Posted by Dog on December 15, 2003, at 10:35:11
In reply to I do this every Christmas....., posted by judy1 on December 13, 2003, at 11:21:58
Judy, i used to be licensed local pastor for the United Methodist Church and went to a pretty good seminary which was "Evangelical Free" denomination but had 80% of its students from other denominations or non-denominations. They were conservative in theology and the United Methodists have a more liberal kind of theology, esp. with their leaders, so i think i have probably been exposed to more different kinds of theological backgrounds than most: both liberal and conservation.
Roman Catholics are a "High Church" sort of faith, that is they are really into the ceremonial, priestly, ritualistic kind of thing... nothing against them: they're cool, but you might want to try a more relational type church, a "Low Church" kind of thing...there's this guy in the Chicago area named Bill Hybels who is a former Presbyterian...He did this tremendous study with a poll to try and determine why people didn't go to church or what they did or didn't like about it... with those results, he designed "Willow Creek Community Church", which is Orthodox in its beliefs, but is eclectic and very relational in its design... its all a part of the evangelical movement... most excellent and highly recommended and its "clones" can be found almost everywhere now in the US... look in your yellow pages for churches under "Community Churches" and give them a call...
i am still United Methodist... they are a "mixed bag" in that there are some high and some low church ideas, but most are not moving as fast as the Hybels constructs...Hybels type churches are much more open to ministering to the whole family, which is what it sounds like you might need.
sounds like you might have had some sad unfortunate things happen in your family... "Community" churches utilize a lot of support groups also... i grew up in an alcoholic family and was profoundly affected by it... Community Churches encourage Al-Anon, ACOA, AA, NA, SA, OA, and other similar type groups...very open and helpful...if there was one closer to me, i'd be going to it...
Blessings, Dog> Every year at this time I yearn to feel a strong faith. I was raised Catholic, but with so many negatives present in my life as a child, I never got the comfort I needed from the Church. Of course I was never honest about what was happening at home, so it wasn't anyone's fault but my own. I would love to give my children a foundation in faith, I feel it's important and so does my therp and pdoc. It doesn't have to be a particular denomination, just whatever it takes to believe and be comforted. Any suggestions on how to get started? thanks- judy
poster:Dog
thread:289364
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20030908/msgs/290003.html