Post by rachel4 on Feb 27, 2012 10:55:39 GMT -5
Hello everyone. We are in the process of looking for a new church. We left our church three weeks ago over some, to us, big issues and some minor issues combined. To try to be concise, the big issues were a doctrinal difference that, because it has to do with salvation, was important to us, and repeated issues with our children's Sunday school teachers and AWANA leaders. The teachers were being harsh, unkind, and openly scornful of our children, especially our daughter. Add to that my husband and I were questioning the need/appropriateness of our daughter going into the youth group in the fall and things were getting bad for our family there.
So, on to the point of this thread....We are looking at 2 options here that I would say are basically the only options. We live in a rural area so there aren't many churches to choose from, we want to remain Baptist in our church affiliation, and my husband does not feel that "homechurch" is a Biblical option, he feels that we need to be in fellowship with other believers.
The first option is a church start, made up of three homeschooling families that we know that runs along the family integrated church model. The problem with this choice is that the leader of the church holds to the same doctrinal position our previous pastor did, so the theological issue is still there. However, this group of people holds to the same values we do regarding leadership of the husband, modesty for the ladies, homeschooling the children, and are Baptists as we are. My husband is not as comfortable with the idea of not fellowshiping in an already established congregation, although I am not sure why this is.
The second option is a local congregation we have visited three Sundays. The people in the congregation seem very loving to each other, they are warm. It is a very small church, only about 40 members. It is Baptist. We would, again, be the only homeschooling family there, all the other kids attend the local community public schools. We have already decided that our children will not be participating in youth activities, no matter where we wind up, so although this church is too small to have a youth group no children's church or youth is an option for us anymore. This doesn't seem to be a problem with the people there, they dont' understand it, but don't feel like you're attacking the holy grail or something because you don't want your kids in the youth group. I think the issue with this church is that the leadership seems more lax. Example would be they have two divorced men currently serving as deacons, which we always had felt was not an option. (We have always understood that being divorced disqualified a man from serving as a deacon.) The pastor at this church holds to the same position we do regarding the doctrinal issue we had with our former pastor.
So, all this is a rather long way of saying, what would you do in our situation? Any advice?
Thanks,
Sister Rachel
So, on to the point of this thread....We are looking at 2 options here that I would say are basically the only options. We live in a rural area so there aren't many churches to choose from, we want to remain Baptist in our church affiliation, and my husband does not feel that "homechurch" is a Biblical option, he feels that we need to be in fellowship with other believers.
The first option is a church start, made up of three homeschooling families that we know that runs along the family integrated church model. The problem with this choice is that the leader of the church holds to the same doctrinal position our previous pastor did, so the theological issue is still there. However, this group of people holds to the same values we do regarding leadership of the husband, modesty for the ladies, homeschooling the children, and are Baptists as we are. My husband is not as comfortable with the idea of not fellowshiping in an already established congregation, although I am not sure why this is.
The second option is a local congregation we have visited three Sundays. The people in the congregation seem very loving to each other, they are warm. It is a very small church, only about 40 members. It is Baptist. We would, again, be the only homeschooling family there, all the other kids attend the local community public schools. We have already decided that our children will not be participating in youth activities, no matter where we wind up, so although this church is too small to have a youth group no children's church or youth is an option for us anymore. This doesn't seem to be a problem with the people there, they dont' understand it, but don't feel like you're attacking the holy grail or something because you don't want your kids in the youth group. I think the issue with this church is that the leadership seems more lax. Example would be they have two divorced men currently serving as deacons, which we always had felt was not an option. (We have always understood that being divorced disqualified a man from serving as a deacon.) The pastor at this church holds to the same position we do regarding the doctrinal issue we had with our former pastor.
So, all this is a rather long way of saying, what would you do in our situation? Any advice?
Thanks,
Sister Rachel
