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Calling an Associate Pastor

Paul from Antioch

Active Member
I've heard of a primarily-military-based church whose constitution stated that if a member was absent @ 3 regular services (i.e., Sun AM, Sun PM, & mid-week (The mid-week service varied from week to week because their meeting place was rented from a company that often hosted conferences, etc., & used this church's meeting room for them.), NO EXCUSES ACCEPTED, that member was automatically listed as an "INACTIVE MEMBER," & as its constitution further stipulated, could not partake of the Lord's Supper at that church until a majority of members voted that person into its "ACTIVE" role. Seems to me that this policy over-stepped its bounds since it made no provision for a member being deployed or any other reason (e.g., a protracted illness, etc.) for a member's absence. I don't know what this church did if one of its GI's went on leave, etc.. IS it up to the local church to say who can & who cannot partake of the Lord's Supper? Even Judas Iscariot partook of the elements when Jesus instituted the L's S, didn't he? And, what if that church's pastor was called on a 90-day deployment? To me this kind of "INACTIVE" status would leave more questions unsolved than it would solve them, wouldn't it? I left that TN area years ago so I don't know for certain if that church still has this in its constitution; moreover, I don't even know if that church is in existence. Comments??:(:(:(:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::Sick:Sick:Sick
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
I've heard of a primarily-military-based church who's constitution stated that if a member was absent @ 3 regular services (i.e., Sun AM, Sun PM, & mid-week...:Sick

Good reason to read a constitution before joining.
I would have been talking to the pastor before joining that church.
 

Paul from Antioch

Active Member
Good reason to read a constitution before joining.
I would have been talking to the pastor before joining that church.
The problem with the scenario I posted was it was THE ONLY Bible preaching church within I'd say at least 50 or 60 miles from where I was located at that time & since I worked a 24/7/365-366 job that was scheduled to have me off only for 1 or 2 hours, to me (I was only some 4-5 YO in God's family back then--in the late 1960s - early 1970s.). The ONLY other churches were just like the one I had attended in my nearly 20 yrs. All they ever taught was a "Man IS inherently GOOD, but if one desired to remain in God's family, try not to kill TOO many people or try not to rob too many banks, etc., and U just might make it to "heaven," IF there REALLY IS one. WE ENLIGHTED HUMANS KNOW that what we refer to heaven is in reality only a cleverly disguised fairy tale mainly designed by those mean & nasty multi-mega-billionaires whose aim has always been to inhibit man's inheritable goodness. .... Even as lost a person as I was, I didn't think the Bible would actually teach THAT! (Of course, I didn't know what the Bible DID teach because in that so-called "church," we were told not to read the Bible for ourselves because ONLY your pastor (Who was a graduate of Harvard Divinity School in Boston--not exactly a bastion of conservative evangelical teachings!!) can be the one who can "Rightly (??) divide the Bible" for you ignorant & unknowable deplorable lay people!! Thankfully God in His mercy saved me from that mess, but at that very young age (Only 4-5 YO), I still didn't know much about the Bible. Moreover GOD in HIS mercy DID lead me to a local church near my home that was pastored by a genuine Greek & Hebrew scholar. The few years I sat under his ministry were a great help to me then & still is today. I still don't know every minor nuance of every Bible teaching, but Pastor David C. Auckland proved to me that even a young 'en as I was then could learn SOME things about the Bible (&, BTW, I didn't read Faith Baptist Church's Constitution at first either!! :D:D:D:Thumbsup:Thumbsup:Thumbsup:Thumbsup
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Then that is an interesting question.

I suppose that with such a situation - I might attend - but not join.
But until you are actually in that situation - its hard to say.....
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Just remembering - When I was in Zweibruecken - I visited Emmanuel Bap - (the successor of Bible Baptist mission - mother church was Landstuhl) - I was asked to be Youth Director - before even joining - well, I knew of at least one doctrine difference - my response was that if I was to become the Youth Director- then I would teach that doctrine the way I believed. That was the last I heard. - Now, there were two other Baptist churches in Zweib - so I ended up going there - but if those two other churches were not there, I suppose I would have attended Emmanuel - but would not have joined.
 

Paul from Antioch

Active Member
Just remembering - When I was in Zweibruecken - I visited Emmanuel Bap - (the successor of Bible Baptist mission - mother church was Landstuhl) - I was asked to be Youth Director - before even joining - well, I knew of at least one doctrine difference - my response was that if I was to become the Youth Director- then I would teach that doctrine the way I believed. That was the last I heard. - Now, there were two other Baptist churches in Zweib - so I ended up going there - but if those two other churches were not there, I suppose I would have attended Emmanuel - but would not have joined.
Salty, I was in Germany from March 1967 - April 1968, which was some 52 years ago. I've not been back since then, so what may or may not have happened since then I don't know. Pastor Briggs only communicated with me only a couple of months since my release from AD in April 1969. What may have happened since then, I don't know. I was told via the AWANA ministry that now there is an active Bible-teaching ministry, but the person with whom I talked had only been in Germany for a couple of months, & the one whom he replaced had already left Germany prior to the current AWANA person(s) arriving there. Sorry that neither I nor this new AWANA person can't give me any additional info. Pastor Briggs only wrote to me a few months afterward & that was it. I was told that Pastor Briggs had left Germany a few years later, and was now serving as a kind of Chaplain for incarcerated men somewhere in the western US (Colorado I think.) I emailed the Colorado Prison System but never got a response from them. Pastor Briggs DID come from the Buffalo NY area of the US, but the couple of calls to any Bible-believing ministries in that area that I had any knowledge of never even heard of him (I probably wouldn't remember things like this that happened 55 years ago either!!). Sorry that I can't give you any other info on the situation in Germany other than what I've already given you.
 
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