OK, I know this is a stretch, cause this forum is for REAL "Church History", but it's so DULL and EMPTY in here.
One of the things I always love to do when I go to a Church as their new minister is to get the "minutes" to business meetings of the Church, get a fresh cup of coffee, and sit back and read.
They are quite informative, as they often give insight into past problems, the manner in which the Church handled them, and other things.
In one Church, I saw that they had FREQUENTLY talked about buying a new sign for out front. I mean -- this came up like nearly every 2 years over the previous 25 year period, and the Church Sign looked HIDEOUS. I suggested - "it appears this has been talked to death forever so, either let's DO it, or don't talk about it ever again".
We did, indeed, vote to buy a new Church Sign, and it looked great and ended that discussion.
On a more serious note, however, I remember reading the minutes of a Baptist Church that went all the way back to the Civil War. It was interesting to see that SLAVES of the members were being saved AND BAPTIZED in the Church, and it just outright said, for example, "Myra Jackson, the slave of Brother Broadus, was gloriously saved and baptized on Sunday Night....."
Now, let's not get carried away with the issue of slavery -- my point is that in the deep south, it was, indeed, a way of life, but it wasn't the way it was so often portrayed, and it was interesting to read the unique way these slaves were welcomed into the Church in such tumultuous times.
Also, there were a number of times in the late 1800's that drought was so bad that annual meetings were cancelled because of the concern that there wasn't enough food to feed visitors who would travel to the area, let alone the folks who lived in the region who were starving.
Yet another note was the SERIOUSNESS with which SIN was addressed. It might seem silly or even funny to us, but members were called before the Church for things such as swearing or drinking or dancing. They would come before the Church and confess their sin and ask for forgiveness, and were always welcomed back into fellowship. This seemed to happen during a 2 year span in the late 1800's where an honest-to-goodness Holy Ghost revival was in progress. Sinners were being saved, backsliders were rededicating their lives, folks were being baptized -- and sin was being taken quite seriously.
I think this was my biggest take-away.... where the Holy Ghost is "in power", sin is not just winked at or excused, it is dealt with, confessed, and forgiven.
Then, of course, I would read where, 50 years later, things seemed "business as usual", and they were arguing about what color the carpet should be, of if they should have carpet at all, or whether they should pay the pastor more.
It's interesting to know the history -- even in the short term -- of local Churches.
One of the things I always love to do when I go to a Church as their new minister is to get the "minutes" to business meetings of the Church, get a fresh cup of coffee, and sit back and read.
They are quite informative, as they often give insight into past problems, the manner in which the Church handled them, and other things.
In one Church, I saw that they had FREQUENTLY talked about buying a new sign for out front. I mean -- this came up like nearly every 2 years over the previous 25 year period, and the Church Sign looked HIDEOUS. I suggested - "it appears this has been talked to death forever so, either let's DO it, or don't talk about it ever again".
We did, indeed, vote to buy a new Church Sign, and it looked great and ended that discussion.
On a more serious note, however, I remember reading the minutes of a Baptist Church that went all the way back to the Civil War. It was interesting to see that SLAVES of the members were being saved AND BAPTIZED in the Church, and it just outright said, for example, "Myra Jackson, the slave of Brother Broadus, was gloriously saved and baptized on Sunday Night....."
Now, let's not get carried away with the issue of slavery -- my point is that in the deep south, it was, indeed, a way of life, but it wasn't the way it was so often portrayed, and it was interesting to read the unique way these slaves were welcomed into the Church in such tumultuous times.
Also, there were a number of times in the late 1800's that drought was so bad that annual meetings were cancelled because of the concern that there wasn't enough food to feed visitors who would travel to the area, let alone the folks who lived in the region who were starving.
Yet another note was the SERIOUSNESS with which SIN was addressed. It might seem silly or even funny to us, but members were called before the Church for things such as swearing or drinking or dancing. They would come before the Church and confess their sin and ask for forgiveness, and were always welcomed back into fellowship. This seemed to happen during a 2 year span in the late 1800's where an honest-to-goodness Holy Ghost revival was in progress. Sinners were being saved, backsliders were rededicating their lives, folks were being baptized -- and sin was being taken quite seriously.
I think this was my biggest take-away.... where the Holy Ghost is "in power", sin is not just winked at or excused, it is dealt with, confessed, and forgiven.
Then, of course, I would read where, 50 years later, things seemed "business as usual", and they were arguing about what color the carpet should be, of if they should have carpet at all, or whether they should pay the pastor more.
It's interesting to know the history -- even in the short term -- of local Churches.
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