Other Churches

[Unregistered]

Dear Brothers and Sisters

From now on, I decided to go to churches that pray like this "Dear Heavenly Father...in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen". I don't know any former members of LC who moved into other churches. I'm not willing to return to meeting halls of LC ever again. I became interested in Hillsong, but they don't have a branch at Taiwan. I like the hymns such as "Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The Earth is filled with his glory.", "Bless be the name of the Lord", "Saviour he can move the mountains...Forever author of salvation", etc. I know that there's no such thing as a perfect church.

Anonymous

[TLFisher]

I've met with 2 churches since 2010/2011. True, not all churches are perfect.
I've seen more of a burden for community than when I met with the Local Churches. With the Local Churches it is more fellowship based upon a ministry which makes them to be ministry churches more than a local church.
What need does each one need to be met?
For me I wanted a Bible based church that was not ministry focused yet financially contributes to various ministries and missionaries.

[aron]

Lessons learned from the LC.

1. if the Pastor is held to be untouchable, probably should stay away.
2. if the group won't fellowship with any others of "fallen Babylon", probably stay away.
3. if the group has their own special Bible, own special translation, and all other Christians are regarded as "darkened" or hopelessly ignorant, probably stay away.
4. if the only books allowed are published by the Pastor/Apostle/Minister, probably stay away.
5. if they have a proprietary lineage from Jesus Christ to the Pastor, probably stay away.
6. if they focus on self instead of helping others, calling such outreach activities 'dead works', probably stay away. Jesus was full of "good works" (Acts 10:38), why would we say they are dead works?
7. if they boost your ego, telling you how wonderful you are, love-bombing you, probably stay away. They are setting you up.
8. if they publicly humiliate church members as a kind of initiation, called variously "perfecting" and "training", probably avoid this group. (note that #8 inevitably follows #7)

There is a lot of good Christian fellowship out there, but don't lay hands quickly on any group. Sit in the back row, watch, then leave. Then go back a week later and do the same thing. Take your time. Don't commit to anyone. The Local Church often used 'charismania' - high-pressure, sensory overload, yelling and arm-waving, to get visitors into crisis mode, then to emotional commit, before realizing what they'd committed to.

As far as positive things to pursue, the NT is full of relevant counsel. But it's been 2,000 years and so much has come in, so many layers of culture and interpretation. Interesting that those calling for "Back to the basics" and "biblical Christianity" can be really far off, as well. Google "recovered church" or "restored church" or "true church" and look how many separate entities pop up, even in Taiwan I daresay. It's become something of a fad over the past 30 years.

Instead, "seek ye first the kingdom of God", not in a website or building with a sign out front, but in continual obedience to the Holy Spirit. This will lead to the narrow path, and Christian fellowship. That's the best I can do. I had to unlearn years of Christian teachings to see that the words in the NT were telling me a story. Once I saw it, it became clear guidance to me - who I was supposed to be, what I was suppose to do (and not to do), and how to do it (and how not to do it). It's right there.

The path is there, you just have to be willing to sit quietly, and look. If you seek the Saviour, you'll find His sheep.

[aron]

I was probably too vague in my last post, and less helpful. One way to gain fellowship is first to understand the historical background and geographical placement of your current situation. This usually takes time for seeking, prayer, and consideration.

For example, if you're in Swansea, Wales, there will be a Catholic diocese and Anglican one. There will be a Baptist church, and various others, perhaps Methodist. If you look in history, Evan Roberts was involved in a great revival some 100 years ago of the Protestant population. Or, if you go to Thessaloniki in Greece, you may find that the Orthodox Church prevails, and claims to be based by Paul, and in continuous service since then, coming up through the Byzantine Age.

