Anyone besides me notice this?

[busyx2mom]

I am new here and I hope I am putting this in the right place.:thinking

Does anyone besides me notice in your home town that more and more churches are having people leave. These people meet in their own homes instead of a traditional "church building"?
This seems to be "the in thing" here where I live because everyone is having such a hard time finding a "good Bible believing church".:scripture

Also, the Messianic Movement seems to be big here as well.

So, is this just in GA????

[Lynn]

I am new here and I hope I am putting this in the right place.:thinking

Does anyone besides me notice in your home town that more and more churches are having people leave. These people meet in their own homes instead of a traditional "church building"?
This seems to be "the in thing" here where I live because everyone is having such a hard time finding a "good Bible believing church".:scripture

Also, the Messianic Movement seems to be big here as well.

So, is this just in GA????

Yes, this seems to be prevalent in many major cities and even smaller communities now. People are hungry for the Word, and so many pastors have gone off the deep end with Purpose Driven 'this or that' and have tried to build up the size of their earthly kingdoms with little regard for solid biblical teaching. True Christians won't sit still for this or sponsor it financially. My dh & I are blessed to have found three good solid, Bible-teaching churches and will have to choose one of them soon. But apparently, in some areas they aren't so fortunate and home church is their only option. The Messianic movement, obviously, seems to follow where there is a fair representation of Jewish believers in a particular area, although many of their services are well attended by Gentiles as well.

:welcome Roni, we are very glad to have you join our Rapture Ready board family. We look forward to hearing from you again. I think you're gonna like it here. :ghug

[Pleye]

I did notice about 10 years ago that started happening in our town. Smaller town too. Some people started meeting in home churches and others started buying smaller buildings like 50-100 seat that were abandoned by faiths like methodist. This was prior to purpose driven.

But has anyone seen a church that implemented purpose driven really advance after it? The two churches I know of I would say no. The first was already growing before they implemented it. The second was already stale and never became fresh after implementing it. Something else must be missing.

Personally no, I am still looking for a good church.

[busyx2mom]

What Lynn said is what I have seen here. We are still searching for a "place to call home" too. It is so hard when you know that a "church" is not doing what they should be doing. How can you let them lead you and your family in anything? (I do realize that people are human).
We still hope that the Lord will lead us to the right place.:candle

As for purpose driven, I really don't know of one.

We do have a few "churches" here that are in to Mysticism and stuff (gold dust, transporting). Doesn't set well with me ya-know.

Thanks for the welcomes!!!!:hat

[Heidi]

We are in the same boat Roni Lee. We just recently left our church. It's was hard because much of my family goes there and I have gone there for about 15 years. The last 8 years though have been more off then on.

Finding a true Bible believing and preaching church is really hard!!!! I never knew how difficult it would be. Seems like they always have to muddle up their teaching with something that is not biblically based. :doh

[PrinceSomeday]

My wife and I have been involved in a regional ministry called AWANA for 18 years. We travel and visit a lot of churches. Our observation is that the churches who faithfully teach God's Word are growing. The churches who water down the message are flat and shrinking. Nothing new. I think history will show that this has been true for a LONG time. Real believers tend to have an internal guidance system (directed by the Holy Spirit) to fellowship with like-minded believers.

On the flip-side, is it a good idea to keep quiting the local church, on the hunt for a "perfect church"? NO!!

Someone once said, "If you find the perfect church, don't go there or it won't be perfect any longer". :aha

[KitsapGirl]

We have a different problem...our pastor is a bible preaching pastor. He preaches the Word of God FROM the Word of God. It's everything else we're not liking...the worship is the BIGGIE, but my kids don't like childrens church anymore, there is a lack of involvement from the men, the women seem to only care about worldly things, there have been many instances where the HS was held back by those in charge of small ministries...I could go on.

We stay because of the pastors teaching...a rare form in our area. We have felt the desire to leave for a while now, we just haven't yet been released to do so. Gods timing is perfect, He will let us know when to leave...if to leave.

[Faline]

I am new here and I hope I am putting this in the right place.:thinking

Does anyone besides me notice in your home town that more and more churches are having people leave. These people meet in their own homes instead of a traditional "church building"?
This seems to be "the in thing" here where I live because everyone is having such a hard time finding a "good Bible believing church".:scripture

Also, the Messianic Movement seems to be big here as well.

So, is this just in GA????

That is true. It is happening all over. That's what I'm looking for.

[Racheal59]

churches today are more like the place to be the "BIG FISH IN THE SMALL POND" deal. Whoever can be the STAR that's what counts. And those who can't be....gossip like mad causing division and the leadership does nothing about it ====especially if the gossipers are their buds. I think we've all had enough of it.

[MochaMel]

My wife and I have been involved in a regional ministry called AWANA for 18 years. We travel and visit a lot of churches. Our observation is that the churches who faithfully teach God's Word are growing. The churches who water down the message are flat and shrinking. Nothing new. I think history will show that this has been true for a LONG time. Real believers tend to have an internal guidance system (directed by the Holy Spirit) to fellowship with like-minded believers.

On the flip-side, is it a good idea to keep quiting the local church, on the hunt for a "perfect church"? NO!!

Someone once said, "If you find the perfect church, don't go there or it won't be perfect any longer". :aha

Hehe i like that!

I personally prefer a small church to the larger ones -- maybe b/c i'm kind of an introvert (though my kids' will say i'm very social) and it's so hard to meet people in the larger churches.. But if they have a biblically sound message i'm going to check it out... We have been half heartedly looking but not b/c of anything the pastor has done wrong -- just feeling a leading from God that it's time.. Probably has alot to do with there are no kids' in our little church except for mine and the occasional guests that come. It can be hard at times.. We are thinking of finding a youth group for the kids; i like the idea of Awana -- but our last experience was not very pleastant for my son. The kids' were very mean to him; and the focus was so much on memory verse's and the button they got; rather then really learning a verse and KNOWING it.. that was disheartening to me. I would much rather my child know 1 memory verse amonth then know 10 and not remember any of them and be able to apply them.. Ya know?!!