To have or not to have ... (Final)
a doctrinal statement.
To finalize this discussion as it relates to the Phoenix Area House Church website, I want to make a couple of points.
There have been so many good points made during this discussion and I thank everyone who contributed. And to those that didn't think their thoughts were worth a hearing, shame on you, you should have said something. I'm sure there will be other opportunities.
Point one. Going back to Ralph's emails where he tried so hard to point out the mission and goals of the website.
As stated below by Henry, the idea only came up after our discussions with Steve on putting a link to our website on theirs. They are very careful that they know the doctrinal stand of any group that they recommend by the nature of providing a website link. I can respect their reasoning because that reflects the NTRF website. It is filled with writings that explain their doctrinal positions. The Phoenix Area House Church website is not like that. It is not the mission of the website. The website represents the connecting of house/organic/simple churches and networks moving toward the mission stated above; to mutually encourage, to serve, and to reach our neighbors for the Kingdom and therefore to see organic networks of house churches all over Phoenix and Arizona. Its as simple as that. The only thing close to doctrine are the mentions of house church practices. And even those are probably not consistent with all the house churches listed.
Point two. Henry has a good point in that there are many churches that do not hold to some of the most basic of historical orthodox Christian beliefs. What do we do to distinguish ourselves from groups like that? Will non-Christians seeing the website think that we are probably just another kooky group waiting for the spaceship to pick us up? I wouldn't be surprised if some people think that way toward any group of Christians who are able to fellowship in love and faith. When that happens, I hope any one of us will be able to explain the truth about the house churches in Phoenix. And then be prepared to take it to the next level. With the logical conclusion being a new life in Christ and a new church in Phoenix.
As Ed indicated, historically, groups that hold a radically different doctrine are not generally interested in fellowshipping with groups that don't hold to their same beliefs. Generally groups like that need the institutional "covering" to stay the way they are. But that doesn't mean we should drop our guard. Every fellowship needs to be on guard against such things. The best way to do this is to have your own statement of faith. Thats the way we distinguish ourselves from those other groups mentioned above. I encourage each house church to formulate their own.
But don't send it to me unless you want me to put it on a web page for your specific church. I have no other reason to know what it is. And oh yes, I forgot to mention. There is no membership requirements or dues to pay to be included in the Phoenix Area House Churches website. The only thing I ask is that anyone listed be willing to communicate, fellowship, and partner with the other groups. If that happens, the Kingdom of God will grow, the unsaved will be reached, the saints will be edified, and God will be glorified. Amen!
I hope I have clarified the purpose of the web site. I do invite churches that do not currently have their own web sites to send the text to me and I will create a very basic informational page linked off the map.
To finalize this discussion as it relates to the Phoenix Area House Church website, I want to make a couple of points.
There have been so many good points made during this discussion and I thank everyone who contributed. And to those that didn't think their thoughts were worth a hearing, shame on you, you should have said something. I'm sure there will be other opportunities.
Point one. Going back to Ralph's emails where he tried so hard to point out the mission and goals of the website.
The mission of the Phoenix Area House Churches is to network Phoenix and Central Arizona house churches with one another for the purposes of mutual encouragement, service, and outreach.I should know what it says, I put it on the website. Ralph is right. It was never my intent to be the keeper of the "orthodox doctrinal statement" or "statement of faith" for this great movement of God in Phoenix. I don't think God wants anyone to spend their Kingdom time doing that. I don't think God needs anyone to do that either.
Through repentance, loving our neighbors, and making disciples, our goal is to see organic networks of churches throughout the Phoenix and the State of Arizona.
As stated below by Henry, the idea only came up after our discussions with Steve on putting a link to our website on theirs. They are very careful that they know the doctrinal stand of any group that they recommend by the nature of providing a website link. I can respect their reasoning because that reflects the NTRF website. It is filled with writings that explain their doctrinal positions. The Phoenix Area House Church website is not like that. It is not the mission of the website. The website represents the connecting of house/organic/simple churches and networks moving toward the mission stated above; to mutually encourage, to serve, and to reach our neighbors for the Kingdom and therefore to see organic networks of house churches all over Phoenix and Arizona. Its as simple as that. The only thing close to doctrine are the mentions of house church practices. And even those are probably not consistent with all the house churches listed.
Point two. Henry has a good point in that there are many churches that do not hold to some of the most basic of historical orthodox Christian beliefs. What do we do to distinguish ourselves from groups like that? Will non-Christians seeing the website think that we are probably just another kooky group waiting for the spaceship to pick us up? I wouldn't be surprised if some people think that way toward any group of Christians who are able to fellowship in love and faith. When that happens, I hope any one of us will be able to explain the truth about the house churches in Phoenix. And then be prepared to take it to the next level. With the logical conclusion being a new life in Christ and a new church in Phoenix.
As Ed indicated, historically, groups that hold a radically different doctrine are not generally interested in fellowshipping with groups that don't hold to their same beliefs. Generally groups like that need the institutional "covering" to stay the way they are. But that doesn't mean we should drop our guard. Every fellowship needs to be on guard against such things. The best way to do this is to have your own statement of faith. Thats the way we distinguish ourselves from those other groups mentioned above. I encourage each house church to formulate their own.
But don't send it to me unless you want me to put it on a web page for your specific church. I have no other reason to know what it is. And oh yes, I forgot to mention. There is no membership requirements or dues to pay to be included in the Phoenix Area House Churches website. The only thing I ask is that anyone listed be willing to communicate, fellowship, and partner with the other groups. If that happens, the Kingdom of God will grow, the unsaved will be reached, the saints will be edified, and God will be glorified. Amen!
I hope I have clarified the purpose of the web site. I do invite churches that do not currently have their own web sites to send the text to me and I will create a very basic informational page linked off the map.
posted by Larry @ 8:13 AM
2 Comments:
At 4:53 PM,
Anonymous said…
I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
»
At 10:14 AM,
Anonymous said…
I find some information here.
Post a Comment
<< Home