The Mystery Of Church

In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”

First Baptist of Pontotoc, Mississippi, is a hundred and forty-six year old church that is full of history. This paper will provide a brief background of the church history. Over the last four years, three immoral staff members of First Baptist Church of Pontotoc have been contributing factors to the church 's decline.

In this legendary,and beloved classic novel,”To Kill a Mockingbird” it have many places that have a symbolic meaning in the fraudulent town of Maycomb, Alabama. Some of those places are the courthouse, the Radley’s place, and the most iconic of all is the African American church. To encapsulated this particular church I have to scrutinize the place itself.

As a child Mary’s mother, Hazel was a chartered member of “Beulah Seventh Day Adventist Church” (currently City Temple SDA Church). This is where Mary gained she introduction and devotion for Christ and the Adventist Faith. Attended Sabbath School, prayer meetings, Friday evening vespers and church school along with her older brother, Marvin was a foundation of life; Church was family and family was church. With her mother an active matron within the church, singing in the choir and serving in the Dorcas Society, tagging along to these activities quickly ignited in her a desire to sing and serve. A recognized desire for Family, church, friends, singing, and service that would remain

Church a place many people go on Sunday mornings. A place to worship in the Lord and Savior or whichever God the individual believes in. Some individuals believe that church can only be held in the church building. When in reality it can be held anywhere for example the bedroom or a field. A thing that has been noticed is there are many types of people who go that fit in with a certain group. The types include everyone from the screaming child to the strict churchgoers and everything in between. Church may be a good place to go but it is believed that the churches today are corrupt.

In Maria Byrd’s second letter to her son she specifies the churches recent worship schedule: “Mr. Thomas Davis preached at our church on Sunday last & is to give us a sermon again Thursday & has published giving the Sacrament this month.” (Tinling 1977, 689). Mrs. Byrd also notes the church’s attempt to book attract other pastors to preach to the congregation. It is important to note that in spite of the new responsibilities taken by parishes, worship of the assembly was maintained as the primary function of the

Mid-sentence the pastor interrupted himself and said, “Let us pray”, without giving us time to prepare we began praying. This sporadic praying happened many a times during the meeting. Also, I have never heard the phrase “can I get an amen?” taken so seriously. The pastor would sometimes wait for the audience to say amen and if no one would, his response to silence was, “SAY AMEN”. To me it came off forceful and demanding, but the rest of them seemed to be used to it. Like I mentioned before, there was no program or itinerary handed out. The meeting seemed very unorganized, which is different from what I am used to. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Going to a baptist church was a bit different. A lot of our beliefs were the same though! For example, we both believe that Jesus Chris performed the greatest act of the atonement (died for our sins). As well as, the resurrection of Christ. They study in the Old Testament and the New Testament like me (although we use different versions). The message of the meeting seemed to be to make it to heaven. That was their happiness. To make it to heaven, they are to follow the commandments given to them by their God, and live their life

In 1974 Dulles published Models of the Church to address questions concerning ecclesiology-the study of the church. Many people believe that they know the meaning of the church, which is a place to become closer to God. However, there is more than what meets the eye when it comes to the Church, since it is a very complex organization. Dulles' book identifies and describes the different functions the Church possesses which Jesus Christ founded and continues to oversee today. He categorizes the models into five aspects: Church as institution, Church as mystical communion, Church as sacrament, Church as herald, Church as servant, and lastly his new model Church as community. In this

Over the past years of my life I have seen many changes, some for the good and others not as good. Change can be demanding and also crucial. The early believers would encounter this. One can see that significant change happened, when reading through the gospels and the book of acts it is obvious to the reader that the believers who followed Jesus would never be the same again.

The Chinese Christian church in the United States often has ethnic characteristics, but different Chinese churches often have special concentration in the composition of the congregation, which reflects the tide of Chinese immigrants in different stages. For example, descendants of early immigrants from southern China usually have their fixed church. International students from the mainland of China have the church which they set up together. And other "informal immigrants" also formed Christian organizations. According to Aihui Lee, she divides American Chinese Christianity into four categories.

There is no right and wrong; everything is relative: there are no absolutes, everything is relative to the emerging church.[10] The emerging church leaders consider fundamentalist, orthodox church and worship service with hymns as stagnant and failing to interact with and impact the culture. They see to resovle that by shedding themselves of traditionalism (which they see as modernism( and adapt to the culture.[11]

In his hardback titled The Church: Contours of Christian Theology, Edmund P. Clowney writes a systematic presentation about concerning the doctrine of the church. In chapter eight of his book, he describes the Marks of the Church. Clowney writes about the marks of a true church of Christ, which include the true preaching of the Word of God; the proper observation of the sacraments; and the faithful exercise of church discipline.

Within each church, spirituality is expressed in different traditions and is practiced in various ways. In identifying these traditions Richard Foster placed in six categories namely, contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical and incarnation. Although these traditions are found to be central to our Christian faith each church has demonstrated a tendency to prefer the practice of one over another.

Reflecting upon the readings of Torrance’s Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace and White’s Introduction to Christian Worship will deeply shape how I look at worship in the churches I now order worship for the congregations. I used one of the churches in which I serve to do the Order of Worship assignment. It is a blue collar, small membership church located in a rural, retirement/ vacation area of North Carolina, Lake Gaston. It is also predominately Caucasian. Torrance’s focus is on trinitarian worship, participating in Christ’s communion with God, the Father and Christ’s life, death, and resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit. And White’s focus is to look at how the forms used in worship give worship its meaning. These forms include but are not exclusive of, time, space, music and art. There are implications for both focuses in the order of worship for the congregation used for my order of worship.

Since the day I was born my parents took my sister and me to church ever Sunday. I grew up in a loving Christian home and was encouraged at an age where I could fully understand, to purse a relationship with Jesus. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was in the second grade and was baptized in the fourth grade at age 10. Growing up I have always been super involved in Church. I have a heart for people and love serving. Since 3rd grade until now, my senior year of high school I have been on the leadership team with my youth group. I can not imagine my life without Jesus as the center. I have been pushed to step out of my comfort zone and because of that I have grown in several different ways. For example, I am an extrovert and enjoy getting new people, but never liked public speaking as I felt nervous and intimidated. By the many adult leaders, and pastors coming along side of me and encouraging me to step of on my comfort zone I now highly enjoy speaking and spreading the truth about The Lord in big groups of people. I am so thankful for the many God loving people that have come in my life and helped stretch me. Jesus is my entire life and I am nothing without him.