In both cases, if you live there, you should respect God's sovereign arrangement. By this I don't mean become Anglican or Orthodox, but rather hold a simple gospel message that allows you some degree of mutuality and mutual building-up - or at least the avoidance of ill-will and contention - that is so necessary for the presentation of the Body of Christ to the community at large. With some groups such as Mormons, JW, Christian Science, Unitarian Universalist, Rastafarian, International Churches of Christ, the Nee & Lee spin-offs, Unification Church etc, exercise discernment and avoid - with the rest, try to find some common ground. Because common ground is there.

Peter is such an aid in this. The simple Galilean fisherman had a simple gospel message. Look at 1 Peter: his gospel consists of "the sufferings of the Christ and the glories that follow" (1:11). This is similar to his message on Pentecost, and to the house of Cornelius later in Acts. Peter, as his intimate disciple, held forth that Jesus had obeyed God, did myriads of good works and miraculous signs to manifest God, then suffered, died, and rose again after 3 days, demonstrating conclusively that this one death atoned for the sins of the world. Now, we who repent and believe will hold ourselves up as befits our name, and hold ourselves to go forward in this very faith and hope. It's not complicated. If you seek the Shepherd, and wait to hear his voice, then you'll hear a simple message, plain and true, and you'll soon enough find yourself among his sheep.

[StevenLi89]

I was probably too vague in my last post, and less helpful. One way to gain fellowship is first to understand the historical background and geographical placement of your current situation. This usually takes time for seeking, prayer, and consideration.

For example, if you're in Swansea, Wales, there will be a Catholic diocese and Anglican one. There will be a Baptist church, and various others, perhaps Methodist. If you look in history, Evan Roberts was involved in a great revival some 100 years ago of the Protestant population. Or, if you go to Thessaloniki in Greece, you may find that the Orthodox Church prevails, and claims to be based by Paul, and in continuous service since then, coming up through the Byzantine Age.

In both cases, if you live there, you should respect God's sovereign arrangement. By this I don't mean become Anglican or Orthodox, but rather hold a simple gospel message that allows you some degree of mutuality and mutual building-up - or at least the avoidance of ill-will and contention - that is so necessary for the presentation of the Body of Christ to the community at large. With some groups such as Mormons, JW, Christian Science, Unitarian Universalist, Rastafarian, International Churches of Christ, the Nee & Lee spin-offs, Unification Church etc, exercise discernment and avoid - with the rest, try to find some common ground. Because common ground is there.

Peter is such an aid in this. The simple Galilean fisherman had a simple gospel message. Look at 1 Peter: his gospel consists of "the sufferings of the Christ and the glories that follow" (1:11). This is similar to his message on Pentecost, and to the house of Cornelius later in Acts. Peter, as his intimate disciple, held forth that Jesus had obeyed God, did myriads of good works and miraculous signs to manifest God, then suffered, died, and rose again after 3 days, demonstrating conclusively that this one death atoned for the sins of the world. Now, we who repent and believe will hold ourselves up as befits our name, and hold ourselves to go forward in this very faith and hope. It's not complicated. If you seek the Shepherd, and wait to hear his voice, then you'll hear a simple message, plain and true, and you'll soon enough find yourself among his sheep.

I met with members of Mormons of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses. I never touch the book of Mormon and I will automatically discard materials from Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm steering clear from both of these organisations that I mentioned above because they don't adhere to the Holy Trinity. I heard of a church called Bread of Life, but I don't like their prayer style which they chant gibberish; I heard that other churches also follow suit. I don't know any other churches that also reject the Holy Trinity. I don't have any experience with Christian Science. There are other churches and organisations that are considered extreme, unfortunately I can't speak for all of them.

I regret being part of Christians on Campus, and I wish I joined Intervarsity instead. I knew nothing about Church Life until I met with students from Anaheim's full time training centre. I was too nice to them and accepted their invitation without 2nd thought. I thought all Christians are the same when I was a boy, but that is not true. I'm more of a secular Christian nowadays because a lot of times I want to get out of my bubble whenever I'm bored. I'm not compelled to read the Bible daily. I have other interests such as food, video games, literature, etc.