who attends a church now? (page 4)

Honesty

i'm interested in knowing how many, after leaving, started to attend a church. if so, what one and how did you decide?

I figured since the WITCHTOWER BABBLE and TRICK SYCOPATHS had lied to me about their UN affiliation (denied it until I told them I had talked with the UN on the phone), Blood and Bulgarian JW's, their NWT bible when I compared the inconsistencies in translating "worship" and "I AM", etc. they also may be lying about 'Christendom' . I am a member of a Baptist church that's 25 miles away because when I turned to Jesus and begged Him to forgive me of my many sins I also asked Him to send me to a church where the people love Him and where they live their faith. I prayed for almost two weeks straight before He answered my prayers and sent someone to invite me to church. It was 25 miles from home and has a huge cross that can be seen from I-75. It took a lot of faith in Jesus just to pull into the parking lot because of the cross but I don't even think about it being there now.

Apostate Kate

I actually prayed in 1992 after I knew without a doubt that the Watchtower was NOT the truth. I prayed and I asked God "ok, now what? I had not gone to the meetings regularly in a long time while I was researching things. I was going to stay unchurched because I did not want to be involved in religion. I prayed one day and felt the Holy Spirit leading me to Calvary Chapel Riverside California which is called "Harvest" Greg Laurie is the pastor there. I was nervous the first time, but after I researched Calvary Chapel doctine I served on different ministries there and it was a truly blessed experience.

I have been involved in Calvary Chapel's ever since. I married a pastor and we pastored a small IFCA Community Church. Now we are full time theology students at Calvary Chapel Bible College and we will go wherever God sends us. But if it is to pastor a church again, it will be a Calvary Chapel.

This is how I would size up any church if I was shopping;

Do they have charitable outreach ministries like food banks, helping hands ministries, convescelent ministries, have or support homeless shelters..etc

Do they promote or support missionaries, if so, what type?

Do they have a dress code? (forget it)

Look for legalism. Look for friendliness. It is ok to be critical. After what we have been through with the Watchtower we have to be very critical. And even if we do settle in at a new Bible based church we have to watch for erroneous doctrine that might slip in.

The Watchtower brand of false doctrine is nothing new. Aryanism has been around for 2000 years, they just repackaged it.

Does the worship music move you? It should. Worship is a very important part of even going to church. Calvary Chapel is contemporary and utilizes many musical talents. Drums, guitars etc. The pipe organ and old hyms are hard to sing to and really take part in for me it was anyway.

If you believe Genisis 1:1, you deserve to be in a regular fellowship of like minded believers.

Never give up! Keep researching. ::WAVE to my Calvary Chapel family on this thread!::

lv4fer

I go to a Non-Denominational Church. It is really big, I like the pastor he is very down to earth. I don't go all the time just every once in a awhile. I would never sign a membership card or anything, Jesus has my membership card!

Apostate Kate

That's right, Calvary Chapels preach that it is all about a personal relationship with God first through a personal relationship with His Son Jesus. Not a personal relationship with a church like it was when we were JWs. We had relationships with the Watchtower. The Tower told us what to think, when to meet, how to talk, when to talk, how to dress, we were accountable to the elders. Now I am accountable to One, Jesus.

simplesally

My daughter and I attend Calvary Chapel here in Corona, California. Teryn absolutely loves the Sunday school. The people are friendly, there is no dress code --- you see sweats to dresses. Sometimes I wear my wig, sometimes I don't. The Calvary Chapels have so much to offer but for me, the first time I walked thru the doors, I saw a girl with a bald head and scarved. She is now one of my closest friends and we are surviving together. I don't believe in coincidences.

Santa got my daughter a Bible Story book with 100 bible songs and we have the CD in the car and sing from it all the time!! It's so cute to see a four year old sing, "Keep my commandments and you shall live...." with a rap beat. She loves another song, "He has the Whole World in His Hands," she says they sing that at Sunday school, too. She was going potty this morning and singing about Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Oh it's all a riot ----- and she is not afraid of God.

At lunch, the other day, she asked me, "Who is Jehovah?" I was shocked. Turns out the teacher was telling the kids God's names from the Bible. Anyway, I am glad she is not afraid of Armageddon, a flood, a punishing God ...... but she is wanting her heart to be with God (that's her words) and she wants God to watch over her.

GoingGoingGone

I have been to a Catholic church several times since I started fading. All my extended family is Catholic, and I did go when I was little, before my mother became a JW. I really enjoyed going, I felt like I was actually worshipping God there, instead of just sitting at a KH meeting listening to a bunch of nothing.

Of course, this is a major DFing offence, and so I don't get there too often. Every time I've been to Mass, though, I'm glad I went.

GGG

freedom96

My family and I enjoy going to a non-denominational church. Great music, great teaching, great for the kids, etc. I can't say enough good things about it. We go when we can, when reasonable. We usually attend every other Sunday, and if for some reason we don't feel like going, we don't. For example, we slept in this morning, and we could have made it, but it would have been rushed. So we made a decision, without guilt, not to go. We will enjoy it next week instead.

prophecor

These brothers and sisters of the church, they encompass such a broad reflection of humanity. Some of those in service are those with beards, dreadlocks. You can almost sense the honesty and sincerity in their approach as they deal with you. There's no love bombing from people who you don't know, invading your psychological airspace. You're not viewed upon negatively if you come in a pair of jeans. One of those in service actually had a pair of jeans on, adorned respectfully with a tastefully stylish sport jacket. There are those who look like they just walked in off the corner, some could even have doubled over from a club from the night before. The bottom line is, the church is a place, where even those on the inside, have referred to as a hospital for the spiritually sick. You wouldn't go to a hospital if you were well, would you?. The whole notion of being able to come to God as you are is what I love about the church. They know that your life is involved in sin, yet they don't leave you with the impression that God will have nothing to do with you unless you've absolutely and unequivocally straightened out your life. Those who have had to clean up their lives before God would have anything to do with us is just backwards. In the church, you come as you are, with your faults, foibles and spiritual sicknesses. God then works on you, and meets you where you are. If we had to rely on the power of God to have any connection to us, only after we straightened out our life, It could never be done with any effectiveness. God has met me where I am, and has worked in my behalf, as I am. Allowing me to want to work in harmony with his spirit, as I strive towards making changes in my life. The comment was made today, " We're not sinless, but somewhere in our journey we should sin less " A play on words, yes, and yet I found that statement so profound. That God would desire to have a relationship with me, in my sin, as I work towards becoming a better person in Christ. That he would desire to keep and cover me in my inequity is something that no amount of teaching in the Kingdom Hall could dare touch. It is a releasing of refreshment. This is all new to me, yet I truly believe that the spirit of God has a place of power in the church. There is a religious explosion that's occurring in America. After all we've had to come from, I really think it's a good space to be.

Saoirse

I have been involved in Calvary Chapel's ever since. I married a pastor and we pastored a small IFCA Community Church. Now we are full time theology students at Calvary Chapel Bible College and we will go wherever God sends us.

That is so wonderful. I wish you and your husband all the best. Keep us updated so we can pray for your ministry.

I'm so happy to see so many Christians here.

Saoirse

I would never sign a membership card or anything, Jesus has my membership card!

I wouldn't either. One of things I like about my church is that they don't have official membership rolls. If you attend, you are considered a Christian, not a Calvary Chapelite. The Pastor always tells the people who get saved to make sure they find a Christian church to fellowship at and it doesn't have to be Calvary Chapel.

I also like the fact that you are free to talk to the pastors about any questions or concerns you have. You would never be kicked out or shunned for disagreeing with something the pastor teaches.

who attends a church now?

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