Monday Morose

Not sure why Monday's are tough. It seems like every problem is magnified. Enough said.

Church Discussion

Tonight we set aside our evening service to discuss some changes to our churches Constitution and Bylaws. Some of the changes were mere formalities, but one in particular generated quite a bit of discussion. Our Constitution and Bylaws Team presented a change to the section on voting rights for members. I thought the discussion on this issue was wonderful. I feel like people expressed their feelings freely, and though we disagreed on the issue, we disagreed "agreeably." I think everyone left as friends, which hasn't always been the case in our church.

Regardless of the outcome of this issue, I think the discussion, and the way we've discussed the issues is healthy for our church. I think it is evidence of spiritual growth and development in our church. We'll probably never reach a point where every member sees "eye-to-eye" on every issue, but as long as we continue to love and encourage one another in spite of our different point of views, I think we will be pleasing to the Lord.

Again

Well, here we go again.

I've been preaching through the letter of 1 Thessalonians, (and may make it through chapter 1 tonight). I'm learning a lot about the church through this study as well as a number of books I've been reading. I've been in church all my life and have been in pastoral ministry for 17 years. I've taken for granted that the way we do things, is the way they should always be done. But God's been challenging my thinking of late; revisiting the structure of the NT church and our interpretation of it. It's kind of the process I went through in my theological journey - examining my long-held beliefs to make them my own. Don't know what the result will be, but the journey has begun.