A Main Denomination Identifier Belief

[Ken]

We push back hard on abortion and homosexuality.

What does that mean? Who are you pushing back against?

Do you have an epidemic of abortion and homosexuality within your church?
Or are you tilting at the outside world? And if so, how?

[Josh]

My denomination pushes back hard on going to war. We don’t have a “problem” with our members going to war, though. The closest issue is our Ukrainian members have had to flee or go into hiding to avoid the mandatory drafts.

[steve-in-kville]

We push back hard on abortion and homosexuality.

What does that mean? Who are you pushing back against?

Do you have an epidemic of abortion and homosexuality within your church?
Or are you tilting at the outside world? And if so, how?

We left our denomination over it. That particular congregation, as well a few others within that district, fought that battle for decades. I think about five congregations pulled away around the same time.

There is another conference we are looking at, but for the moment we are not aligned with anyone.

[Ken]

We push back hard on abortion and homosexuality.

What does that mean? Who are you pushing back against?

Do you have an epidemic of abortion and homosexuality within your church?
Or are you tilting at the outside world? And if so, how?

We left our denomination over it. That particular congregation, as well a few others within that district, fought that battle for decades. I think about five congregations pulled away around the same time.

There is another conference we are looking at, but for the moment we are not aligned with anyone.

Over abortion?

[steve-in-kville]

What does that mean? Who are you pushing back against?

Do you have an epidemic of abortion and homosexuality within your church?
Or are you tilting at the outside world? And if so, how?

We left our denomination over it. That particular congregation, as well a few others within that district, fought that battle for decades. I think about five congregations pulled away around the same time.

There is another conference we are looking at, but for the moment we are not aligned with anyone.

Over abortion?

IIRC, the homosexuality thing was at the forefront. A pile of other stuff fell under that. Our congregation takes a hard stance against abortion, whether that was part of the division or not, I'm a bit unsure.

[Sudsy]

I am a member of an Anabaptist church and I would suggest the distinguishing feature of Anabaptistism to be it's doctrine of the kingdom of Jesus.

Originally, I think, to be an Anabaptist meant that this group baptised believers not babies so they were known as those who would baptise again. A term of persecution.

Being called a Mennonite was to be a follower of Menno's teachings.

It would seem to me the original distinctive of various Christian groups changes over time. For instance not all Mennonites would say they are followers of Menno's teachings but as some would say they are Christ followers meaning that the SOM is like a bible within a bible, so to speak. But how do those outside of Mennonitism regard their distinctiveness ? To some extent some would regard Mennonites as people with German background in my experience and are reluctant to try to join them.

Same goes for Pentecostals. Although I said what I thought was their distinctive in a beginning post, I am not sure that is the case today in many Pentecostal churches and church names by most have changed to remove the word Pentecostal from their name. My understanding through sermons I have watched of our local Pentecostal church, speaking in tongues is not such a common occurrence as when I was a youth and the 'push' to be 'baptised in the Spirit' with this initial evidence is not a big focus. The 'Holy roller' reputation I think is outdated too in most Pentecostal churches here in Canada.

Paul saw this thing occurring in the early church and tried to discourage it amongst believers but the unsaved world will give us labels for what they see as our distinctive and they likely won't match often with our views of what we would like them to think.

Perhaps what we all should aim at is that our conversation with unbelievers and our living choices in this world would cause them to regard us as followers of Jesus. And that, I believe, as we read in Romans, involves talking to the unsaved about Jesus. Allowing the Gospel message that saves us be what offends and not our way of presenting it. To some, it will offend whereas to others it will truly be good news that is life changing.

Whoops wandering from the thread a bit. Continue with more input.

[Ken]

We left our denomination over it. That particular congregation, as well a few others within that district, fought that battle for decades. I think about five congregations pulled away around the same time.

There is another conference we are looking at, but for the moment we are not aligned with anyone.

Over abortion?

IIRC, the homosexuality thing was at the forefront. A pile of other stuff fell under that. Our congregation takes a hard stance against abortion, whether that was part of the division or not, I'm a bit unsure.

So those are two easy things that you are AGAINST. The more difficult question is always, what are you FOR? or what does your church believe in?

I'm not trying to call you out specifically. Just pointing out that it is always easier to decide what you don't believe rather than what you do believe. And I'm talking about more than simply using language to re-write a negative belief into one that sounds positive but just restates the same thing.

[steve-in-kville]

I'm not trying to call you out specifically.

Yes you are. And now my feelings are hurt so I'm gonna go cry in a corner somewhere.

Seriously... I see your point. Our church, even though we are in the middle of nowhere, is a safe haven in more ways than one. We've had people show up in the middle of a Sunday morning service needing help. They had nowhere to go, no food... almost no gas left in the car. We are known for helping such people. Get them shelter and food and stabilized. We do not expect anything in return, no commitment on their end. Jesus didn't go around helping people only if they followed him. He helped everyone regardless.

That's how we roll.

[mike]

This thread is to give your impression on what is a main, perhaps the main, identifying topic for your church. Or where your church stands out amongst others in emphasizing an area of Christianity.

I'll begin.

In my Pentecostal upbringing it was being baptised in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Is the question what the church itself would say its main identifying belief is, or what people outside the church would say it is?

[Ken]

I'm not trying to call you out specifically.

Yes you are. And now my feelings are hurt so I'm gonna go cry in a corner somewhere.

Seriously... I see your point. Our church, even though we are in the middle of nowhere, is a safe haven in more ways than one. We've had people show up in the middle of a Sunday morning service needing help. They had nowhere to go, no food... almost no gas left in the car. We are known for helping such people. Get them shelter and food and stabilized. We do not expect anything in return, no commitment on their end. Jesus didn't go around helping people only if they followed him. He helped everyone regardless.

That's how we roll.

The church my wife and I are most closely associated with (we aren't actually members) is very big on community. Aside from all the normal theological beliefs such as the Nicene Creed, they are very intentional about fostering community and being a part of it. So there is a lot of effort devoted towards things like community gardens open to the public, subsidized co-op pre-school open to the public, food banks, tool library, women's shelter, etc. If I had to pick one word aside from the traditional mainstream Christian beliefs that could describe most churches, that would be it. Community.

Some churches try very hard to create their own separate community (Amish, Hutterites, Bruderhof). Some try very hard to be a constructive and positive part of the larger community in which they already exist. And still others just do their own thing and aren't very intentional about community one way or the other. I'm not sure which approach is most true to the teachings of Jesus.