@linus-smallprint
Active 1 day, 7 hours ago- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
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You should come down and visit ours! lololol.
Ha ha! That’s a bit of a loooong trip for me.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
@theshadow
Here is a chart I was given at one of our C&C events going over some of the views. I think it gets Amillennialism a little wrong. (It seems to be made by Premillennials). I know I said Post earlier, but I think my pastor is actually a Pre. You might need to open this image in a new tab to read everything on it. One thing not mentioned on here that is believed by the Premillennials is that right before the Tribulation, Gentials will stop being saved and an entire generation of Jews will become Christians.
This does not include Pan-Millenialism though, which I try to fall into. I haven’t looked so much into the Amillennialism and Post views, but each one of the end times views has it’s problems. When I look at Christ’s first coming, I also see no one got it right. The Pharisees, Deciples, and crowds were all expecting the Christ to be something else. It makes me wounder if anyone has gotten Christ’s second coming right. So as a Pan-Millenialist, I belive that it will all pan out in the end. Only God truly knows what will happen, and whatever he does will be right and amazing, bringing glory to Him.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Sorry, I keep on forgetting about this and prioritizing other things. I don’t think I will be participating in this one again.
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.
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.
I’m more into creating characters and stories than worldbuilding. Although I have done a bit. I do like fantasy races and did spend a bit of time on those. But typically for my worldbuilding, I only do it when necessary. And I will often get distracted with writing the story itself. When I do world build, I base it on what I know about Canada and technology in the 19th century.
I do fully intend to develop the world more eventually and before I publish my trilogy. So I will have to check out what other people suggest. Thank you for creating this topic!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
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.
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.
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.
@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.
(I’m only gone foe a few days, and suddenly people are changing their usernames and profile pictures all at once. How am I supposed to know who’s who anymore?)
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Hey! Cool website!
Thank you!
I’m just about to launch my own for my publishing company……. as soon as my dad can look it over and we can also figure out to hookup the payment apps………..
C0ol! Let me know when you have something to show and I will check it out!
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Good memes today. I like the one about the brain not letting you sleep and the pins and needles when waking up.
Sorry, don’t really get any of yours.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
Forgot your tag, but my responce to your Denomination Q&A is above ⬆️
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.
What is your denomination?
Our church says we are non-denominational, but in reality we are a MacAurturite/Grasist church. (I made both those terms us, so you might not find either on the internet.) Our church follows what John MacAurthur’s church does. Grasist churches tend to have the word Grace in the name (Grace Community, GraceLife [which is the name of the church I attend], ect.) Our pastors are trained at The Master’s Semanary. We have our own hymnal (Hymns of Grace), our own psalter (Psalms of Grace, though we don’t really use that one), and I think even our own translation of the Bible (LSB, though I still primarily use ESV)
Did you grow up with this denomination? Are you still growing up with it? Or did you convert to it yourself?
I have attended this church since I was 2. My parents were some of the founding members. It started out as a Reformed Baptist church before we got a pastor from The Master’s Seminary. Later it became GraceLife.
My family doesn’t agree with everything taught there. For example, our church heavily teaches the Post-Millennium end-time view. In fact, we had a sermon to do with that just last Sunday. I try to lean more towards the Pan-Millennium view (everything will all pan out in the end). However, we stick with it. I have considered visiting some other churches, but no matter where I go, I know there will be something I disagree with. And hey, I could be the wrong one for all I know. I believe no one has perfect theology as we are all sinners. Part of loving one another is putting our pride aside and having fellowship with one another even if we do belive different things. (Provided that it isn’t a primary issue that you have wrong, such as wether or not Jesus is God)
How many books are in your bible? And if you wish, what are those books?
There are 66 books in the Bible. 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New.
How many people in your family are that denomination?
My Parents and siblings all attend the same church as I. My mom grew up Dutch Reformed. Her parents still attend, but all of her siblings are not saved. I belive that all of my Dad’s uncles are Christians, but they attend different denominations. For exsample, I have one uncle who is the pastor of a prespaterian church.
How many sacraments do you have?
Well, Ordinaces may be a more proper term than Sacraments (although our church may still refer to them as Sacraments), but two, Communuon and Baptism.
Who is the head of your denomination?
Some might say John MacAurther, but we belive Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Here is something directly form our church website:
“We teach that the one supreme authority for the church is Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18) and that church leadership, gifts, order, discipline, and worship are all appointed through His sovereignty as found in the Scriptures. The biblically designated officers serving under Christ and over the assembly are elders (also called bishops, pastors, and pastor teachers; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11) and deacons, both of whom must meet biblical qualifications (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-5).”
Who is your favorite hero from the Bible?
Hmm. I have to think about that one. I like Hezikiah. After so many kings who ‘did what was evil in the sight of the LORD’ it is nice to see a king who discovers the law and repents of his sin, bringing Judah back to God. (Even if it is only temporary)
Maybe this isn’t a hero, but I find Nebukanezzer’s journey from prideful king to finally being humble before God fascinating as well. I wonder if he is in heaven. Daniel may be my favorite book of the Bible.
And finally, what is your favourite tradition from your religion?
We sometimes do something for Reformation day to get people out of the house so that they aren’t hiding in the basement during Halloween, (which is on the same day) (Now I realize this may be controversial since you are a Catholic, and we are celebrating the reformation of it).
Other things we do include an annual Christmas concert. Our Youth and C&C events tend to be more ministry-focused than fun-focused. Not to say we don’t have fun occasionally, my siblings went to a trampoline park last month with the youth group, but most of these events are teaching. I believe the youth group is going through 1 John while for C&C we have a lot of talks on things like ‘How to be a good Steward of Money’ or ‘How to be a Good Steward of History.’
We used to have a soup and sandwich potluck once a month, but during COVID, our church received a lot of attention when our church took a stand and our pastor was thrown in prison. Since then, our church has tripled (if not more) in size and we haven’t been able to do things like that anymore.
I would not be surprised at all if you have heard of the church I attend.
Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to see the stars.