So after all of the stink with Dr. Clark last week, this Sunday morning we went to church...at an Orthodox Presbyterian Church! The folks at Covenant OPC in Brighton, MI are very hospitable. OPC services are more formal than I am used to but they are good people meeting in an elementary school gym. We would never consider membership there since a) I don't think formalized membership is a Biblical principal and b) because of infant baptism but it was a place we enjoyed worshipping and we may consider going again. The preaching is solidly Reformed, but we do stick out like sore thumbs since the 11 of us (our friend James came with us) increased their attendance by 30%. I really miss that small church feel where everyone knows one another.
Looked at a new house today, we liked it A LOT! It was around 3000 square feet, just mammoth rooms, set up almost perfectly for us. Woodburning stove with a wood bunk in the garage, big dining room so we can actually open up our big dining room table and *GASP* all eat at the same table! Bedrooms and a gathering place upstairs for the kids, and an absolutely great room set aside by itself with a sliding pocket door we can use for homeschool so they can be separate from the rest of the house and not distracted with room for at least two desks and my bookcases. With luck we might be able to start moving in about a month from now and take our time getting in and settled. It is out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields and woods, so it will be very quiet but we can get into a number of more metro areas like Lansing or Ann Arbor in 20-25 minutes.
7 comments:
If you move there, you will have to meet Steve's parents.
They live in Prescott.
Fred is a man you would enjoy having discussions with!
Paula
They live in Prescott, MI? That is kind of far north of us (remember people outside of Alaska don't drive vast distances!) But we go by that way all the time heading to my parents place.
How exciting! Our next-door neighbors' house just went up for sale today, and I'm trying to encourage Randy to take a look at it--it's much bigger than ours, with a usable basement space. Our 1000 square foot bungalow is perfect for the two of us, but we're trying to start a family, and he has family out of town, so we need a place for them to stay when they come here. I don't know where we would put a baby right now!
Good luck with the house!
The possible new home sounds lovely! I am so happy for you! Sounds like you will be cutting a lot of wood to heat the place... hope you have a few older boys!
Bethany ;)
What town is the house in?
If there is no formalized membership in the NT. How could you ever practice church discipline?
How could you 'purge out the old leaven and be a new lump.?"
There must be a recognition on some point at who qualifies for being in the "look out among you for 7 men.." Who do elders oversee,shepherd?
Just curious.
The thriving metropolis of Fowlerville. If we move there we would increase the population by 10%!
I would flip your other question around and point out that in most churches with formal membership there is hardly church discipline in anything but name alone. You walk an aisle, sign a card and you are a "member". Or even worse, you are born to a believer, get "baptized" as an infant and you are a member. Even someone like Paul Washer, who claims his church practices it, is in a church of a thousand people. How can you effectively practice discipleship and discipline in a church of a thousand? Plus how do you practice Biblical church discipline on unbelievers who are members?
I am leaning toward a small, simple church. No formal membership. No paid ministry. Meeting wherever makes sense, whether in a small church, a rented location like a school or in a home. A focus on the essentials of the church (Acts 2:42). Solid teaching, frequent and meaningful fellowship, lifting one another up in prayer, breaking bread with one another, exhorting and rebuking and disciplining one another because we know and love one another.
I knew it, Arthur has gone Emergent.
Maybe in this context, you will be able to contribute by using your spiritual gift: rebuke.
Go Amish, I mean Arthur.
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