tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post2914025979758826678..comments2023-06-09T12:46:12.932-04:00Comments on The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia: A call for a new Reformation in the churchArthur Sidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-83504466272193495032008-11-04T15:01:00.000-05:002008-11-04T15:01:00.000-05:00Mike,we did indeed meet at the conference at Calva...Mike,<BR/><BR/>we did indeed meet at the conference at Calvary. As far as your questions...<BR/><BR/>1. No idea why we have steeples. I wear a suit because it is how I was raised to dress in church (even though we never went!) and it is how I am most comfortable.<BR/><BR/>2. I have pretty limited exposure to the house church movement, but the people I know of have some theological oddities that seem hard to square with Scripture. I am sure that is not the case with all, or even most, house church people. I am a believer in the local church body, but I think it needs some serious reformation but not abadonment.<BR/><BR/>3. We haven't talked about it, it is something I have become progressively more concerned about fairly recently.Arthur Sidohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-18703820069143172212008-11-03T21:41:00.000-05:002008-11-03T21:41:00.000-05:00we must be willing to purge out the old leaven and...we must be willing to purge out the old leaven and be a new lump - We are unleavened, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.<BR/><BR/>I think if we see the New Covenant of Ezekiel 36 and how God will cause us to walk in the statutes etc. <BR/><BR/>By fruit you will know them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-10566621383371027962008-11-03T08:34:00.000-05:002008-11-03T08:34:00.000-05:00ArthurI found your blog through James Lee! I belie...Arthur<BR/><BR/>I found your blog through James Lee! I believe we sat together at dinner at the recent Reformed Conference. I gave a session on Reformed Theology in Contemporary Context. Anyway...<BR/><BR/>Hope you don't mind me entering into the dialogue here. I particularly wanted to address the part of your post where you say,"<I>I do not have an end-result in mind, a preordained conclusion. I am not calling for the wholesale abandonment of the church, the "steeple house" in favor of so-called "house churches". But I am similarly not content to just muddle through like we are, tinkering around in the sandbox unafraid or unconcerned with why we do what we do because that is just how we have always done it.</I>"<BR/><BR/>It seems to me you are coming to a place many are these days, who desire to grow deeper as both learners of the gospel and members of the family of God. Further, many are realizing that we must reclaim our identity as missionaries in a post-Christian context in ways we never expected. Some of your other thoughts I found interesting and lead to other questions:<BR/><BR/>1. Why do our buildings have steeples? For that matter--how about pews? Suits and ties? One hour sermonizing? Etc.<BR/><BR/>2. Why would you not want "house churches" or would you just not want them based on some bad experience with one?<BR/><BR/>3. Have you expressed these thoughts to your pastor? How did that go?Mike Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13399008890683095829noreply@blogger.com