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It's so hard to find a church these days. 
I've been a christian for almost 7 years and I did find a church who believes the weighty doctrines right from the bible, I stopped going there because the sermons are always about tithes and material blessings. 

I just see people with religion there. 

Also, during afternoons where the pastor will somehow discuss and study the bible with us, he mentioned a couple of things that had no support at all. 
I researched about it and it isn't really supported or anything. He firmly believes that RCC made Islam because of a specific Jesuit priest. 
It hasn't been proven yet. But either way, it doens't matter. They're both false religions. 

Also during Sunday Schools, one brother discussed the book "Purpose Driven Life". 
The church's statement of faith is good but I don't understand how the people would not really believe what it says it believes. 

Most Baptist churches here read John MacArthur and John Piper, meaning they are Calvinistic. 

If not, Christians you'd meet attend Victory Churches (Steve Murrell) and CCF.. both are megachurches. 

God knows christian friends are important. 

 

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1 hour ago, Celina Capalad said:

It's so hard to find a church these days. 
I've been a christian for almost 7 years and I did find a church who believes the weighty doctrines right from the bible, I stopped going there because the sermons are always about tithes and material blessings. 

I just see people with religion there. 

Also, during afternoons where the pastor will somehow discuss and study the bible with us, he mentioned a couple of things that had no support at all. 
I researched about it and it isn't really supported or anything. He firmly believes that RCC made Islam because of a specific Jesuit priest. 
It hasn't been proven yet. But either way, it doens't matter. They're both false religions. 

Also during Sunday Schools, one brother discussed the book "Purpose Driven Life". 
The church's statement of faith is good but I don't understand how the people would not really believe what it says it believes. 

Most Baptist churches here read John MacArthur and John Piper, meaning they are Calvinistic. 

If not, Christians you'd meet attend Victory Churches (Steve Murrell) and CCF.. both are megachurches. 

God knows christian friends are important. 

 

Good post. You hit some good points and are so right about it being hard to find a good church anymore. I hope this doesn't discourage you as you are a somewhat new Christian. Keep praying about it. There are still some churches out there that are bible believing, bible teaching.

Whenever I come across free books in a library and other places, if I see books like Purpose Driven Life that have false teachings, I toss them out so that others won't read it and get deceived.

Edited by TheSword1227
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5 hours ago, Celina Capalad said:

It's so hard to find a church these days. 

As I mentioned to you several years ago, you may have to move to another town in order to serve the Lord in one of his New Testament Churches Miss Capalad.  We packed our things and moved sixty miles to attend a church of the kind that Christ built and died for during his earthly ministry.

Our church supports 3 missionaries north of Manila in Urdaneta City (Eddie Galyean), Manaoag (Phil Frasier) and Baguio City (Kevin Bennett).

God can provide if you think you cannot afford to move or find work or even get there.  Not only will the Lord choose for you a sound church but he will also pick one that will benefit by having you too as a member!  Remember the Holy Spirit gives us all gifts that we use to serve in our respective churches.  One of those mentioned just might need a person like you to help the congregation.

 

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9 hours ago, swathdiver said:

As I mentioned to you several years ago, you may have to move to another town in order to serve the Lord in one of his New Testament Churches Miss Capalad.  We packed our things and moved sixty miles to attend a church of the kind that Christ built and died for during his earthly ministry.

Our church supports 3 missionaries north of Manila in Urdaneta City (Eddie Galyean), Manaoag (Phil Frasier) and Baguio City (Kevin Bennett).

God can provide if you think you cannot afford to move or find work or even get there.  Not only will the Lord choose for you a sound church but he will also pick one that will benefit by having you too as a member!  Remember the Holy Spirit gives us all gifts that we use to serve in our respective churches.  One of those mentioned just might need a person like you to help the congregation.

 

Thanks for this. 
I researched about all those churches and they really are far from Manila. 
I'll try to find one again. :) 

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it. :) 

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4 hours ago, Celina Capalad said:

Thanks for this. 
I researched about all those churches and they really are far from Manila. 
I'll try to find one again. :) 

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it. :) 

Yes, they are far but let me ask you this, how far will you go to serve the Lord?  1 mile?  5 miles?  Or Anywhere on Earth that He leads you to?

