wrong

by philipedwards @ 29/06/2008 – 18:27:56

I really enjoyed this article having been a Church planter for Ten years. It's very honest and very true. Read the full article here

1. It's All about Sunday.
2. If it's not working your signage or location is not working.
3. What counts is attendence, baptisim's and membership signup's.
4. For the first two years work as hard as you can without burning out.
5. The goal of every pastor should be full time paid.
6. Some people are just scafolding people.
7. Gather a crowd first, work out the disciples later.
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- church planting
GOD I'M HAPPY!

by philipedwards @ 23/06/2008 – 10:18:30
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- church; christianity
Here's the Church but where's the People?

by philipedwards @ 18/06/2008 – 06:48:04

There was a time when the First United Methodist Church here was a hub of activity, with a booming school, regular church suppers, and worshipers who packed the pews of the white steepled building.

No more. The congregation has been dwindling for years and now is barely hanging on.

On a recent Sunday, just five worshipers gathered in the 300-seat church to pray at the 11 a.m. service. The Rev. Peggy Kieras sat alone by the grand wooden pulpit, cradling a remote control for the compact disc player that provides music for hymns, just underneath the towering pipes of the unused organ...

Although both Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations face falling attendance at worship, these different branches of the Christian family are taking radically different approaches to determining whether a congregation is viable, and who should decide what to do about a failing church. read the rest
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- church attendence