Faith and Diversity in Religions

I am part of Grace Covenant Church, which is part of an organization called, Every Nation. Every Nation has churches in Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and America. Some folkways that I practice are going to church every Sunday and talking about the message with my family afterwards. For me, church has never been about meeting with people who think like me, it was my time to spend with God. I always preferred one on one time with God, rather than group discussion. Our church holds yearly mission trips, and frequently holds

I currently attend and work at a church with 2000+ regular attendees. We currently have over 40 small groups that meet on a weekly basis. Small groups are at the core of what we do. Beginning at age 3, we believe that the small group is THE place to grow more like Jesus and practice the “one anothers” with one another.

I have been to several Christian churches, a Catholic church, and a mosque; it is safe to say that each experience was completely different. Through these experiences, I have learned some or most of the practices for each religion, and learning more about these religions gave me a better understanding of each of them. Being involved in learning about these religions, I am more of an accepting person and always involved to learn more to broaden my knowledge. Granted I have not been a part of learning a newer religion, unless Scientology counts as a religion. Although I have never attended their own church, I did learn some information; otherwise, I haven't explored any other religions other than when I was

Faith, defined as a strong belief in something which cannot be proven, has been argued over countless generations. Still, even without proof, individuals worldwide hold true to their faith each day. After studying faith and religion in texts written by scholars with varying backgrounds, it is easy to see faith is something which is widely disputed. Comparison of Sigmund Freud’s The Future of an Illusion and Paul Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith, fully displays the discrepancies in points of view on the function of faith, as well as the necessity of faith, in society; while the comparison of Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Karl Marx’s “on the Future of Religion,” demonstrate both similarities and differences

After a few games the went back and worshiped and Ryan spoke on Moses. Then the group split up into there small groups and discussed some of the things Ryan spoke about, the girls I sat with were very interested and this gave them time to process the story and understand it. I thoroughly enjoyed the service overall and I really enjoyed the fact that the kids welcomed me and and the leaders as well.

my parents had decided that we should help within the church. At that time, the church had

CHILDREN’S CHURCH: Children who want to help in Children’s Church get a copy of the lesson ahead of time and we meet with them to discuss and pray about the lesson. We decide which part of the lesson/service they will be in charge of. Whether it’s the object lesson, the Bible lesson, running the technology or games. A few days before, we meet or call again to make sure they are

One thing that I find interesting and one that I enjoy is Montreat. Montreat during the year serves as a presbyterian college just outside of Asheville North Carolina.During the summer it serves as a Presbyterian Youth Conference. It is held over the course of 6 weeks. Broken up into three sets of two, each with different planning teams and small group leaders. There are many things to do at Montreat, not just take a break and connect with God a little more. You could hike up Mt. Lookout, go rock hopping, or sit in an eno and eat some ice cream from the Huckleberry. However you choose to spend your free time you always seem to make new friends.

On the last Thursday of every month, a few of the Young Adults from Harvest City Church volunteer to go to Carrall Gospel Mission and serve the homeless at downtown Eastside. These people are made up of drug addicts, ex-convicts, prostitutes and people with mental health problems. First, We have a short sharing session by the leaders of the mission, and afterwards we serve the homeless dinner. The purpose of this mission is not only to engage the impoverished, but also to give back to the community. Listening to the homeless talk about their lives, I have learned to be more content with what I have and not to take anything for granted. Moreover, I have learned that reaching out to others can have a lasting impact on their lives and also on

Here I interacted with similarly aged Christians and did learning activities together with instructors. As I got older, when I attended LaSalle Springs Middle School, I began to participate in Vacation Bible School as a teacher and would give out activities for the younger children to do. Shortly after, I went through conformation to officially become a member of the Church. During this time, I was also baptized because I wasn’t at birth.

My first Sunday at the church I was able to help lead mission Sunday. The church regularly set aside a Sunday each month were the youth would do a service project in the community. The Sunday I participated we worked at a community garden. My job during this time was not only cleaning and picking weeds but encouraging the youth. I learned a lot about keeping a team of youth organized and motivated. I had never witnessed a program similar to mission Sunday from any other

But that was not completely the case. I played football, face painted, jumped rope and just fellowshipped and interacted with those kids. They took pictures on the volunteers phones and were truly loved on. We all met in Aventura lobby at two in the afternoon, and left about two fifteen. We drove to Kathleen high school and parked at an open field in a church parking lot. Then, we walked through the neighborhood, picking up the normal kids who come. We brought them back to the field and began to play and let the kids choose what activities they want to do, like football, frisbee, jump rope, face/body painting and soccer. They are free to do whatever they please until it is time for Bible study. We gathered up all of the kids onto the tarp and sat them down and one of the volunteers (students) presents a Bible study. For instance, last week was about giving everything you have to God and not being selfish. Most of these kids do not have a lot of possessions so they do not want to give anything they have up. But one little boy stood up and said “I would give up school for the Church,” that was not exactly the point of the lesson, but the fact that he was willing to give up something was a step in the right direction. Before snack, we have one of the kids pray, it is so convicting seeing those kids are so excited to pray and they argue over who gets to pray first; yet, in some of my

We assisted the parishioners of the church where we were being housed by helping them complete some of their own projects, including using heavy duty cleaning supplies to remove the mold in the kitchen, replacing the ceiling tiles and replacing the baseboards that had been removed for painting. At Memphis Union Mission we sorted donations of both toiletries and clothing that were to be given out to the homeless in the area. We separated items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner so they could be packaged up and disseminated to those in need. Once the sorting process was completed, we went downstairs to help the pastor serve lunch in their soup kitchen. When we were volunteering at the Refugee Empowerment center, we helped the children of immigrants complete their homework, many of whom were not fluent in the English language. Once their homework had been finished, we taught them a popular game called ninja. At Girls Incorporated we first helped the students to finish their homework and then played some volleyball and kickball with them, a gesture that was well

The Dynamics of Faith is an in-depth look at what faith is from a theological perspective. Tillich seems to be replying to all of the writers we have read thus far and placing their arguments within the context of faith. Nowhere is this more apparent than on page 24, in his discussion of community. He rightly acknowledges that faith is usually seen in its sociologic setting. He then proceeds to sort out the different claims, saying that

The concepts of religious faith, theology, belief and spirituality are all interconnected and very easy to get mixed up. This is because they all have something to do with the other. Richard P. Mcbrien explains how religious faith, theology, beliefs, and spirituality are all connected. Theology follows faith and belief follows Theology. Faith is our personal knowledge of God through human experiences and our openness to his love. Theology is our understanding of faith as revealed by God and our articulation of it. Beliefs are accepting these theological conclusions as true even without clear and convincing evidence. Spirituality is the practice of these beliefs, letting the spirit guide ones life. Although it’s easy to mix up the meaning of faith and belief or get confused the difference in understanding faith in Theology and being filled by God in your spirituality it’s pretty easy to grasp once you see how each influences the other.