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Why our IFB churches are dying


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(Sarcasm warning) Hmmm. I guess I will now have to work on being more thoroughly Biblical in grammatical and contextual details for the edification, rather than the entertainment of the congregation.  As we all know, I do not usually care for such things; but I will work on it.

(Back to being serious) Brother PastorJ, I have not traveled to various other churches nearly as much as it appears that you have; however, I possess intense agreement with your burden concerning the preaching and teaching of God's Holy Word in our churches.  In my opinion, the downfall of Fundamentalism as a Biblically sound and spiritually powerful movement for God's glory is rooted to two sources: (1) A disheartening lack of real Bible students, beginning with the leadership; (2) A failure of the men to truly be Biblically sound, godly leaders in their homes, both as husbands and as fathers.

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I agree 100% with you. Our colleges are putting out individuals who can't stand on the Word of God. I have participated in a number of ordinations and there have only been a couple where I felt the person was ready to be ordained. Unfortunately, in the IFB circles, there is an expectation that they will be ordained no matter what.

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That is true. I had one candidate submit a 1 page statement of faith and our questioning was limited to that. I asked the candidate to explain the Trinity and he was not able to. I chose not to vote and then shared with the pastor that I could not vote positively for him therefore, it would not be wise for me to attend the ordination service.

What is sad is that this is true of other denominations also. We are about entertaining now and not preaching.

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"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."  (2 Tim.4:3-4)

If I may be so bold as to butt in here... I believe this (scripture above) is why good churches with sound doctrine are declining. But pastors aren't told to cave into worldly demands, nor to make churches more like rock concerts or coffee shops. Instead are told to:

"P
reach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine" (2 Tim.4:2)

Better to have a church sound in doctrine and Bible with even a hand-full of people than a stadium full of those who have itching ears and want to hear fables.  (In my ambulatory years) I never worried about whether the congregation (or even the pastor) was friendly, whether they sang off key, or if they even knew my name (no offense meant here, this is just how I see things). But rather, I wanted to hear the sermon. And I didn't want a 5 minute "sermon-ette" filled with stories about uncle Bob and aunt Millie (or whomever). Nor did I care to hear jokes. Nor did I want to see a group of mini-rock-star wanna-be's leading what some call the "praise and worship team" these days. I wanted to hear the word, and solid teaching. If one feels he must tell a story, why not have it be a story which is an example of the word of God? How it relates to scripture?

It's a shame that some have gone to spending MORE time in their music (which is supposed to be honoring and praising the Lord, not about self) and less time in the sermons. It should be the opposite. Sadly, some in the congregations may want a "McChristian" drive-thru sermon with 5 sentences or less. But a solid pastor will not cave in to the demands of the worldly... the worldly can go fill the multi-million dollar atrocities and have their ears tickled there. 


 

Edited by Ronda
Removal of all eschatological reference as per request
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Unfortunately there is some truth in your points.

When I go to preaching meetings (which is rare where I am), there is almost never a time when ALL the preaching is sound and edifying.

There will often be some really good preaching, but you almost always get at least one who is just soapboxing and ranting, without any real substance to the preaching.

There are many who still preach the Word, but alas, not all.

Friendly????

I visited a church a while back, and the only people who spoke to us or approached us were the Pastor, his assistant, and one of the music guys (another area to watch).

Even after he asked me to close in prayer and introduced me to the people before I did, nobody came and spoke to us. We had to instigate every discussion.

We have some like that here, but we also have some very friendly people.

I know we can do better tgathan n we are though.

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On 11/17/2017 at 10:08 AM, Pastorj said:

That is true. I had one candidate submit a 1 page statement of faith and our questioning was limited to that. I asked the candidate to explain the Trinity and he was not able to. I chose not to vote and then shared with the pastor that I could not vote positively for him therefore, it would not be wise for me to attend the ordination service.

He couldn't explain the Trinity? Say what? What did he say?

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22 minutes ago, Salyan said:

He couldn't explain the Trinity? Say what? What did he say?

A man like this is not qualified to ordain, plain and simple. I see the main problem as the ordination committee. The ordination process is supposed to determine if a man is qualified to be ordained. Unfortunately today any ordination process is expected to end in ordination. No one wants to make waves or be the one to go against the flow and speak the truth.

Time to return to the old ways, political correctness has no place in any church of the Living God.

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If the church and the pastor don't already know what the man teaches and believes and hasn't seen a pattern in faithfulness before the ordination is scheduled ---- they shouldn't even be scheduling an ordination for him.

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55 minutes ago, OLD fashioned preacher said:

If the church and the pastor don't already know what the man teaches and believes and hasn't seen a pattern in faithfulness before the ordination is scheduled ---- they shouldn't even be scheduling an ordination for him.

Very true......

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On 11/17/2017 at 10:37 PM, Pastorj said:

Thanks, but feel free to start another thread for discussion eschatology. I have participated in many over the years.  

Let's keep this one to the points I brought up

I edited my post to remove all eschatological reference, and hope that is more to your liking. I did feel it was relevant, but since it's not my OP, I will abide by your parameters.

 

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There is one church where the pastor still preaches a 45 minute expository sermon, the music is not about self, mostly traditional hymns and one choir "special", and the people are amazing. Yes, I'm talking about my church. We have visited churches of various denominations in three different states...and there has been only ONE where we ended up becoming members. We look forward to going to church, were welcomed and encouraged to get involved (very hard to get involved in some churches) and truly feel we are an important part of the body. We took a couple of Sundays off from church due to some things including 2 injection procedures on my neck and back that haven't done a whole lot for me and I was just worn out from it all...our pastor called us...just to make sure everything was OK. How many churches do you find that at? My husband told him what was going on and pastor stated we'd be in his prayers. The prayers of a powerful man availeth much...lemme tell you! 

I know there have to be good churches out there, I mean, if we found one in Las Vegas Nevada of all places...God will lead, just be open to his leading. I've learned over the years, if something is of God, it will be very easy...if not, no matter how much you try to force the issue, it will be like pounding your head into a wall. 

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