Need Scripture about transfer

[n david]

Originally Posted by Reader

This is incorrect. Please see my first post.

Article 7, Section 7 & #33 states (Under the "General Constitution" under "Ministry"):

33. No minister affiliated with us shall accept any individual recognized as a member from a church pastored by another United Pentecostal Church International minister without a letter of release or transfer. No minister affiliated with us shall refuse a letter of release or transfer to an individual recognized as a member desiring to withdraw from his or her assembly unless proven guilty of misconduct by confession or conviction prior to his or her request for transfer.

Do you have a link for this? The link I have is for the 2012 Manual, and I cannot find that article there. This sounds almost word for word the same as the sample guide for a local congregation's constitution, Article 2, Section III.

2. No person being a member of another church in our organization shall be
received as a member into another assembly without a letter of membership.
3. No person desiring to withdraw their membership shall be refused a letter of
membership unless proven guilty of misconduct by confession or conviction.
When said person has made satisfactory restitution to the church they are leaving,
they shall be cleared of all foregoing matters and be ready to be accepted
into the fellowship of a local United Pentecostal Church assembly.

[n david]

Nevermind...found it!

So there are two parts of the Manual addressing this. The first is the Obligation and Rules for licensed ministers; the second is the sample guide for a local church constitution.

[Reader]

That is correct, n david. The latter would mean nothing unless all churches involved had adopted those as their by-laws. However, with it being under the ministerial rules, it is not supposed to be an option. But as with many of the other rules, some ministers follow them and some do not.

[Reader]

Here is a thought in all this. If some ministers pick and choose which parts of the ministerial rules they will abide by and which they will not, then should they expect church members to abide by the rules of the church he pastors? If ministry is to set an example and clearly disregards rules they agreed to follow.....

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Dordrecht

Posted earlier about people coming in without a reference letter:



Well, there you go.

You expect everybody to come into
the building to be a tongue talking pentecostal?

Churches are for sinners to come in and to be saved
by the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's exactly why He went to the cross, for crying out loud.

Do you want your church just to be a "bless me" club for tongue talking
united pentecostals?

Forget about "letters"...I love it when the "unsaved" come in!
The more the better.

"Wells without water" are not unsaved, non-Spirit filled seekers looking to attend a church. They are false brethren coming in to do damage and lead astray.

Check the reference in Jude.

[missourimary]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

"Wells without water" are not unsaved, non-Spirit filled seekers looking to attend a church. They are false brethren coming in to do damage and lead astray.

Check the reference in Jude.

I've never heard that before-it looks like I have some study to do today once the sun is up.

I've never heard that before... but I have heard sincere people who moved to another church or disagreed with the wrong person called that. Kind of like the label 'Jezebel', 'wandering stars' and 'clouds without water' are overused in some circles of Pentecost. A person concerned with whether they need a letter of transfer isn't generally one who is looking for trouble-more likely thtt's a sign that the person wants to do right and doesn't want to cause trouble.

[votivesoul]

I agree that people who seek a letter of transfer are those who, as the saying goes, "leave out the front door", completely copasetic with the church they are departing.

Regarding the clouds without water, note:

Jude 1:4,

4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

From here all the way to the clouds without water/wandering stars (and etc.) Jude never stops talking about the same kind of people.

As he moves into verse 5, he speaks of covenanted people of God, then to angels, and etc. Honest seekers looking to check out a church aren't men creeping in unawares. Honest, but lost people have no hidden agenda.

But the "certain men" are not so. They are spots on the agape feast. Woe is pronounced against them (verse 11). God would never speak a "woe" unto any lost person innocently attending a church service wondering if the whole Christianity thing is for them.

But for false brethren seeking to do harm, yes, such can and do get a "woe unto them" from God.

[Dordrecht]

The only manual I pay attention to starts with a B.

Actually that's not really the truth, I also check my
motorcycle manuals once and awhile.

[Fionn mac Cumh]

We left a church due to some drama. To make a long story short the new pastor rubbed my folks to the wrong way. We were in our new church for months when our new pastor asked my father to get a letter from the old pastor. My dad had to sit in the old pastors office for what seemed like an eternity while he wrote the letter. He said it made him really uncomfortable. At one point the old pastor tried to talk my dad into coming back. SMH