Poll: Changing Churches / Belief Systems

[Ernie]

A thread about transitioning from one church to another or one belief system to another.

Please be kind and respectful!



Definitions:

church (a local congregation, or conference. not the universal church)
constituency (a group of churches that work together)
faith tradition (examples: Anabaptist, Pentecostal, Reformed, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Tibetan Buddhist)

[Neto]

Not sure where I fit here, if at all.

I am a member of a congregation that has a quite different history, but I am, for the most part, unchanged in my own beliefs - they are still predominantly identical to my own background. (There are no congregations of my "faith tradition" within hundreds of miles of where we live.)

Another factor is that the group of my origin is, and always has been, open to fellowship with believers of other origins or traditions. It is a central part of their beginning and group identity. So it is not out of place for me to now be a fellowshipping member of a different Christian group.

Then there is also the factor that even if we lived in an area where a congregation of my origin existed, I might no longer feel at home there, because it has changed. I also have been changed by my having fellowshipped with the group in which I am now a member. My group of origin was, at least originally, also open to that interaffectedness - that as we meet and fellowship with other believers, we are 'sharpened' and transformed by this "body-ness" of the body of Christ.

[Ernie]

Not sure where I fit here, if at all.

I am a member of a congregation that has a quite different history, but I am, for the most part, unchanged in my own beliefs - they are still predominantly identical to my own background. (There are no congregations of my "faith tradition" within hundreds of miles of where we live.)

Its ok not to know where we fit.

When you say, "my faith tradition, is that Mennonite Brethren?

I am aware that this poll is very technical. I consider Mennonite Brethren, Amish, Beachy-Amish, and Old Order Mennonite, etc. to be constituencies within the Anabaptist faith tradition.

[Neto]

Not sure where I fit here, if at all.

I am a member of a congregation that has a quite different history, but I am, for the most part, unchanged in my own beliefs - they are still predominantly identical to my own background. (There are no congregations of my "faith tradition" within hundreds of miles of where we live.)

Its ok not to know where we fit.

When you say, "my faith tradition, is that Mennonite Brethren?

I am aware that this poll is very technical. I consider Mennonite Brethren, Amish, Beachy-Amish, and Old Order Mennonite, etc. to be constituencies within the Anabaptist faith tradition.

Yes, Mennonite Brethren. I didn't intend to imply that it might not be considered 'anabaptist', although that term was not used in the early Dutch era. (I sometimes use an English translation of the term actually used - "baptism-minded", but it's a bit cumbersome, since no one else here uses it.)