Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I went with my sister to the CoC she attends. It is a slightly liberal church, they do have two series a contemporary and a traditional one that people can attend. I found some of the practices interesting in perspective and some bad just from a moral point. They have no instruments in the singing, but the song leader slaps his legs for percussion. There is rock music played in the break between Sunday school and church services. They do not have a contribution offering for the membership at large but they have children come to the front of the church and bring money for their parents. The thing that somewhat bothered me from a philosophical point is they have special events which they call "committment to Christ" for very young children, much like the Catholic Church has Christenings/Infant Baptism. This to me seems to go against the protestant tradition where religious decisions are made by the individual and not the parents.

longdistancerunner wrote: ↑Sun Apr 03, 2022 9:15 pm I went with my sister to the CoC she attends. It is a slightly liberal church, they do have two series a contemporary and a traditional one that people can attend. I found some of the practices interesting in perspective and some bad just from a moral point. They have no instruments in the singing, but the song leader slaps his legs for percussion. There is rock music played in the break between Sunday school and church services. They do not have a contribution offering for the membership at large but they have children come to the front of the church and bring money for their parents. The thing that somewhat bothered me from a philosophical point is they have special events which they call "committment to Christ" for very young children, much like the Catholic Church has Christenings/Infant Baptism. This to me seems to go against the protestant tradition where religious decisions are made by the individual and not the parents.

longdistancerunner, it sounds very similar to an Independent Christian Church we attended for some time. They actually went through a major split when the pastor decided to go contemporary against the sensibilities of the long-time, more conservative members, and they ousted the beloved, more conservative, older co-pastor. As a former cofc member, still fairly new in recovery at that time, a lot of their practices kind of irritated and even appalled me. The newer pastor wanted to convey a sort of uber hip persona, and reshaped the church in that mold. They did have instrumental music / a band and sometimes played rock and roll during the break. One time the pastor played a Rolling Stones song during the intermission; in support of his sermon theme ("You Can't Always Get What You Want"). I love the Stones as much as anyone in my age group (boomer), but I thought that was a little over the top for a church service. They also had "baby dedications", which I thought was kind of sweet. The parents were just committing to raise the child to follow Christ, and celebrating the new life. It really didn't bother me.

Your comment about the knee slap percussion made me LOL!! HAHAHA!! Can you envision, say, the Apostle Paul doing that if he led singing?

All of that said, I have evolved quite a bit in my views on that. I am much less inclined to be judgmental about it. I no longer attend a church of any kind, and I have no investment in whatever they choose to do. I honestly think the "rock and roll hip church" is a model that works well for some people, and gives them peace and a sense of connectedness to the spiritual. Some really get into it and become genuine Christ-followers, and do a lot of good in the world -- ministries to the homeless, the poor, the homebound, etc.

So, thank you for sharing about your visit to your sister's church. It was interesting to me, and brought up those memories.

Wow, your sister's CofC really does seem to me to be an outlier!

longdistancerunner wrote: ↑Sun Apr 03, 2022 9:15 pm The thing that somewhat bothered me from a philosophical point is they have special events which they call "committment to Christ" for very young children, much like the Catholic Church has Christenings/Infant Baptism. This to me seems to go against the protestant tradition where religious decisions are made by the individual and not the parents.

That was an interesting report on your church visit. Thanks for posting it. (Knee-slapping seems …. odd.)

I want to share some additional information about infant baptisms. While Baptists, COC, and numerous other churches practice only adult conversions, there are many protestant Christian denominations that baptize infants.These include Episcopalians (who I think do not claim to be “Protestant”), Methodists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. I have not attended any churches that have infant dedications instead. Which just proves there are very differing practices in Christianity.

I think infant dedications in CofC’s are very common now. My kids had that when they were babies and given a small NT with their name engraved on it.
My Christian Church has a Contemporary and Traditional Service. I go to the Contemporary and love Christian Contemporary Music! There are a few of the old hymns I like, but not too many.

I forgot to add at my sister's church around Christmas time, they have a big Christmas tree in the auditorium with presents surrounding it.

longdistancerunner wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:48 pm I forgot to add at my sister's church around Christmas time, they have a big Christmas tree in the auditorium with presents surrounding it.

That's really amazing! I remember the proverbial "but we KNOW Christ was not born on Dec 25th so it can't be his birthday".

SolaDude wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:41 pm

longdistancerunner wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:48 pm I forgot to add at my sister's church around Christmas time, they have a big Christmas tree in the auditorium with presents surrounding it.

That's really amazing! I remember the proverbial "but we KNOW Christ was not born on Dec 25th so it can't be his birthday".

But they "redeemed" paganism, dontcha know.

Ivy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 5:47 pm But they "redeemed" paganism, dontcha know.

FinallyFree wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:24 amI go to the Contemporary and love Christian Contemporary Music!

Both of my parents have begun listening to that music. My mother started about a decade ago and dad just in the last couple of years. I am aware of some churches in the Ohio Valley that have incorporated some K-Love type songs into their worship services. Those songs done accapella are truly ghastly most of the time. My parents' church would never dream of trying a song that wasn't in one of the classic CoC hymnals.

Yet another thing for my mother to add to her 'holier than thou' arsenal: she only listens to Christian music now. I was sick a couple of years ago (major surgery sick) and she came to my house to watch my daughters while I convalesced. I had chant playing in my room and she asked me what it was. I replied, "Christian music."