My Life After The Lutheran Church

But as I make meaning of the story that my life encapsulates – I was a damaged soul, damaged by abuse by my own father. I can't even say I have a father, because I grew up without knowing what father's love felt like. My earthly father had a gambling problem and had multiple affairs outside of marriage. The pains of my childhood robbed me of my identity, confidence, security, trust in men, joy of living and believe in myself. I struggled greatly even as I grew into adulthood, but, God has healed me, and He is still healing and redeeming me from the wounds of my past. Through many challenges in life, as I grew into adulthood, I find myself asking Him, “God, why, oh God, why do you give me such an emotionally challenging childhood?” Though I did not receive a clear answer all these years but he taught me one thing, and that is to live my life with open hands, to allow God, the Author to do what He so choose to do. It is He, God, the Master of my life, and as for me, to live a life surrendered to my Master. Only then, did I realise that that's how I am able to taste his endless richness of His grace. God has redeemed me and has blessed me so much. Today, I can say that I am blessed and I give thanks to God. Now that I am here, in SBC, studying this work of Benner, it is totally sobering to be called into the work of soul care. Having taken the journey that I have, this reckoning gives me true meaning of what I have experienced in my past; it is that

The Roman Catholic Church dominated religion for many years in Europe and became an extremely powerful institution. Over the years, the Roman church became corrupt and immoral in many ways. The development of the Protestant Reformation, Lutheranism, was greatly influenced by political events in the years proceeding the 16th century. The declared aim of the original reformer, Martin Luther, was to restore the Christian faith as it had been at its formation, while salvaging what he considered valuable from the Roman Catholic tradition that had developed during the previous centuries. Luther broke the unity of the Catholic Church forever by exposing their faults and misguided notions. Lutheranism spread quickly due to

The rise of a new religion is often met with both praise and malice from the hierarchy of the civilization it springs from. The rise of Lutheranism affected all of Western Europe, but it’s most prominent impact was on the peasants and serfs with no where to turn in what is today Germany. As the growth of Lutheranism picked up speed at the beginning of the sixteenth century, peasants from all over the Germanic states turned to Lutheranism in search of salvation and escape from the corruption sweeping the Catholic Church. Lutheranism’s impact stretched far beyond its own boarders, instigating changes within the Catholic Church to combat Lutheranism. Through Lutheranism, the

It is difficult for me to put into words what being a Lutheran means to me. I believe that if you believe in God you will go to Heaven, no matter how many mistakes you've made. As a Lutheran we believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirt. We believe that he rose on the third day. We believe that when we go to heaven we will see Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the father. We believe that grace is Gods gift to us, we don't need to earn or win it from him it's just given to us. In my fist year of confirmation it was a lot to take in, going from raider material to more intense material. It kinda scared me at first, starting to realize what God means to me and how he affects my life. Every year of confirmation I gained more knowledge about myself and how God was always with me. We believe that God made everything, and

The Reformation was a movement in the 16th century that was marked ultimately by rejection or modification of some Roman Catholic doctrine or practice and led to the establishment of the Protestant Churches. Although this was mostly viewed as just a religious movement, there we also many political and social aspects of it. In the beginning Johann Tetzel sold indulgences, a pardon for certain types of sin, the guilt that has been forgiven which was a position very harshly challenged by Martin Luther. Luther was later a German professor, but at this time came to be known as a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Anyway, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses which he wrote as a protest against the selling of indulgences. After this he was

I was attending a chapel service and at Pittsburgh Theological seminars. I’m not sure who was ordained, because I’m still new, I know that these are my class mates, and we don’t really get in to who is ordained and who is not. So, I’m going to assume that they were all lay persons. There were about 6 people involved in the service, there were 3 musicians a 3 people that read different part of the service. It was a beautiful call and response type of service, which I thought was interesting. I want to say that the on participant is the one who runs our chapel service.

The Trinity Lutheran Church is preschool and daycare center, this organization is open whole year to help working families. The Trinity Lutheran Church located in Boone County, Missouri. The territory of church has a children’s playground, which surrounded by pea gravel. Due to the fact that kids are young and may injure themselves if they fall on hard pea gravel, the Trinity Church sent application to take part in program to replace the pea gravel on recycled tires to upgrade playgrounds. Whereupon their application got denied. As a result of which the church seek legal redress in a lower court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit where it got denied second time based on Constitution of Missouri that says that no public finding can go to religious

Each night, there is a point where the day falls to silence, a silence that encloses you in your own thoughts and reflections. For as long as I can remember, my dad always told me "that is when you pray." His words matched the ones of every Sunday school teacher, but their voices faded as my worries grew. It seemed there were some stresses a man on a cross could not eliminate. Bible stories where Jesus cures people from their pain and problems appeared no different from the storybooks I stopped reading years ago, unrealistic and improbable. I vacillated between the faith instilled in me and the plausibility of things occurring by chance, not by Christ. As each day came to a close, I struggled to thank a voiceless God for a day I wasn’t grateful

I attend Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard. My experiences that I have obtained from attending that church have developed my character and gave me so many opportunities. Being part of the church allowed me to see more people from many different walks of life. I also made many friends there that weren't just in my grade. When I look back at the mission trip that I did a few years ago I am very proud of all the stuff that our small group was able to accomplish. I liked being able to help these people and better understand what they were going through. Without church I would not have these amazing experiences and I would not be the person that i was

“The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.”  These are the words of Martin Luther, the man who started the Lutheran Church which soon led to the creation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The Church was officially formed on January 1, 1988 and was a combination of three branches of the Lutheran religion: the American Lutheran church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran churches, and the Lutheran Church in America. In 2012 the ELCA had 3,950,924 baptized members. Today, it is the seventh largest

Growing up in a Christian home was nothing extraordinary. My father volunteered at my church and was very connected with the community, while I went to the kid service every Sunday. About four years ago the church we had gone to for my entire life shut down. Loosing that church was a tough experience because the church was like my second family.

Both my parents worked extremely hard to allow us to have the amazing lifestyle we have today and to show the amazing things that God has done for us in our lives. For as long as I can remember I was taught the Catholic way from my parents and have been in private catholic school all my life. I learned everyday about God from Pre-k 4 to eighth grade from my old catholic school, St. Bonaventure Catholic School. My parents and my education at St. Bonaventure allowed me to have a stronger connection to God and to have a better understanding of my faith. God was, and still is a major influence in my life, and that's how it was for me at my years at St. Bonaventure Catholic

In 2001, I began to encounter a rather turbulent and difficult period after my father passed away because of congestive heart failure. I attempted to reduce the negative effects of the agonizing loss and began to work excessively as an escape from the painful reality. Most recently, I reevaluated this heartrending event in my life and identified the one of the poorest choices I made was the decision not approach God with this serious predicament. Unknowingly, I continued to pursue the comfort and peace that Jesus Christ alone provides to a person with grief-stricken heart.

I was raised a Christian. I attended a small Christian School in southwest Ohio from kindergarten all the way through my senior year of high school. As students, we were required to bring proof that we attended church each Sunday. We memorized Bible verses every week. We even had mini church services in school once a week. All of these activities contributed to our grade in our Bible classes, which was required every semester.

I grew up in a Catholic home. From my earliest memories, I believed in God and knew He existed. Every week we faithfully attended our local parish. There was no Sunday School so we sat with our parents during mass. I remember my youngest sister, Jennifer, playing with my Dad’s keys