Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I don’t have sufficient data to call this a trend but it seems that liberal c of C congregations tend to have larger memberships. In the Memphis area of the three largest congregations, with more than a thousand members, two are decidedly liberal. The third one is more conservative and traditional than the two liberal congregations but not excessively conservative.

The largest c of C congregations that I’m familiar with tend to be liberal, by c of C standards anyway. Anyone else notice this?

My wife's encounter yesterday, with a couple that we used to go to church with some 14 years ago, prompted me to think about liberal c of C congregations. This couple attends one of the decidedly liberal congregations in the area. She told my wife that they were looking for a different congregation to attend because they felt the Elders were allowing their congregation to go into apostasy.

They said they could deal with the Praise Team singing on the stage facing the audience, and they were not against the emphasis on grace, but the Elders had recently okayed girls and women assisting men when serving the Lords Table and that was just a bridge too far. What next? Will women be allowed to teach a mixed gender Sunday School Class?

There was a time when I would have been appalled by all of that too, so I understand their concern. When they asked my wife where we were attending now and she told them that she was attending the Methodist Church. Their mouths dropped open. Then they smiled and walked away without further comment.

Cootie Brown wrote:the Elders had recently okayed girls and women assisting men when serving the Lords Table and that was just a bridge too far. What next? Will women be allowed to teach a mixed gender Sunday School Class?

Heaven forbid!! We can't have that.

To the cofc, women are to be seen and not heard...and only "seen" in certain low profile places.

Cootie Brown wrote: There was a time when I would have been appalled by all of that too, so I understand their concern. When they asked my wife where we were attending now and she told them that she was attending the Methodist Church. Their mouths dropped open. Then they smiled and walked away without further comment.

I'm glad your wife answered that question. It seems this couple would be better suited in a classic coc 'fire and brimstone' preaching congregation. But getting to your main point about the larger coc congregations are mainly liberal, I agree this is a trend as well, at least in some areas, as I have read about some of the large coc congregations over the years. In my area, there are no large coc congregations that have 1000 members, not even close. A large coc in southern California would consist of 150-200 members. But the churches that are considered more liberal, mainly the churches with a majority of black members, tend to have several generations represented, and have youth. Their service is more lively, has hand clapping (unscriptural lol), and do not rely on singing hyms that are over 100 years old. The predominately white churches are made up of seniors, and their grandchildren (who are usually visiting, or are regular visitors). The other age groups 40-50, 30-39, 29 and below do not exist, except for a few exceptions to the rule. When those seniors move on, those churches will be gone, or barely hang on.

Hasn’t this always been the case? That’s why most “sound” congregations are almost always very small, and the hard-core members are proud of that fact. If there is a large congregation it’s automatically grounds for suspicion.

Ivy wrote:

Cootie Brown wrote:the Elders had recently okayed girls and women assisting men when serving the Lords Table and that was just a bridge too far. What next? Will women be allowed to teach a mixed gender Sunday School Class?

Heaven forbid!! We can't have that.

To the cofc, women are to be seen and not heard...and only "seen" in certain low profile places.

True. Actually there is no reason that women cannot pass the plate in the Lord's Supper. A problem would occur if she led it. I stay away from legalists. I have known women with more Bible knowledge than the man leading the class. I got tired of of listening to the same old crap. Remember all the add on sins. God cares about wine. Dancing is a precursor to sex. Cards are the devils handiwork. You can take anything too far. You should not miss communion Sunday morning. Did you ever have the perfect attendance pins? I came across mine and trashed immediately. It is hard with all the noise to deal serious issues. All the crap ever did was add to your guilt load. Matt 22:30 kjv

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Breeding will not be important. The point is that in the future whether you are a man or woman will not matter. The words are from Jesus. I also note that angels once mated with women to create the nephlim. Go figure?

ENA wrote:

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Breeding will not be important. The point is that in the future whether you are a man or woman will not matter. The words are from Jesus. I also note that angels once mated with women to create the nephlim. Go figure?

If there is an afterlife and if it is as the Bible indicates then there will be no gender, no race, no ethnicity, no short, no tall, no fat, no skinny. All these things are issues of the physical. In that spiritual existence beings will be simply the essence of themselves without the constraints of the physical that defines us now. All that makes us male or female is flesh. I've known many women who were much more masculine in personality and demeanor than some men I know and obviously the opposite is also true. This is why the issue of transgenderism shouldn't be such a big deal. The reason it is, is because it moves some people way outside their comfort zone and they don't like that.

flawed wrote:Hasn’t this always been the case? That’s why most “sound” congregations are almost always very small, and the hard-core members are proud of that fact. If there is a large congregation it’s automatically grounds for suspicion.

That's right. Because "the gate is narrow".

As has been noted the Biblical concept of the Spiritual realm indicates there is no such thing as gender, because spiritual beings are incapable of reproducing. That would seemingly also be true for God. Ancient patriarchal cultures focused on males being dominate. It is therefore logical they would envision the God of the Bible to be a male, but the one true God of the Bible would almost certainly be without gender. The God of the Bible creates IT does not reproduce.

Tradition once again prevails over facts, evidence, and logic. The God of the Bible would seemingly be an IT rather than a supernatural humanoid male, or so it seems to me anyway.