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*screams* It’s a conspiracy!
I, for one, really like Roman numerals.
AH! (But do you like my avocado drawing? This was my first time using digital art and I think it came out ok. What do you think?)
"MAMA! I AM SCARED MOMA! MOMAAAAAA!!!!!!! TALK TO ME MAMA!"
@the_lost-journal @theducktator @trailblazer @stephie
I have never heard of it, but I was shocked when I saw that your pastor was thrown in prison… – Kefa
Yes. We shut down our church for the first few months, but then our pastor went, ‘No. This is wrong. The church needs to meet.’ so we opened it back up. We got the attention of the government and the news. Eventually, in February 2021, our pastor was arrested and thrown into a high-security prison. After a month he was released, but our building was taken away and had two fences set around it. We had to go underground for several months before finally getting our building back in July of that year. We are trying to expand our building now. It was a strange experience, having our church in the ‘top stories’ section on the Canadian news. I’m thankful things are more normal again. (Though it is still different since we have so many people attending our church now and have split into two services)
A documentary was made about various the church’s stands during COVID and prior to that as well. If you want, you can check it out here: https://essentialchurchmovie.com/resources
GraceLife church of Edmonton is the church I attend. James Coates (the red-headed man in glasses) is our pastor.
Honestly, my first response was, “Wow! That is so awesome!!” I know, I’m nuts.
But you’ve seen what I write and I honestly admire stories like that so, so much! So I don’t feel glad that he was put in prison, yet I really admire it and……. ugh. How to explain my wild thoughts!!
Nope. Not thinking you are crazy. I know why you are saying this is awesome.
A pastor I really respect once said, “The problem with pastors today is no one is trying to kill them.”
I’ve heard that as well. Don’t know who said it, but it is true.
The best church time I have had is when our church went underground during COVID. We wanted to honor the government, yet not when they banned us from meeting, because that goes against God’s commands. So we started meeting in an old hey barn. We would get there, eat breakfast, have church, (sometimes for close to three hours) and then we would eat lunch, hang out and fellowship, have a psalm sing, fellowship some more, eat dinner, and then go home sometime at night. It was really a time of change, especially for the younger people in our group. I watched four young men rapidly grow in their faith and I think everyone cried when they were baptized in the nearby river. It wasn’t that I don’t think they were Christians before, but all at once they took it really seriously, and you could find them sitting under a tree after church with their Bibles seriously discussing what they had learned. For me and several others I talked to, Church had this odd feeling of importance and deep value when we knew people were trying to take it from us.
Neat! How big is your congregation?
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
In Canada, the problem that I’m noticing is the stuff with residential schools.
Hold on, are you Canadian as well?
Yeah, I agree with you on the whole ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ thing. This world needs Christ, which is why we are to be salt and light to it.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
One of our foreign pastors was killed a week or so ago, and the pastor closest to him got a death threat. There is always this real sense of “oh, somebody in our church may have actually known him,” or at least been very familiar with his work.
Oh. I’m sorry about that. That’s scary. I tend to think of missionaries being killed as a thing of the past. And as far as I know, the missionaries my church supports are not in danger. Hearing this brought that reality back to the present.
What country was this in?
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Good, I’m glad you understand what I mean.
oh I think we have about………… 100 kids and young adults and maybe 25 parents. (our family of 6 is the smallest family in the church. the average is about nine kids,)
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
oh I think we have about………… 100 kids and young adults and maybe 25 parents. (our family of 6 is the smallest family in the church. the average is about nine kids,)
That’s a nice size. I think we have about 600-900 people on a Sunday. It’s hard to get to know everyone in a congregation of that size. I often say now, ‘I don’t know people anymore’.
You have three siblings? I was under the impression that you only had two younger brothers.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
nope, I have two brothers and 1 sister.
I honestly think that it’s not good to have that big of a congregation. We’re called to fellowship with the believers and uplift, encourage, and hold one another accountable. I find that hard to do when you don’t know the people in your church. *shrug* that’s just my opinion.
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
Yep! I think Canada’s big enough that it doesn’t count as revealing my location online…
Pray, thou shalt simply add ketchup unto the mac'n'cheese.
Nice, I am glad to know I’m not the only Canadian and non-Amarican on here.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
nope, I have two brothers and 1 sister.
Ah.
I honestly think that it’s not good to have that big of a congregation. We’re called to fellowship with the believers and uplift, encourage, and hold one another accountable. I find that hard to do when you don’t know the people in your church. *shrug* that’s just my opinion.
As someone who is a part of a very large congregation, I can understand that. I have sometimes considered visiting another smaller, but still biblically sound church to see what things are like there.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
our family of 6 is the smallest family in the church. the average is about nine kids
Wow. My family has 6 kids, and there is one church where we go when we’re on vacation in which we’re average, but usually we’re the weird ones.
honestly think that it’s not good to have that big of a congregation. We’re called to fellowship with the believers and uplift, encourage, and hold one another accountable. I find that hard to do when you don’t know the people in your church.
My church has probably around 60 people, and it’s nice because I know everyone. It’s kind of lonely though, because most of the kids are younger than me, so I don’t really have anyone to talk to.
I, for one, really like Roman numerals.
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