B
Bandit
Guest
I am putting this up because I want to share. If anyone else wants to they can share here too. OR, you do not have to say anything.
My Church
I was thinking about Juans post so I wanted to share one of my own. Then others can share about there church, or church they grew up in if they want to. I am very proud of the church I grew up in. It is very active in the community & fellowships with any religion or church that will fellowship them.
It has a congregation of about 900 members. We have 4 different choirs and a 50 piece orchestra. The teaching and preaching in the bible is astounding and very well put together. The pastors & elders teach the bible for all spiritual matters and they prepare us for every day living and principles at a young age. We are taught the importance of faith and prayer and to seek the face God in spirit and in truth. It teaches repentance of the heart, a water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with the infilling of the Holy Ghost and doing the best we can do according to the scriptures and to be ‘Christ Like’, following in the footsteps of the apostles who followed and taught Jesus.
The fruits and gifts of the spirit are all in operation.
There are four major services a week with weekly prayer meetings for different groups.
They do a Passion Play every year & a Christmas Cantata.
While it is generally a quiet church, there are testimonies, clapping of hands with music and praise and congregational prayer out loud. There is also worship where the lifting of arms is welcome, but everything is done decently and in order.
The church does teach some standards for modest dress, appearance and places of gathering, but does not require it of anyone unless they hold a leadership position. There are groups, retreats and outings for all ages. They put together a two week Vacation Bible School every summer for kids from 5 to 12. There is a one week summer camp meeting in July. It was at Camp, kneeling on an old concrete floor of the tabernacle is where I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in 1975.
There is a Sunday school class for every age. As you turn your birthday, you enter a new class & by the time we reach 18 we have studied the entire bible. It is really neat. The church holds its own in every aspect and writes all of its own literature & is not affiliated with any specific religious organization. However it did form an organization & hosted it for over 25 years, trying to bring brothers & sisters in Christ of like faith into a, One mind, One strength and no Division understanding, for those who were interested. The church holds 3,000 people and the World Wide Fellowship was a huge success. It was held at our church for many years. The entire church was turned into a Hotel Campus with beds, meals, meetings and services for 4 days in May. It has recently turned the organization over to a smaller church to host and handle but has over 3 million lay people.
Apostolic Temple, is now focused on a day care center, and has built an awesome retirement home for the elderly as well as a youth center that joins the same property.
I love my church. No matter what we do, they always love & accept everyone, even when we have gone astray, they are always there to uplift & uphold its people. I also love it because there is something very special about it. It has been under the same leadership for 4 generations, that is 86 years in the same family. I have always considered it a prophet without honor in its own country because many of the local denominational churches are not real friendly toward us because it is so different in teaching.
One thing that makes me sad is, the church used to leave the doors unlocked to the public daily. Since the times have changed, it is no longer open during the day. It is even locked from entering after the services begin, but the two front doors remain open during to enter by.
There is a website, I would be happy to send if anyone wants to visit it by sending me a PM.
Does anyone else want to share there church and the things you like about it?
My Church
I was thinking about Juans post so I wanted to share one of my own. Then others can share about there church, or church they grew up in if they want to. I am very proud of the church I grew up in. It is very active in the community & fellowships with any religion or church that will fellowship them.
It has a congregation of about 900 members. We have 4 different choirs and a 50 piece orchestra. The teaching and preaching in the bible is astounding and very well put together. The pastors & elders teach the bible for all spiritual matters and they prepare us for every day living and principles at a young age. We are taught the importance of faith and prayer and to seek the face God in spirit and in truth. It teaches repentance of the heart, a water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with the infilling of the Holy Ghost and doing the best we can do according to the scriptures and to be ‘Christ Like’, following in the footsteps of the apostles who followed and taught Jesus.
The fruits and gifts of the spirit are all in operation.
There are four major services a week with weekly prayer meetings for different groups.
They do a Passion Play every year & a Christmas Cantata.
While it is generally a quiet church, there are testimonies, clapping of hands with music and praise and congregational prayer out loud. There is also worship where the lifting of arms is welcome, but everything is done decently and in order.
The church does teach some standards for modest dress, appearance and places of gathering, but does not require it of anyone unless they hold a leadership position. There are groups, retreats and outings for all ages. They put together a two week Vacation Bible School every summer for kids from 5 to 12. There is a one week summer camp meeting in July. It was at Camp, kneeling on an old concrete floor of the tabernacle is where I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in 1975.
There is a Sunday school class for every age. As you turn your birthday, you enter a new class & by the time we reach 18 we have studied the entire bible. It is really neat. The church holds its own in every aspect and writes all of its own literature & is not affiliated with any specific religious organization. However it did form an organization & hosted it for over 25 years, trying to bring brothers & sisters in Christ of like faith into a, One mind, One strength and no Division understanding, for those who were interested. The church holds 3,000 people and the World Wide Fellowship was a huge success. It was held at our church for many years. The entire church was turned into a Hotel Campus with beds, meals, meetings and services for 4 days in May. It has recently turned the organization over to a smaller church to host and handle but has over 3 million lay people.
Apostolic Temple, is now focused on a day care center, and has built an awesome retirement home for the elderly as well as a youth center that joins the same property.
I love my church. No matter what we do, they always love & accept everyone, even when we have gone astray, they are always there to uplift & uphold its people. I also love it because there is something very special about it. It has been under the same leadership for 4 generations, that is 86 years in the same family. I have always considered it a prophet without honor in its own country because many of the local denominational churches are not real friendly toward us because it is so different in teaching.
One thing that makes me sad is, the church used to leave the doors unlocked to the public daily. Since the times have changed, it is no longer open during the day. It is even locked from entering after the services begin, but the two front doors remain open during to enter by.
There is a website, I would be happy to send if anyone wants to visit it by sending me a PM.
Does anyone else want to share there church and the things you like about it?