Hi all,
Well my oldest 3 kids are gone to a free concert at the baptist chuch.
It is put on by the youth group there.
My oldest daughter has been meeting with the group for about a month. One of her friends gos and invited her.
She likes it so far and said it was alot more intersting than the meetings at the KH.
She has no friends from the hall anymore. I want her to have friends and I know she will get some. I just hope she finds some good people. I dont know anyone from the church but I hope at least since they are spiritual minded there will be some good people there.
I hope she can find friends who will help her continue to follow Christ. She has wanted to get baptized for 3 years now but the elders just kept shooting her down.:beatoverhead: She got very discouraged.:sadwalk: She said she does not want to get baptized as a JW because men:halt: are too involved in what should be a personnal thing with God.
Wendsday she said someone asked her what she believed about the trinity. They said they would like to talk to her some more on the book of John. Oh boy, here we go again!:priest: We have had our fill of dogmatism from the WT. I told her I would be glad to help her, but if they insist that she believe in their view of the trinity then she probably wont fit in.
Does anyone here have youth group experiances?
I think it is a positive thing, one that the WT could learn from.
An old saying comes to mind:
"It takes a village to raise a child".
:grouphug:
Jayme
Hi Jayme :hibye:
She has no friends from the hall anymore.
They are conditional friends and not really friends. It doesn't make them bad people, just deluded. That will take care of itself in time. Nobody's going to be left in the dark before this is all over.
I want her to have friends and I know she will get some. I just hope she finds some good people. I dont know anyone from the church but I hope at least since they are spiritual minded there will be some good people there.
I hope she can find friends who will help her continue to follow Christ.
I have been to many Baptist Churches and I can tell you that I have met nothing but wonderful, patient, forgiving, kind, sweet, loving, unassuming, non-judgemental, non-dogmatic, compassionate brothers and sisters in Christ! (And, they got rhythm!!)
She has wanted to get baptized for 3 years now but the elders just kept shooting her down.:beatoverhead:
Thank the LORD!! Best thing that NEVER happened to her!!
She got very discouraged.:sadwalk:
It'll pass!
She said she does not want to get baptized as a JW because men:halt: are too involved in what should be a personnal thing with God.
Good for HER for recognizing that before she took the corporate plunge!
Cheers Brother!
:friends:
Jimmy C.
Hey, Jayme :wave:, How're ya doin' bud?
Here are a few of my thoughts.
I was sent to a Baptist church since the age of 4. My father was an agnostic and my mother was a nominal Anglican. So I walked alone to church every Sunday and enjoyed the fellowship and singing. I don't recall being segregated into a Sunday school...just part of the big congregation.
A few years later we moved to the West coast and again I went alone to the Baptist church and Sunday school. There was a very different spirit there from the previous one. There were a lot of snoring adults during the services and the only real bible teaching was in the senior Sunday school class. The youth group was just like a dating club and no one had any spiritual interest. They were never seen in church.
When I was twelve the whole senior Sunday school group was baptized and the class was finished. Shortly after that I begged my parents to let me quit. There was just no spirit in that church. My folks told me I could quit when I turned 13...which I did.
Skipping over my teenage years of spiritual searching I was baptized as a JW in my mid-twenties. It was in 1967, before the questions for baptism were changed. If it was today, I know I couldn't say "yes" to the second question.:readthis:
Did you ever wonder, Jayme, if you, as her father, could baptize her? I kinda think it would be appropriate. The reason I ask is because belief in the Trinity doctrine was a requirement for baptism in the Baptist church.
If you baptized her then she could probably associate with any Christian group. Your teaching her would protect her from man-made dogma. Plus, there are other ways to have friends that have Christian values. Look around. Perhaps others here have some ideas, too.
Take care, bro:love:
rez:siskiss:
PS....It might be worthwhile for you to go to that church a few times to scope out the spirit. It varies from group to group.:P
We have 2 children that attend youth group meetings.They meet twice a month, have a short Bible Study lesson, friendship time & of course the all important teen need for snacks. :eat:
Here is a sample of things they do:
In the fall they spend time getting to know each other & filling out an info sheet about themselves. There is a Sunday where part of the service is spent with them up front reading about themselves to the congregation , so everyone can get to know them & their needs better.:heartbeat::grouphug:
They bring food , prepare it and serve a salad bar once a month after the service, a love donation can be made to the group.
Decorating & undecorating the church , caroling/visiting to a nearby home for the elderly. Making & serving a sweetheart dinner movie night for the church.
They also have a 30 hour famine, the kids stay at the church & do work projects & car washes to raise money to feed the hungry. Each year they do something different during the famine besides not eat ,like carrying their water from a farm a mile down the road. This year they are building cardboard box homes to sleep in for the weekend.I think they raise money & support 9 children in other countries so far.:cheer:
Although they have a lot of fun & time to socialize together they are just as much charity/service focussed with their time.
I like that the group only meets twice a month, an everyweek thing would intrude too much on our family time. :thumbsup:
Our church has quite a few members that are former JW's & Mormans .The church has the Apostles Creed in it's "we believe "statement. I was baptised at this church on my profession of faith in a simple statement made to the pastor.
The church also has open communion, available to any who want it, leaving the decision to partake between the individual & GOD.
I think that if asked the members/attendies of this church would say they believe in the Trinity. They practice/teach what is in scripture though and the subject has come up only once with me in a conversation on another subject. We were talking about if Christians had ever witnessed to me while I was a JW. I said only poor attemps to argue the Trinity that didn't help, :( there were so many other things I would have listened to at the time. :cry: I made a statement it had not been neccessary for me to believe it when I was saved. I was answered , yes that isn't what you need to believe, to be saved. :thumbup:I was not asked if I believed it then. I can answer now the LORD has given me peace on the subject and I have no problem worshipping with people or at a church that teaches the Trinity. I understand it, but can't splain it, KWIM? :thinking:
While attending this church I have come to appreciate not neglecting to make time & effort in worshipping with others. I wish all of you could find a church or group in real 3D life too.
BF
BF, that sounds like a great youth group....outstanding!:thumbsup:
You are fortunate to find a church group close by to fellowship with. I just wish that a "warm body" form of association was available to all. In small rural areas, it's not always an option.:crybaby:
Praying that we all find and maintain some sort of group of spiritual friends, whether in the flesh or in cyberspace.:grouphug:
Love,
Rez:siskiss:
Thankyou all for the experiances!
Its been kinda crazy around here, so I hadnt had a chance to get back to you all. :funnyface:
Hey Res,:hibye: you know I have infact wondered about baptizing her! In fact I was thinking about posting for some thoughts on that. It seems like people are always wanting to attach other things to what should be quite simple. :readthis:
Heres an intersting thing that just came up....My daughter came home from youth group sunday nite and said that they are going to be studying the different christian denominations, their history and what makes each unique. Well everyone gets to do a report on a different group and my daughter was assighned JWs. She seems excited about it and asked if I could help. They supplied a very extensive list of things that they would like to know. I think it will be good for her to do a honest investigation into the org. history and doctrine.
This evening I went to an open house at a non-denominational christian church to check out their school. We currently homeschool but with all the drama lately we need some help. We really dont want to do public school but the christian school has some draw backs too. They do the pledge of allegiance and are really big on all the holiday stuff like easter bunnies and santa claus. I'm not comfortable with that.
Seems as if we just dont fit in anywhere. :(
But then again maybe they will respect our conscience on these things. :dontknow:
I'm so grateful to have all of you! :grouphug:
:heartbeat:
Love, Jayme :drinking: