Sentences with phrase «if congregations»

This very basic requirement would lead to absurd results if congregations were defined by specific snapshots of church attendees.

If congregations of the dominant ethnic group seek out congregations of smaller ethnic groups, asking their assistance as well as offering help, the contribution to self - esteem, and to the building up of healthy pluralism, will increase.

A theological school's focus on congregations in order more truly to understand God must, if congregations constituting practice is truly public worship, involve two things.

It is evident, secondly, that if congregations are constituted by sharing in more broadly practiced worship of God, study focused by questions about them must compare and contrast congregations that are contemporaneous.

A theological school's attention to congregations will involve a second kind of study if congregations» constitutive practice is genuinely public worship of God.

If congregations continue to reflect the racial and sexual prejudices of American culture in the way they define membership, authority, and power, the church will have very little credibility as a prophetic voice in God's world.

If congregations are to be such a sign, firstfruit and instrument of God's purpose of reconciliation in any place, it is vital that they have a sense of being one people in worship and service, in association with other Christian congregations in the area — not in isolation from or in competition with them.

And if some congregations are choosing denominationalism, who and where are they?

If congregations seem not to understand such jargon, it is not their fault.

And if congregations find themselves in the midst of numerical decline, it's because they have failed to come to terms with their changing circumstances.

(tons of support, grace for yourself) and «What happens if the congregation turns on the staff?»

If your congregation uses elders, deacons, or some other official leadership structure, ask them to take up their mandate to «tend the flock of God» (1 Pet.

if the congregation that God has called me to lead are anything like me then they wouldn't know what to do with me!!!

First, if a congregation is even in the remotest sense Christian and not totally a reflection of the culture, its church musicians feel the gnawing sense that simply meeting people's needs is wrong.

I also agree with you that if a congregation wants to pay a pastor a salary it's their right.

The introduction to notes that the book's essays «focus on the urgent and far - reaching changes in ecclesial governance, administrative style, and financial accountability called for if the congregation of the faithful in the future is to fulfill its hallowed aspiration to be the salt of the earth and the light of the nations.»

If each congregation is responsible for the actions of their church, who certifies the ministers credentials.

This could be approached gradually, through a sermon series, or, if the congregation seems ready, in one sermon.

If your congregation will permit lay readers during the Sunday worship services, plan to meet each quarter.

what's the use of a pastor being himself / herself if the congregation doesn't get it?

If the congregation views itself as merely the repository of meanings better expressed elsewhere, it fails to appreciate its genius, its microcosmic capacity to reflect in uniquely lived form the sociality of humankind.

If a congregation finds that Alpha is compatible with its theology, its congregational style and its outreach vision, then there is post-Alpha to consider.

If his congregation doesn't get rid of him this week, they are complicit in his abuse of authority.

If your congregation has been relatively socioeconomically homogeneous and isolated from the effects of poverty you have likely developed a theological frame of reference that has excluded large portions of Scripture that address issues of poverty.

If my congregation only had a month to live, I would want all the members to be together as much as possible.

Membership in a church «family» can become idolatrous if a congregation includes only people who are socially comfortable with one another.

If the congregation can recognize that God may be involved in their own lives, they are better able to be led by the Spirit to be God's instruments in the world where they work and play and vote.

If a congregation persistently wrestles — in sermon, class, and conversation — with its own memory and narrative, it can profoundly deepen its sense of identity with the suffering of the world.

Especially in a time of membership decline, pastors fear that prospective members might be alienated if a congregation has stated expectations of members.

If the congregation is on the team, it is as javelin catcher.

Given positive sociological factors, they are pastors whose congregations do attract new members and growth; if their congregation is in a location where increased membership is not very likely, they do not have to feel they have failed.

If a congregation is to know the power of God's word, the pastoral leader needs time to learn what it means to faithfully exegete Scripture.

But if the congregation is made up of folks with differing views about who should be permitted to serve the church in various ways, well then you've got a mess.

«Neither the stereotype that people in seminaries have of local churches nor the stereotypes the churches have of themselves hold up very well if the congregation is really studied carefully and conscientiously,» she says.

Such a development would be quite consistent with the pragmatic approach in the Pentateuch statements which allow for continued activity by the priest if the congregation has become used to the blemish he manifests.

If the congregation sees its task as the pastoral care of its people, then health and wholeness can move out into the community, which will then become a leaven for the whole loaf.

If the individual is a true convert, they will slowly adjust their life to living as Christ taught — if the congregation they attend allows / enables them to do so.

Of course the denomination gets the money if the congregation folds.

Of course, if your congregation is bucking the trend and is comprised of at least 50 % men (in all age groups), then chances are good that you and your church are already doing some of the things mentioned in this book.

Sermons had to be made interesting and understandable if the congregation was to be held.

However, if a congregation is understood to be constituted by a set of practices, and if the central practice is understood to be the worship of God in Jesus» name, and if that worship is understood to be inherently public in these two ways, then the objection seems to lose force.

If a congregation or its pastor visualize membership in terms of this kind of family ideal, it is a sign of a culturally accommodated, domesticated faith.

If the congregation is nothing more than a division of the larger church, the local unit of a national and international apparatus, then its future is grim indeed.

Even if the congregation can do nothing else for the sick, it can pray for them.

In the postmodern world, if a congregation or churchly agency wants to be «relevant,» here is the first step: It must recover the classic liturgy of the church, in all its dramatic density, sensual actuality, and brutal realism, and make this the one exclusive center of its life.

Not exact matches

If I'm accepted in my congregation, there should be a tolerance in ecumenical settings for a difference of belief on the issue, as there is for many issues.

If the couple wants to talk about their sexual topics, be it hetero or homo, they will do that, and they must be treated with real, humble love and compassion, and not with brimstones and fire, and not making scapegoats out of them in front of the congregation.

If you can not speak to what is right, when you know it is right, then you have no business as pastor to a congregation.

If (and when) I believed that, I doubt I could have accepted having someone in ministry in my congregation that I believed was living a lie, accepting something sinful as a central part of their lives and identity.

I hope this applies to your question, many times, sitting in services in a particular church, the Pastor would give a reprimand to the congregation, saying: «If you feel the urge to raise your hands and do not do it, then you are resisting the Holy Spirit.»