For a week, I have received questions from some of the readers of this blog as to why I presume to offer advice about forming a church when there is so much advice available. Well, here is my answer.
First, there are way too many people giving poor advice.
Second, there is a need to form nudist churches in nudist communities.
Third, I felt led by God.
Now, you understand? I didn't think so, but I gave it a shot.
Let's slow down and try it again.
First, there is way too much poor advice about running a church. Most working churches have no real clue why they work. Most dysfunctional churches aren't aware they are dysfunctional until the church collapses into a grand mess. Having worked in several start up churches, some done properly and some not, it is easier to build a church when you start the basic functions correctly than it is to go back and fix them later. Offering some of my own mistakes and how to avoid them might just save some of you a whole heap of trouble later.
Second, there is a need to start nudist churches in nudist communities. The Great Commission sends us out into the missions field. It does not ask us to draw the people into some foreign place to learn about God. we need to be in the middle of the community where we can interact and become a part of their lives. We are responsible for the nudist communities' very souls.
Lastly, God told me to. I don't have proof. I don't have a note or some voice message on my cell phone to play for you. I offer no excuses nor do I require anyone to vet my intentions. You can take the last one on faith or pray for my healing. You decide.
There are just too many dysfunctional churches in the textile world. I don't want a repeat on the nudist side.
For those who want to follow along and help me help God build a Christian world in the nudist community, I thank you and keep on reading. I would also ask that you send a link to others located around the world who might be in a position to start working with new churches in the nudist communities. The more people we have reading, commenting and posting, the better our core knowledge of how to spread the word will be.
If this is not where God has you, I am fine if you follow His lead and spend the time you would be spending reading my blog in pursuit of what God has for you.
Thank you and God bless.
Allen
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6 comments:
I am glad someone is taking the cue to help others start nudist churches. There are plenty of advice out there, and the web is full of advice from how to start churches to how to peal apples. Not all are good apples.
So keep up the good work.
But I do have a question, and it may be why so many churches fail.
You wrote: "We are responsible for the nudist communities' very souls."
My question: Are we? Are WE responsible for their very souls? Or is Jesus?
We may be going out with the wrong message. I'm not saying that their souls are just fine, they are spiritually sick, but are we responsible? Or did Jesus take on that responsibility and we are to go out and share the good news of Jesus and what he has done for us all?
We are responsible to share the good news, to tell them, to lead them to the one who takes care of them, but the wrong message may be asking us to do something only God (Trinity) can do. And nobody is fooled. They see the church struggling trying to "save souls" when the church is dysfunctional as well. Maybe the church needs to hand the work back over to Jesus and simply participate in Jesus work as invited. Then we can easily invite others to share in the good news of what Jesus is doing in the lives of humanity as a whole.
Boyd
http://christiannaturism.blogspot.com
Oh course we are responsible. If we are the people chosen by God to be leaders in the nudist community, then we take that responsibility to be their keeper. If we fail to minister and to do the work we are assigned, we must take full responsibility for our inaction.
Remember the parable of the ten talents.
Keep on keepin' on Allen - you're doing good! I've been involved with enough church plants and read enough material on the subject to recognize that your "how to" series is quite practical and down to earth in terms of generic church planting and it's unique within the nudist community as far as I know.
As for who is responsible for those souls I think you're both right to a certain extent. God prepares the ground, calls them, and causes the growth but there's no doubt that we're responsible for planting, watering, and harvesting.
Allen,
I think you misunderstood what I meant. I was talking about being responsible for their salvation as if it were up to us to save them.
I did acknowledge our responsibility to carry the good news of what Christ is doing in their lives!
As for practical church planting, you are right on and the church does need to be planted in these communities. And we are called to do so. I was just pointing out our roll as Christians carrying the good news to these people.
Boyd
John, yes, we are responsible. But our responsibility cannot be without knowing Christs role in the advance work of salvation that was already done on the cross.
Boyd
http://christiannaturism.blogspot.com
Boyd, that still makes us responsible. Remember Jonah? He was responsible for the souls of the people he refused to serve and God almost demanded his life in exchange.
It is important that we remember our charge is to minister to the community we are to serve. It is those souls we are responsible for. We will be accountable for those souls we did not attempt to reach. Whether God forgives us of those discredits is of course guided by grace.
I still wouldn't want to be standing in front of the throne and having to answer for not going where God boldly sent me. Now, where is my Star Speeder and tricorder?
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