Church Directory

I think it is highly presumtious to say that his church does not care and does not preach the gospel.

I would take the same posture as did MY Lord Jesus, when confronted by the self righteous prigs of the day and the sinful woman about to be stoned. No great lecture, no great condemnation, but simply, go, and sin no more. Time and time again, our Lord is exceeding more gracious than are some of His children.

A drunk does not need to be told he is drunk, and a prostitute hardly needs to be told she is living in sin. They know only to well. What they do not know, is that God loves even them and provided a way of escape, through grace and the cross of redemption.

Again, this was not a question about the gospel, and we don't need women trying to teach us men what the scripture saith. We know the scripture, and we indeed teach it.

If the author had asked what to do about these great sinful people who wanted their names included in a registry, then there would be a place for a gospel message. There was no such question. Just answer the question at hand and be done with it. Save your preaching for another thread where it is appropriate. This is a pastoral forum, and a pastor was posing his question.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Why not ask the couple how they would like to have their names listed in the directory?

 

Jim,

Thanks for your comments.

I'm sorry if you think I was *preaching*. I was just expressing my concern with something I care deeply about. The elders of a church should as well. Sinful living should bring all of us to deep care and concern for the souls of men. This is where I am coming from. And,yes,we have to be rebuked and instructed on these things...the law was given as a tudor,so we could learn what is right and wrong.

This particular church may be dealing with all this fine,I do not know. I just brought out some things to consider.

I'm sorry to have imposed...really. Please accept my apologies on that. I'm thankful God's word does give us ways to know how to deal with these things.

Back to the question:
I agree with pastor Larry,that attenders not be listed in a directory.

Molly

 

Molly, sorry, my remarks were not directed at you in particular, but to all in general. We were far too busy preaching and not answering the question asked. That was my point.

No one believes in preaching the whole word more than do I. I also recognize there are times when a message may not include hell, damnation and the lake of fire, but ought always glorify our God in Jesus Christ. Sometimes this means reaching out to places we might not like to go. I feel that with great fear of the social gospel we neglect those temporal things that were so important to Jesus when He walked the earth. We must preach the whole word, and this includes social areas.

In my churches, we never had a directory. I can see a directory as a means of making people feel welcome though, even the unsaved and those not living in circustances that meet with our approval, or God's.

Cheers, and God bless,

Jim

 

Sin is still sin, no matter if we choose to turn a blind eye or not. I, if I were the pastor, would not be able to sit back and let something of this nature continue. If it were not known, no one would say anything. But since it is out in the open, something should have already been done.

I am not advocating that the couple be expelled, but as was stated before, church discipline should be brought to bear.

Jim Cymbala mentioned a situation similar to this in one of his books. A couple came to him to ask him to bless their union. When he asked if they were married, they were embarrassedbut told him the truth. Cymbala then told the man that he would have to find someplace else to spend the night, and offered him the help of the church. The couple was mentored and discipled, and was married (after they understood what marriage was supposed to be).

Yes, this thread was started with a question about church directories, but that question laid bare a couple living in open sin. It is a sin that must be dealt with, and quickly.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Why not ask the couple how they would like to have their names listed in the directory? </font>[/QUOTE]You could also have them write it down about how they want it listed on a form you provide or the directory company provides.

 

Terminology might be part of our problem here. Our 'Church Directory' is done by Olan Mills and Olan Mills allows anyone in the area to come and have photos taken. They chose to be in the directory or not. Our church gets these for free. We then have our staff make up a list of members, out of area members (such as military) and friends and family who choose to be included. That might be a couple who lives in Fla. but spends 3 months a year in our town and has lots of friends here or an old member who, because of age, now lives with family in another state.

This is NOT a church role directory. We have those too but they only list active members and have no pictures.

Diane

 

if your church has the policy of picturing 'attendeess' in the yearbook then i suppose you'll have to put up with whatever comes with that baggage... to solve the problem just include members... but if the policy is to include a picture of 'walk ins' does it matter that they are fornicators?

 

what is holy about a church directory anyway?

 

Just another phone book if you ask me! Good point!

Diane

 

thats what i think. a church directory is a practical thing with phone numbers and maybe some info about the folks; not a spiritual measuring rod. list them together or seperately; however you want to.

 

Our church uses Olan Mills also. They take the pictures for the directory and you can purchase some pictures if you so desire. The directory is free to the church and we give them to anyone who had their picture made for it.

We take pictures of members only, and we do a new directory about every 2 years.

CJ

 

Two suggestions ..
1 .. treat them in the chruch directory the same way you treat them face to face.. If you can't do that you have the problem.
2 ask them how they want to be listed.

Regards
Bob

 

OUr church membership changes regularly anyway--new people adding. Not sure why it would be a problem to list regular attenders.

 

While I was attending Seminary in Dallas, TX, I drove down there every week during the school year and stayed for 3 days. I found a church to attend on Wednesday nights, and became so much a part of it that I was doing things like a member to help out - running the sound room, leading the song service, reading the scripture text, even had the alarm code. It was like a second church home for 3 1/2 years.

When they did a directory, I was invited to be in it in a section called "Friends of ... Baptist Church". A section like this can be used for special situations. There were only about 4 or 5 people in this section, it wasn't a major portion.

? - Are there other "regular attenders" to be listed? If not, then make it a members only directory, and be sure to explain this to them privately.

Otherwise, I would personally list the man as one listing, the mother and child as another. To do otherwise would be construed as a tacit approval of their situation. I would explain this to them in a private conference, in a loving spirit that could be used as a way to instruct them in righteousness.