Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Have any of you ever been hooked into attending 'devotionals'? It's a sing-a-long of hymns. I was in the CoC in my early 20s. I was frequently invited to devotionals. So here I was stuck in a group on young adults singing 'Jesus Loves Me' over and over again. And they really got into it. Some were crying while they were singing. I thought that they were gonna keep singing those hymns over and over again until their tongues were gonna swell up and that they'd choke to death. It was one of the many reminders that I really didn't fit in with these people. I remember getting a phone call from a guy inviting me to a devotional. I told him that I couldn't make it because I had a date. He said that I should come and bring my date with me. I politely declined. But my thoughts were, 'Are you outta yer freakin' mind?".

In my childhood, churches that had devotionals were considered "suspect." I think the powers that be in our faction thought that was how bad doctrine crept in. Now, I never got why people wanted to have devotionals for the young people following the evening service. I have gone to several "devotionals" in years since that were just another service. The people in charge had a compulsion to fill time with sharing and that kind of crap.

Our type CofC never did Devo and yes our family took a dim view of devo. It was touchy feely and outside of the official "worship service" so it was very suspect. We didn't do no summer camps, Bible colleges, chorus groups, lectureships at a college, etc. All of that stuff was seeking some sort of touchy feely church stuff that was outside the official stuff and was just being added to be more like them lovey-dovey liberals. LOL And we never had no family Bible reading time either...you go to your room and "do your lesson" but otherwise no church stuff outside of the building and official posted time schedules.

Ahh yes. I started going to devotionals during college. There would be a lesson, few hymns, prayer, and then eating. This congregation called them "family circles" it was the alternative to sunday night services. I have to admit I did enjoy them. At my current church ( still worshipping with coc btw, but having doubts right now) we have groups that meet once a quarter. Nowadays I don't care too much for them. And I would NEVER bring a date to a devotional...just no.