God's calling...

[oletimer]

RamboPreacher wrote:

yup. agreed. and "my" "church" is currently my Sunday School class... they not only do the homework I assign, they ask for more. It's awesome to see God working and to see them soaking it up like sponges. and not only that, but to hear testimonies of them applying it in their life and relationships outside the church!

RP, I have pastor serveral churches, worked two out from scratch. But the job that I remember the most and feel that I was really in God's will, was a Sunday School class in the basement of the old South Gate COGOP in south Cleveland Tn. It was an adult class and I had the time of my life. It contribute to the church as both in growth and spiriturality. I can say that I still feel blessed for that oppotunity.

God Bless

[Joey]

...watching and praying here. Good post Rambo. I love open your honesty.

[dolfan]

at least I am allowed a Sunday School class to teach. honestly, if I didn't have that outlet, I am not sure how I would be able to quench the fire in my bones or rather, more accurately, to allow it to burn elsewhere without turning into a supernova myself.

I had a couple (way back) who had a passion for teaching. They didn't fit well in our existing Christian Ed/SS program, so I asked them to either find or write and teach a new believers basics class that would give unchurched new followers of Jesus a balanced 101 survey of what they should know. Worked great for them and for us.

They left the last church they were at because they got called on the carpet for having "an unauthorized home Bible Study." What on earth is an AUTHORIZED home Bible Study??? If your neighbor asks you to teach them some of what you know about the Lord, are you supposed to get permission first??

I had a close friend, now moved away, at my former church who complained in earnest to me, totally frustrated, that he couldn't get elder buy-in to a particular something he wanted to do. I told him, "If God is calling you to do that, don't ask for permission. You have permission. You are permitted. Go do it. If it is something the entire church needs to do, then you'll already be there to welcome us into it, won't you?"

He didn't do it. He did what he'd been doing, then got a nice opportunity job-wise and moved out of state.

[Pastor Bill]

Yeah, I knew you were talking about them ministering to neighbors but I just bounced the question somewhere else.

As far as the home groups, though. If they didn't have the consideration to inform you and started a group targeting other members for whatever purposes (I'm not talking about going out to eat), I think that as the pastor/shepherd it would at least spark my curiosity.

I can understand that, but curiosity and shutting it down are two very different things. I love to hear about this type of thing going on, and mainly want to hear it in order to support it. Now if there was false teaching going on reflecting poorly on the church, then you deal with that problem in itself (and that may have been the pastor's perception) but just to shut it down because it was outside of the pastors circle of control is self-defeating.