Ned, could you clarify how you define accurate? Above I stated "the actions of many say otherwise." Not all. I do not lump of all Eastern members together. We have many valued friends in Eastern. There is a lot of good in Eastern, I readily acknowledge that. I did not leave for a more intermediate group- the direction of travel in our current group is more conservative, not less (one of our former ministers said this himself after observation). Eastern has changed significantly in the past twenty years. Any clear thinking member will acknowledge that. My father-in-law acknowledges that. He says that he has no idea where Eastern is headed and doesn't want to dwell on that but insists it is the place to stay.NedFlanders wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 10:58 amI’m not sure either of you are accurate? Maybe some times but I would hope Eastern was focusing on direction of travel. One split I know of that left Eastern to become intermediate has struggled deeply with becoming worldly, adultery, idolatry and etc can be found… Looking on the externals I’m not sure anyone would think those things are happening but having gotten to know them it is a very sad state of direction. And sadly many of the young adults are leaving, cohabiting, marrying far outside the faith, etc…. When Eastern people see this as I have it certainly saddens a heart greatly and so we certainly want to warn on direction of travel!Josh wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 9:01 amIn other words they have a “one true church” doctrine despite claiming not to.Verity wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 8:15 am I agree with most of what you said. While Eastern may not claim in so many words to be the one true church, the actions of many say otherwise. I know countless situations where an adult child chose to join another fellowship and was considered "lost". One couple was bemoaning this only last week- one of their children is now Pilgrim, the other Northeastern. I was told by my father-in-law that if we joined anything other than Eastern or Washington County he would consider us apostate, and the extended family agrees with this position. This was with us joining a congregation that was more conservative in practice than the Eastern congregation we were part of. One minister went so far as to tell me that transferring from Eastern to another conservative group was equivalent to divorce "which is forbidden in the Scriptures, so you are on a dangerous course".
And as this relates to the topic at hand as someone leaves a less conservative setting for a more conservative- if the more conservative setting is travelling the opposite direction of the person looking for more “biblically” conservative setting there will be a constant tension between the two and hence why I’d rather just send seekers to ultra conservative settings.
I can only accurately portray my experience, as you can your own. When someone tells me that they have had no reason to lose trust in their leadership, I believe them. When another person from the same congregation says they have lost all confidence in their ministry because of ---, I believe them. Each is sharing their own experience.
What I term conservative most Anabaptist would call ultra conservative. I value this- that is why I did not throw it all away when choosing another church for my family. If I would not have had children, I might still be Eastern. But with the direction of travel and the way moral issues were handled, we did not have peace about staying.
I have watched too many young people leave Eastern because they became disillusioned. They heard one thing over the pulpit and saw quite another at home. When they left, with a heart that genuinely wanted to do right, their families disowned them. They needed family support and help as they navigated the maze of options, but suddenly they were on their own. Is it any wonder they lost their way? Yes, they made a choice. But too many times, the ones so sadly mourning the lost influenced those wrong choices. Am I making sense? I'm sorry if this only muddles things all the more.