Independent Christian churches

[margin overa]

###Self-edited for snarky content###. Life's too short to get into puking matches with buzzards. That, at least, is something we could all learn to avoid...our background's quite full of it. Sorry, carry on.

[B.H.]

margin overa speaks wise words.

[KLP]

Independent Christian Church is a double oxymoron. We have a mega church near us that is sort of one of these, but they also still have Church of Christ in the title ...sort of. They still do immersion baptism and weekly communion, but just about anything else goes. Sundays have a "traditional" worship at 6pm...which if anything is more like watching the 700 club. Yes it is older hymns, but the big piano and soloist is the main focus and the speaker sits in a big chair on stage. Auditorium is used for many functions, lots of high tech multimedia and even disco ball and flashing lights...which are used more for youth rally and soccer league trophy ceremonies.

We also have another Christian church that is a bit less full blown community center. And then there is the DoC/Christian Church which has both names on the sign and I have just never made it to their bldg. They supposedly have a "traditional" service but it is at 8:30 AM and so that is just not going to happen.

[agricola]

I'[ve met people who go to independent churches and they all seem to just love the fact that their church is unaffiliated, but as far as I can tell they are all baptists.

Maybe I've just encountered an unusual set of people.

There are places with 'choreography' and good production values at some synagogues also (reform, principally), but when I go there I always feel as if I am attending a performance rather than participating in something.

I prefer the participation kind, even though there is rarely any instrumental music and the singing is often incredibly bad.

[Hildegard]

I'm friends with a guy who was raised in the ICC and is a preacher (as is his siblings). They were a tad more conservative than we were even if they did play music. (twinge of sarcasm) I like this guy, don't get me wrong, but he is a close-minded stick-in-the-mud, and I think it's a detriment to his profession (he's an excellent speaker and preacher).

My grandparents and cousins were all raised in the ICC, too. I feel like they're all pretty decent people but the ICC always seemed to me to be the Church of Christ with music.

[Jack1]

Longtime lurker who registered just to throw two cents in on this-

Former mainline COC, born and raised, who 'transferred' to an Independent Christian Church after much pleading from my spouse, who had that background. Felt bad about the switch at first but now can't imagine going back. My experience is its not so much COC with music as it is COC without the legalism... but I understand there is variance in Christian Churches so this isn't a blanket endorsement.

My parents weren't happy but I'm not the first of their kids to leave COC for a Christian Church so it wasn't a major thing.

One more thing, I've been a closet agnostic for much of my adult life. Sometimes church is a drag, sometimes it feels right... but for me I wouldn't feel comfortable not having some kind of affiliation.

[GuitarHero]

Longtime lurker who registered just to throw two cents in on this-

Former mainline COC, born and raised, who 'transferred' to an Independent Christian Church after much pleading from my spouse, who had that background. Felt bad about the switch at first but now can't imagine going back. My experience is its not so much COC with music as it is COC without the legalism... but I understand there is variance in Christian Churches so this isn't a blanket endorsement.

My parents weren't happy but I'm not the first of their kids to leave COC for a Christian Church so it wasn't a major thing.

One more thing, I've been a closet agnostic for much of my adult life. Sometimes church is a drag, sometimes it feels right... but for me I wouldn't feel comfortable not having some kind of affiliation.

While I don't care for either group, I do think ICC is a good "step-down" choice for those who want to leave COC, but need a bit of a safety net.

My parents are hardline COC, and were much like yours when I told them I was attending a Christian Church. But in the end, I think they were comfortable with me being in a church that only had one or two quibbles about it, versus not being in a church at all, or being in some other wild religion.

As an agnostic/atheist, I can identify with that last statement. But it got better, and I'm over it.

[Opie]

"My experience is its not so much COC with music as it is COC without the legalism..."

That has also been my experience.... COC without the legalism. That's a good choice of words, and a good way to describe the difference.

[GuitarHero]

It depends on which brand of legalism you subscribe to. Some ICCs are every bit as legalistic as the COC, with the exception of instruments.

I think each group has their own "legalism." As an example, I used to read Al Maxey all the time. He believes instruments are fine, that you can be a member of any denomination and be saved, that there is no hell, and that baptism doesn't necessarily save us. He constantly decries the bondage of legalism. Yet, if you voted for Obama or support gay rights, you're inherently anti-Christian in his view. Essentially, he's still a legalist; he just gerrymandered the lines of the law.

[Ivy]

We attended an independent christian church for a few years. It went the way of the hip megachurch. The process
was ugly; I won't bore you with the details. I wonder if this is a trend in ICC circles.