For me and my family it was sixty miles.  So far.  

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There was a pastor near here who walked 23 miles each way to his church in the 1880s. In 1813, Samuel Eyles Pierce said he walked to London then caught the stage to Maidstone on Christmas Eve, then he walked  26 miles to Faversham, preached twice the following day, then three times the day after, "it beeing the Lord's Day", then walked about 10 miles to Canterbury for the New Year.  5 years later Samuel founded a Baptist Church in Faversham.

Edited by Invicta
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On 5/26/2017 at 9:21 AM, heartstrings said:

I

 I have attended one Missionary Baptist church in the area which is King James only and they seem sound, but they are about 40 minutes away. I don't know of any "General Baptists" around here so I don't know anything about them.

General Baptists are a slightly more moderate version of Free Will Baptists.

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A Turkish sheep buyer/customer of mine once asked me "why so many churches" (in the USA)? Regrettably, I didn't have an immediate answer for him. Perhaps what he meant was "why so many denominations?" or "religions?". But after some thought, my answer is "freedom". Unlike some countries, the USA we have freedom to believe any way and worship any way we choose as long as it doesn't involve harming others. Of course, some churches DO harm others emotionally and spiritually but I'll save that for another discussion. The reason we have so many "Baptist" churches is because people can't agree on simple doctrines. But the Bible tells us there will be divisions and heresies and all that stuff so it should be no surprise.

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I am in this very situation. I moved to an area that has 70+ Independent Baptist Churches, one of which came highly recommended by my then and still current pastor.

I attended the church for 3 months, every service. My family got involved in work days and other areas of the church. We were rejected because we were Northerners in a Southern church. No one spoke to us, fellowshipped with us or even learned our name (Including the Associate Pastor and his wife). We left the church to begin our search for a church. 72 churches later, we still have not found a church I would attend. Our criteria is simple

1. Good Preaching (This one is a must - Out of 72 churches, maybe 3 have had good preaching. A lot of yelling about the Bible, but no preaching)
2. Good Music (Conservative, God honoring) - Most of the churches had the whole church go to the Choir and sing 4 or 5 songs and 1 congregational song. Must be a southern thing as it is very consistent, but unfortunately a visitor cannot participate in the worship of God through music.
3. Friendliness (More than just saying hello and thank you for coming) - Out of 72 churches, 1 or 2 were friendly. None made us feel welcome once they found out we were Northerners.

So what have we decided to do after 4 years without a church. We are moving. It is sad to say that there are few good churches in the "Bible Belt", but I have lived in 2 cities in North Carolina for the last 8 years and have found 1 church that I would classify as a good church out of over 200 visited.

For the last 4 years we have either driven the hour and a half to church (Calvary Baptist Church - King, NC) or we have watched them live on Facebook.

As for other churches we would consider - My daughter goes to a Southern Baptist since there are no good churches in her part of NC either. It's the best of the worst. The pastor is an older pastor who preaches the Word of God, the church is friendly, but the music is more contemporary. We have visited a couple Southern Baptists, but the ones in our area the preaching is no good.

There is a Methodist church and a non-denominational church my neighbors go to. They claim their churches preach verse by verse and are super friendly. I have considered going, but I struggle know that the churches doctrinal statements online are not in alignment with my positions on major doctrine, which is why we have not gone.

It's been a tough 4 years, but it is time to move.

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There are several IFB churches around, so I don't have a problem of what to do if one wasn't near.

The Southern Baptists (SBC) are the largest Protestant denomination in America.  And, many of these churches are practically indistinguishable form IFB churches.  But, sadly, that's changing.  While the KJV has been very common in SBC churches, the SBC has recently sponsored a new translation (Christian Standard Bible)  which completely breaks with the KJV tradition, and is otherwise abominable.  The SBC just elected a new president, one that is soft on social issues and says he wants more women in church leadership. 

 

 

 

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