Why did you come?

[Josh]

About half of seeker disaster stories I know of - there is literally nothing they could have done to fix things (other than to ignore or go along with blatant open sin).

[NedFlanders]

About half of seeker disaster stories I know of - there is literally nothing they could have done to fix things (other than to ignore or go along with blatant open sin).

This is part of the challenge. If less conservative groups let more things go a seeker can fit in easier but they look around with disillusionment. What they appreciate is unknowingly their undoing…

They go to a more conservative church where more things are dealt with but have a harder time “fitting in.” The church isn’t about me and so this process can have an humbling effect if we let it.

[steve-in-kville]

About half of seeker disaster stories I know of - there is literally nothing they could have done to fix things (other than to ignore or go along with blatant open sin).

This is part of the challenge. If less conservative groups let more things go a seeker can fit in easier but they look around with disillusionment. What they appreciate is unknowingly their undoing…

They go to a more conservative church where more things are dealt with but have a harder time “fitting in.” The church isn’t about me and so this process can have an humbling effect if we let it.

This may blow your mind but I felt more accepted in the conservative circles than in the progressive ones.

[Josh]

About half of seeker disaster stories I know of - there is literally nothing they could have done to fix things (other than to ignore or go along with blatant open sin).

This is part of the challenge. If less conservative groups let more things go a seeker can fit in easier but they look around with disillusionment. What they appreciate is unknowingly their undoing…

They go to a more conservative church where more things are dealt with but have a harder time “fitting in.” The church isn’t about me and so this process can have an humbling effect if we let it.

This may blow your mind but I felt more accepted in the conservative circles than in the progressive ones.

I’ve noticed the same thing - it seems essentially at random whether a specific church makes newcomers feel accepted.

[NedFlanders]

About half of seeker disaster stories I know of - there is literally nothing they could have done to fix things (other than to ignore or go along with blatant open sin).

This is part of the challenge. If less conservative groups let more things go a seeker can fit in easier but they look around with disillusionment. What they appreciate is unknowingly their undoing…

They go to a more conservative church where more things are dealt with but have a harder time “fitting in.” The church isn’t about me and so this process can have an humbling effect if we let it.

This may blow your mind but I felt more accepted in the conservative circles than in the progressive ones.

I actually agree. I just think feeling like a person fits in or is accepted can be two different things.

I think this has to do with direction of travel of why a seeker can feel more accepted in a more conservative setting but when we aren’t very far along in our journey and understanding of scripture or practice we can feel like we don’t fit in not being at the same place in our understanding.

I would encourage any seeker to pay closer attention to the direction of travel in finding out where members came from and some may even share their leanings of going elsewhere- rather than looking where they are at on the conservative spectrum.

[Verity]

Would it be possible to move this discussion on troubled homes to a different thread? I'd really like to see the original question of why did you come continued. Thanks.

[ohio jones]

Would it be possible to move this discussion on troubled homes to a different thread? I'd really like to see the original question of why did you come continued. Thanks.

New thread: https://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6512

[PetrChelcicky]

If you are from non-anabaptist background, what is it that drew you to the anabaptist?
Basically I wanted to escape the Barthian prison in which I was educated. And John Yoder was the one and only man who argued against Barth on his own level (having studied under Barth for a while) and I found just my own arguments in a more sophisticated fashion.

If you came but never joined, what held you back?
As I say I'm "not liberal enough to be a Quaker, not literal enough to be a Mennonite". (I accept the Quaker standpoint that the spirit is more important than the letter.) Also my local church is at the brink to return to the Protestant (here mostly Barthian) church which I had left in order to find something better.

If you are looking on with no interest in joining, what is it that intrigues you?
Bohemian Brothers and Anabaptists were at the beginning of civil liberties (freedom of opinion and association), which spread from religion to politics. All the classical civil liberties are now contested and it is interesting to observe how this develops back from politics to religion. Can the process be stopped? Will Mennonites eschew a conflict by falling into the line? Or can they revive a spirit of resistance? The decisive point here is freedom of conscience, namely that nobody must be enforced to support behaviour which is sinful in his eyes. The matter involved (homosexuality, abortion or whatever) is, imho, secondary.

[barnhart]

Quality post Petr.