So here is the article, Come Share the Dream.
But then it got me thinking. Why should I be just a Nazarene?
Here are some more articles explaining why people are members of other denominations.
Why I am...
...a Baptist. a United Methodist. a Primitive Baptist. a church of Christer. a Unitarian Universalist. a Presbyterian. a Lutheran. a Catholic.
The list could probably go on and on if I took time to find links, which I have already spent over a half hour doing. So I'm going to stop there.
Most people would leave more confused than ever. However, I believe God is tugging on my heart. During all of this and recent events that I am not allowed to share in public, I have had a strange desire to head back to the non-denominational church of Christ/Christian churches. Maybe everything has been done in order to bring me into a greater grasp of the entire body of Christ and to insure a non-sectarian vision of the kingdom in my heart.
Victor Knowles gave a speech that pointed out that the conservative church of Christ/Christian churches were the second fastest growing denomination in the United States behind the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1990-2000.
You can go read the whole speech if you want, but he points out reasons he thinks this is the case.
1. Conservatism
2. Commitment from members
3. Loyalty to our heritage
4. A passion for evangelism
5. Nondenomenational status
6. Attempting new strategies
7. Contemporary worship
8. The rise of the megachurch
9. New church plants
10. World mission emphasis
And then he goes on to quote Dick Alexander (last I heard he was at Clovernook Christian Church around Cincinnatti).
Will a higher head count be the only measure of a church (producing breadth without depth and foreshadowing collapse)?
Are we sure we’re reaching the lost? Some churches may just be gathering up dissatisfied members from other churches.
Will we engage the emerging culture? “Will our large auditoriums become, within a few decades, the equivalent of European cathedrals—relics of a former era of faith?”
While many churches are growing, most are not. Will these stagnant churches find the faith and conviction to do whatever it takes to reach the lost?
While my heart might be tugged, I am still confused on the practical application. I love this following God thing at times.
Watch out for the potholes.
