NOTE: This book has now been published and you can purchase it on Amazon.
The book is titled Finding Church, and it recounts the journeys people have experienced within church.
Below is a current list of our contributors, though it is possible that not all of these contributions will be in the final draft.
If you wish you would have submitted your story, there is still time! Find out more at the bottom of this post.
Changing Church
These are stories of people who, for numerous different reasons, left one church to join another.
- Eric Hatfield – Blogs at http://theway21stcentury.wordpress.com/
- Felisa Reed – Part of http://www.therefugeonline.org/
- Jessica Bowman – Blogs at http://bohemianbowmans.com/ and is the author of Parenting Wild Things
- Judith Huang – Blogs at http://www.graceground.com/
- Kellen Freeman – Blogs at http://www.kellenfreeman.net/
- Kimberly Parker – Blogs at http://www.simplycreativewriting.com/ and is the author of Radical Love…Forever Changed
- Laura Davis – Mother, wife, and advocate to the brokenhearted
- Sam Riviera – Blogs at http://www.graceground.com/
Leaving Church
These are stories of people who felt that “going to church” was inhibiting their walk with Jesus, and so left the institutional church to follow and serve Jesus in other ways.
- Brian Swan – Brian Swan is the author of a blog called “Allergic to BS“
- Genevieve Thul – Writes at http://turquoisegates.com and http://incourage.me
- Glenn Hager – Blogs at http://www.glennhager.com/
- Lew Ayotte – Blogs at http://lewayotte.com
- Mike Donahoe – Author and writer.
- Mike Keffer – Works in the financial services industry
- Tara Pohlkotte – Blogs at www.pohlkottepress.blogspot.com
- Tyson Phillips – Follower of Jesus and writer.
- Wayne Hobson – Author of Suffer The Little Children: Understanding and Overcoming Spiritual Abuse
- Will Rochow – Blogs at www.Rochow.ca
Reforming Church
Though many people have painful experiences in church, some people choose to stay at their church and try to work through them, reforming the church from the inside, and being the change they want to see. These are their stories.
- Aubry Smith – Freelance writer and stay-at-home mother
- Bill Reichart – Blogs at http://www.ministrybestpractices.com/
- Dan King – Author of The Unlikely Missionary: From Pew-Warmer to Poverty-Fighter
and blogger at http://bibledude.net/
- Daniel Darling – Blogs at http://www.danieldarling.com/ and author of Real: Owning Your Christian Faith
- John Walker – Husband, gardener, and chef
- Markus Watson – Author and Pastor
- Ryan Peter – Blogger and author of When Twins War
- Sonny Lemmons – Contributing author to The Myth of Mr. Mom
and Not Afraid: Stories of Finding Significance (forthcoming)
- Travis Mamone – Blogs at www.travismamone.net and contributor to Not Alone: Stories Of Living With Depression
and Not Afraid: Stories of Finding Significance (forthcoming)
Returning to Church
These are stories of people who returned to church after years of being away.
- Cara Sexton – Writes at http://www.whimsysmitten.com/
- Judith Huang – Blogs at http://www.graceground.com/
- Mary C. M. Phillips – Blogs at http://caffeineepiphanies.wordpress.com
- Wayne Hobson – Author of Suffer The Little Children: Understanding and Overcoming Spiritual Abuse
Not Yet Sent in the Story (but said they will!!!)
Let me know you want to contribute, and I will add your name to the list.
- Aaron Armstrong – Author at http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/
- Alan Brisco – Author and writer at http://www.alanbrisco.com/
- Alan Knox – Blogs at The Assembling of the Church
- Alastair McCollum – Pastor and blogger at http://www.graceground.com/
- Anthony Ehrhardt – Blogs at http://antwrites.com/
- Carey Crawford – Blogs at http://www.leavingchurchinc.wordpress.com
- Casey Pick – Writer and author
- Dave Winter – Writer and author
- Jason Schmidt – Writer and author
- Jenny Simmons – Blogs at http://www.jennysimmons.com/ and lead singer with Addison Road
- John Martinez – Pastor at http://thedistillerychurch.org/
- Kathy Pickett – Pastor at Homeswood Baptist Church
- Kevin Martineau – http://kevinmartineau.ca/
- Mark Lamprecht – Blogs at http://hereiblog.com/
- Melody Hanson – Blogs at www.logicandimagination.com
- Nick Thacker – Blogger at http://www.livehacked.com/
- Rowland Croucher – Writer at http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
- Travis Klassen – Blog at www.churchburned.com
Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death?
It was Patrick Henry who spoke these immortal words when calling for the United States colonists to rise up in arms against Great Britain:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Upon hearing this, the crowd reportedly rose to their feet and shouted, “To arms! To arms!”
I love this quote from one of our nation’s founding fathers, as I love much of the history and values of our great country.
Whose Unalienable Rights?
But I am often surprised and perplexed that men who wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, could so quickly seek to take the first of those rights—the right of life—from others.
In other words, it is strange that people seek to defend their life, liberty, and rights by taking away the life, liberty, and the rights of others.
