I have spoken to my pastor now. He knows enough about my situation to already know why I went visiting yesterday. He has no problem with it and has encouraged me to go as often as I'd like. He only asks that I let him know where and when I'm going so he can answer to the other pastor who'll be calling him when I do go visiting.
I guess that's "permission" in a way. He gave me "permission" to do whatever I want to do w/o having to ask his permission.
I must have missed the part that he had foreknowledge of you visiting the other church to seek out fellowship. He sounded like a good pastor and not one of those that micromanaged their members. I wrote that you should have his permission to attend services at another church, because some pastors want to know such things and it would be expected that you received permission in such cases.
I attended what most would label an ultra-con church in the San Fransisco Bay Area in the mid 1980's where everything about the lives of the members had to go through the pastor. I hadn't been a member there too long when I went to VOP in the city on off service night. I had mentioned to a friend what a great service I had attended at VOP and he immediately asked me if Brother P knew that I had went to that church.
The brother told Brother P before I had a chance and I was told that I couldn't attend that church at anytime, so I stopped attending until I was able to leave that church. It was many years for me to readjust my thinking about leadership/pastors after I left, but I don't harbor any hard feelings whatsoever.
Some people need the strict boundaries from a pastor and they shouldn't be bashed for that need. I came to appreciate the liberty of serving God and the revelation of his grace.
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Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."(KJV)
"God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves." Dwight L. Moody
On the church hopping comment, I don't see why this dear concerned sister would've been warning the poor hapless visitor so that she wouldn't be labeled a church hopper because you're not a church hopper unless you actually leave one church and go to another. If people said she was a church hopper because she visited another church it wouldn't be her that was in error, it'd be the ones lying and gossipping about something that wasn't true. lol
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If you sometimes get the sudden urge to run around naked, drink some Windex.
It will keep you from streaking.
On the church hopping comment, I don't see why this dear concerned sister would've been warning the poor hapless visitor so that she wouldn't be labeled a church hopper because you're not a church hopper unless you actually leave one church and go to another. If people said she was a church hopper because she visited another church it wouldn't be her that was in error, it'd be the ones lying and gossipping about something that wasn't true. lol
I agree with ya, but I still am puzzled as to what is so wrong about 'church hopping'. I lived in the Bible belt area for ten years and knew a few people who didn't attend one church regularly, but attended several. They believed that there is just one church with many assemblies, but they didn't believe in belonging to one assembly, that it was the 'one church' that mattered.
This isn't the norm, as most of us are creatures of habit and like continuity and repetition, but for those few who don't, why does it matter to us that they do? Why do we call them 'church hoppers' as if it's derogatory?
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
With a lot of people that 'church hop,' there are reasons they do. They're often disgruntled, have issues with authority, etc. etc. etc. And by their nature you can't depend on them. You can never build a congregation on that type of people. They have no roots and you can never expect to count on them for anything. The fact that they have no roots sometimes leads to the tendency that spiritually they flounder all over the place having no roots in the Word because they won't sit still long enough to actually hear and receive any solid teaching. Sometimes that itself is why they hop.
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If you sometimes get the sudden urge to run around naked, drink some Windex.
It will keep you from streaking.
With a lot of people that 'church hop,' there are reasons they do. They're often disgruntled, have issues with authority, etc. etc. etc. And by their nature you can't depend on them. You can never build a congregation on that type of people. They have no roots and you can never expect to count on them for anything. The fact that they have no roots sometimes leads to the tendency that spiritually they flounder all over the place having no roots in the Word because they won't sit still long enough to actually hear and receive any solid teaching. Sometimes that itself is why they hop.
I'm sure that's the case with many who do that, but in my experience, those people are few and far between, so building a church with those kinds of people isn't necessary nor reasonable, as it's not an issue.
There was a couple in a church I once attended who didn't want to be 'members' on the church roll because they didn't see it as Biblical. They attended church there faithfully but wouldn't attend business meetings nor vote (had to be a member to vote), even though they met all the requirements for being a member. But this is going off on yet another rabbit trail....LOL!
I'm still waiting on an answer from Caston as to what is wrong with being a church hopper and Biblical support for such a view.
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
our pastor is that way, They want to be told if you are going somewhere else, even if it is not involving missing church. I cant see a point in that and have not always done that. Especially when visiting a non pentecostal church around here
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John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
My first thought was "this makes me want to go visit some nice charismatic churches" but I've dealt with that rebellion.
Having come from that it's likely I will go visit someday, but not just to get my pastor's goat.
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Originally Posted by NightOwl
our pastor is that way, They want to be told if you are going somewhere else, even if it is not involving missing church. I cant see a point in that and have not always done that. Especially when visiting a non pentecostal church around here
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