R7ehr wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2026 9:55 pm
Ernie wrote: ↑Mon Oct 19, 2026 9:21 pm
I'm not sure what you mean by "there".
At the memorial service I attended, there were Bhutanese-Nepalese and ethnic Anabaptists. The service was hosted by a Bhutanese church. As far as I know, anyone else who wanted to show their sympathies would have been welcome to attend provided they were sincere and not there to critique the church gathering.
At the Brethren service there were Bhutanese-Nepalese, Egyptians, and ethnic Anabaptists. As far as I know, anyone else with a good, non-judgmental spirit would have been welcome to attend.
At the Bible study I attended, there were Bhutanese-Nepalese, Afghans, and ethnic Anabaptists, as well as visitors from a distance who were not ethnic Anabaptist. I was told that Christians who are teachable, workable, non-judgmental, builders, under spiritual authority, and share the vision and perspectives of the mission are welcome to apply.
I did not attend an Anabaptist church gathering, so I can't speak to that.
Your frequent use of “non-judgmental” as a prerequisite condition of attendence, feels like a red flag to me. It makes me wonder if something is going on there that probably needs to be judged, and because it has been judged so hard in the past, we are now screening attendees by spirit and attitude.
It’s just not typically a screen that most transparent, serious and competent churches need to have to shield themselves, their events, their activities with.
The only other event that I heard of, where visitors were specifically and proactively told they weren’t welcome unless they were non-judgmental, was an event that I might consider to be a fringe activity.
I didn't include the word "Christian" in my last post, and I should have. (I did earlier).
I was specifically referring to those who profess Christianity, believe they know how other churches should operate, and have a judgmental, divisive spirit that keeps them from being able to work well on a team. Many veteran church planters I know have dealt with this sort of people at times and it is a common topic at church planter's events about how to deal with such things. There is something magnetic about church plants that are really doing well at engaging people with the Gospel and making disciples. People want to be part of the action. But such efforts tend to attract some folks who are not builders. This then results in some policies or understandings to help keep this from happening more than necessary.
In the book of Acts we read about Judaizers who went to Antioch and stirred things up and caused a lot of dissension and debate. It resulted Paul and Barnabas needing to make a trip to Jerusalem (before the days of cars, likely on foot), a lengthy counsel, and apology letters being sent back to Antioch. It takes a lot of time to resolve such situations, more time than what many small churches and missions have time to deal with. These kinds of matters can distract churches from their calling. Antioch seems to have been large enough that it could spare a couple brothers for awhile. Or maybe they couldn't really spare them but they didn't have any other choice. I'm guessing the Antioch church would have been glad if the Jerusalem church would have spared them this ordeal. Some good resulted from this, but it was still an unnecessary debacle.
If the COGiCM folks were holding Bible studies in my town and some members from my church would show up week after week and tell them they are doing it all wrong and that they shouldn't be teaching what they are teaching, and they should be doing the mission in a different way, I think they might end up drawing some boundaries as well. (And they would likely really wish that the rest of us would corral our members and keep them at home.)
Hopefully this gives you an idea of what the church is trying to avoid. I'm sympathetic to their concerns.
So a question for you,
If you were conducting Bible studies in your town among the unchurched and less churches, and folks with the spirit of the Judaizers came and created dissension in the meetings week after week, told you that you are doing it wrong, and tried to advance their agenda, what might your response be?
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.