I understand that this is the way the world works, but I also understand that the way of the world rarely matches the way of Jesus.
The Way of Jesus
While it is true that all people are created equal, and that God has given us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is not true that the best way to achieve these rights is through the subjection, enslavement, and killing of others. Do not they also have the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
But what happens when rights collide? What happens when one person’s pursuit of happiness requires the unhappiness of someone else, or worse, their enslavement or death?
It is here that the way of Jesus is highly instructive. It is also here where the founding fathers of our government, as well as nearly all governments of the world, have missed the mark. And it is also here where most Christians, pastors, and churches have also lost the way of Jesus.
Jesus, in contrast to Patrick Henry, said, “I give you liberty BY my death!”
Christians and churches should follow this example as we seek to be Jesus to the world.
Don’t Get Baptized. Cut Your Hair!
I have long hair.
Honestly, it is not because I like long hair. I find long hair to be rather annoying.
But I grew my hair out for symbolic reasons which have to do with my job as a prison chaplain.
First, although I am a prison chaplain, I am a correctional worker first, and am there to protect and serve the community by helping maintain the safe and orderly operation of the prison. And yet, as a follower of Jesus, I wanted to show the men at the prison that I was not just another prison guard. I was different. Most of the prison guards have military backgrounds, and the military haircut to go with it. By growing my hair out, I visually set myself apart from the other prison employees, even though I was one of them.
Ironically, in the process of growing my hair out, I soon found that the people who judged me for it the most were the incarcerated men.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had a man come up to be after a Bible Study or a church service in prison, and ask to speak to me in private. When we get back into my office, they pull out their Bible and tell me that God has given them a verse for me. Then they read 1 Corinthians 11:14: “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?” I once had a man misquote the verse and change “dishonor” into “abomination” but that is beside the point.
The first time this happened, I had a little debate there in my office about using proper historical-cultural hermeneutics to interpret Scripture, but over the years, I have finally settled on a simple answer. I say, “That is exactly why I wear it long. I want to be shamed.” They usually don’t know what to say to this, and the conversation ends.
Baptism: Death and Rebirth
We have previously seen that Jews practiced baptism, and Jesus underwent this Jewish baptism. What does all this mean, and how did Christian baptism develop?
Jewish Rebirth through Baptism
In Judaism, baptism in water represents a death to the past and a new birth to a completely different future.
It symbolizes death, burial, and new birth. The coming up out of the water did not symbolize resurrection (for many Jewish people did not believe in the resurrection), but of being reborn out of water, like a newborn babe.
This partly explains why Jesus is incredulous that Nicodemus does not understand about being “born again” (John 3:10). Baptism as a means of being “born again by water” was a common practice among Judaism. Entering the water was a way of identifying oneself with the purity of a newborn infant, and indicated that a person was turning away from something in their previous life and making a fresh start in a new direction.
Tithing Your Taxes
Moses is the only biblical author to write any commands about the tithe. Yes, that is right. There are no commands written by any other author in all of Scripture about giving a tenth of your income. However, some pastors argue that although Moses is the only biblical author to write commands about tithing, his instructions were not for a mere 10%, but were closer to 30% of a person’s annual income.
The 30% Tithe?
The argument for this 30% tithe is based on several passages from the Books of Moses. The argument is that there was a tithe to support the Levites (Lev 27:30-33), a tithe to fund an annual festival (Deut 14:22-29), several smaller tithes to help the poor (Lev 19:9-10) and give rest to the land (Exod 23:10-11), and on top of all of this, there were numerous annual sacrifices of bulls and goats, which also cost money (Lev 1–7). None of this counted the freewill offerings a person might make, but even without these offerings, it is estimated that a person’s annual required “donation” to the temple was around 30% of their annual income.
People who argue this, however, fail to recognize that when Moses wrote these laws, they were operating as a Theocracy, and the vast majority of these “tithes” were the modern equivalent of taxes. When the people brought in the required tithes of their crops and produce, it was so the rulers of the country could perform their God-given functions. And who were the rulers of the country in the Israelite theocracy? The Levitical priests!
Paying Tithes and Paying Taxes
So while it is true that the Israelites gave somewhere in the vicinity of 30% of their crops and herds to support the work of the Levites, this is not at all equivalent to tithing to support the church today. Instead, since their “tithe” was supporting their theocratic government, the modern equivalent is how we pay taxes to support the functions of our own government.
And when we realize that the average person today is paying the federal government around 25% of their income, and then paying another 10% (or more) for state, county, and city taxes, we are paying a little more in taxes today than what was prescribed by the Mosaic Law for the people of Israel to pay their government. To ask people to “tithe” and additional 10% to the church because “this is what the Law says” reveals a misunderstanding of the Mosaic Law, how this tithe was collected, and what this income was used for.
We will look in greater detail tomorrow at the instructions from Moses about the tithe. Be prepared to be surprised!
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- …
- 54
- Next Page »
Get Books by Jeremy Myers
