What seven years in a Presbyterian church has taught me
I’m a Baptist, the son of a Baptist. So it may surprise you to learn that for the past seven years I’ve been a member of a Presbyterian church. Now that Presbyterianism has been somewhat demystified for me, here are some things that I’ve learnt.
Does it matter what you wear to church?
Are those who dress smartly in their ‘Sunday best’ for church just holding onto silly traditions? Does it matter what you wear when you worship God?
The decline of the local church
Our prayer is that people would come into our churches from the local area, saved and unsaved, to add to our numbers. Yet, I’ve been troubled in recent months by the thought that many of us don’t go to churches local to us. Instead, we go to the ones which fit our specification and forget the little faithful congregation next door.
Generational divides in the church
Have old and young ever been so divided? In the last fifty years we’ve seen seismic political, social, economic and technological gaps emerge between generations, the like of which has probably never been known in human history. These generational divides affect the church too. Local churches suffer when young and old don’t mix.
Denominations and divisions: a rethink
This post has been an interesting one to write. I started it months ago, raging and being angry at the divisions that have appeared in the church. There are hundreds of different denominations, and this annoyed me. Yet I believe God has shown me something else recently. Jesus had to deal with sectarianism with his […]