Introduction
As the people of God, we have been endowed with a precious gift – the Holy Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we display the multi-coloured wisdom and purpose of God, making our presence in this world essential. As Christ’s body, we stand firm as a beacon of hope, calling men to life again, and warning men of wrath to come. Below I seek to discuss some of my thoughts on the church prior to becoming a Christian, followed by the shaping of my current thoughts, which have been supplemented by this recent study. I hope I’m clear in my reflections.
Before Christ
Due to spending my teenage years as an atheist/agnostic, the word ‘church’ brought to mind a flurry of negative images. It signified people who were judgemental, bloodthirsty …show more content…
At this point in time, I was unaware of denominational distinctions but wanted to understand more about spiritual gifts. Since this church seemed ‘spiritual’ and a great majority of friends went there, I resolved to stay for a year to see what I could learn about the Holy Spirit. There wasn’t much teaching about the Spirit, but there were weekly healings and spectacles that I found unconvincing. I felt numb to the whole idea of church and was often frustrated by the disagreements within Christendom about its nature, structure and purpose. At the start of my final year, I began attending a more traditional church known as St. Bart’s, hoping to distance myself from the Charismatic movement. I was now well aware of the distinctions and didn’t want to be associated with a movement that was commonly mocked and labelled as unsound by more conservative forms of Christianity. It was here where my view of what church should be like was moulded and shaped: Sound bible teaching which exalted Christ, traditional worship which incorporated new and old hymns and weekly small groups where went through a book of the Bible in its …show more content…
Other Christians aren’t just other people who happen to believe the same things as me, they are brothers and sisters, purified by the blood of the Lord and kept as his treasured possession. The Lord nourishes and cares for the church as a man care for his own body. What a remarkable truth. The church always is always under the all-embracing protection of God 's providence. This understanding has enabled me to value the individual members who make up the body of Christ. If I offend a member of the body, I’m simply offending myself and ultimately the Lord who laid down his life for us
As the people of God, we have been endowed with a precious gift – the Holy Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we display the multi-coloured wisdom and purpose of God, making our presence in this world essential. As Christ’s body, we stand firm as a beacon of hope, calling men to life again, and warning men of wrath to come. Below I seek to discuss some of my thoughts on the church prior to becoming a Christian, followed by the shaping of my current thoughts, which have been supplemented by this recent study. I hope I’m clear in my reflections.
Before Christ
Due to spending my teenage years as an atheist/agnostic, the word ‘church’ brought to mind a flurry of negative images. It signified people who were judgemental, bloodthirsty …show more content…
At this point in time, I was unaware of denominational distinctions but wanted to understand more about spiritual gifts. Since this church seemed ‘spiritual’ and a great majority of friends went there, I resolved to stay for a year to see what I could learn about the Holy Spirit. There wasn’t much teaching about the Spirit, but there were weekly healings and spectacles that I found unconvincing. I felt numb to the whole idea of church and was often frustrated by the disagreements within Christendom about its nature, structure and purpose. At the start of my final year, I began attending a more traditional church known as St. Bart’s, hoping to distance myself from the Charismatic movement. I was now well aware of the distinctions and didn’t want to be associated with a movement that was commonly mocked and labelled as unsound by more conservative forms of Christianity. It was here where my view of what church should be like was moulded and shaped: Sound bible teaching which exalted Christ, traditional worship which incorporated new and old hymns and weekly small groups where went through a book of the Bible in its …show more content…
Other Christians aren’t just other people who happen to believe the same things as me, they are brothers and sisters, purified by the blood of the Lord and kept as his treasured possession. The Lord nourishes and cares for the church as a man care for his own body. What a remarkable truth. The church always is always under the all-embracing protection of God 's providence. This understanding has enabled me to value the individual members who make up the body of Christ. If I offend a member of the body, I’m simply offending myself and ultimately the Lord who laid down his life for us