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Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are you

Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Posts are coming in faster than I can keep up with.... :lol:

cwcsmc said:
I imagine this whole thing to be pretty simple. Let say the retreat is in my home town. The retreat is over and a few people are not going to leave until tomorrow. I say, come on over to my house and we can throw together a bbq for dinner. Maybe bring a guitar for some music. Everyone says great, comes over, we enjoy a little singing and talking and getting to know each other and then everyone leaves. No major doctrinal issues were discussed. No scene was made about anything, just friendship. The end.
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I think Samuel's right: Basically we're already doing this. In fact, this exact thing happened in Dallas when most of the group left Sunday per schedule and the few folks that stayed over for travel reasons got to just hang out. No agenda. Just good solid fellowship. And Nathan has folks over to his house regularly and I have people over from time to time and do exactly what you're describing.

FollowingHim said:
Isn't one point of this online church idea to let us dig deeper in love and fellowship into other matters that are off-topic here? If we keep diverting these discussions we will just become lukewarm. We need to have them, but have them calmly and rationally from scripture rather than from the statement of faith of the denomination we grew up in.
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That was my impression from the retreat and that was my impression from going over this whole thread before I posted my contribution a couple of days ago. When you've had this kind of interaction (on the board) or been to a retreat, it makes sort of disheartening to go back to your home church, where in some cases they don't know who you really are, or in other cases they know what you believe, but if you ever act on it you'll be asked to leave, or whatever, and realize that you just don't fit in anymore.

Possible analogy: For awhile I was a youth leader at a cessationist Baptist church. Then I started having experiences with God that didn't fit the approved theology (there's that creedal thing again), so I had to start looking for another church. I don't know if that advances or derails the argument, but there it is. Once you've tasted the new wine, you're not so thrilled about the old wineskin.

Final thought: I think this is especially important for those of us who have had our eyes opened and our minds blown by this utter corruption by the western church of the biblical template for marriage and family. Jesus taught and lived an intimate, personal relationship with God and saved his harshest words for those that gave God their lip service while actually "teaching for doctrine the traditions of men". I'm for having the discussions Samuel called for, and sooner rather than later, given the crisis cultural conditions we're living in, and who better to explore this territory than enlightened guys like us? :shock: :roll: 8-) :lol:
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Okay, last post for this afternoon. I'm gonna hafta tap out! :oops:

FollowingHim said:
On providing a place, we've just been looking at a different scale. I have seen a site facilitating different groups, you have seen one group. Which is a better place to start anyway.
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I think I'm more comfortable just focusing on the one thing at first, but since you mention it, just over the course of this conversation today, based on one of your earlier posts, I've been wondering whether it would work to have a site with multiple blogs that would hold postings by those that felt led to teach. Maybe approximately sorta kinda similar to a church that has multiple adult Sunday school classes. For that matter, somebody might even feel led to start a blog aimed at teenagers, etc.—the possibilities are endless!

Could a Messianic teacher and a non-Messianic teacher have their own followings under one larger umbrella? Could a Calvinist teacher and an Arminian teacher have blogs on the same site? [Insert your favorite example of Christian faction here...] The mind, it reels.

Maybe reels a little too much, and maybe I'll just reel it in at this point. The truth is, that as I think you already mentioned, there's so much teaching already available on the internet on any existing dogmatic dilemmas that it seems redundant to publish more. If we're worshiping together and fellowshipping together ("one anothering" each other), then eventually specific internal and external ministries are going to manifest. Probably don't need to program that too much.

FollowingHim said:
I see what you mean with worship now. I would be up to giving that a crack and would appreciate the fact that someone else was leading it and providing direction, as I keep meaning to start formal family worship times and struggle to make it happen
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That's the kind of thing I'm talking about, really just a service provided for those who would like a hand with family or house-church worship.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

On BF we keep on-topic with the heavy stuff, and discuss off-topic stuff that doesn't cause arguments, so basically what you said. Retreats are similar as Andrew has outlined. Some of us do have vigorous debates elsewhere sometimes, just not on this forum!

What do you mean about a hierarchical structure, what gives you this impression? Like all forums there are a small number of people who run it, that's just practical, there's no real hierarchy beyond that. Keen to know what your impression actually is and what has made you think that way.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Regarding Nathan, do you use Facebook? Have you ever met Mark Zuckerberg? Does the lack of meeting him have any relation to the usefulness of his website?

The staff of BF are Nathan and Doc. Neither has much time to interact on the forum due to other commitments, I tend to run that from day-to-day, but the forum is only part of the BF ministry. Nathan's key role is arranging and running the retreats, which are actually more important than the forum in my view, and take a lot more time and effort to organise also. If you look into attending one of those you'll have a lot more to do with him. Furthermore although the staff decide what happens ultimately they do so in consultation with others.

I would encourage you to attend a retreat and meet Nathan there!
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here. The crowd that attend retreats is a bit different to those who are on the forum. Some people choose to interact here, some choose to interact at retreats, some choose both. Many of the ladies are never on the forum but are active on ladies chat. Others meet people here or at a retreat then fellowship by phone, or on Facebook. Each to their own. I'm so active here principally because I can't usually make it to retreats to fellowship in person given my location, but I will be in Tennessee in July and it would be great to meet you there if you can make it.

Look forward to meeting many more great people should you attend a retreat, some of whom you will know from online but certainly not all. Most people are too busy with their daily lives to be active on an internet forum, particularly if they have a large family.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

FollowingHim said:
I will be in Tennessee in July.
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Excellent!! :D
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

You're not ever going to be made to feel not welcome here if you're trying to find out more about what the bible says about marriage and family or sharing what you have learned on point. And you won't be run off for having beliefs about other matters that somebody else doesn't agree with. Where it gets dicey is when somebody feels that they need to promote their beliefs on other topics, usually either (a) because they think they're right on some essential (to their way of thinking) Christian issue and they're trying to impose their dogma on others, or (b) because they think they're right on some unrelated point and they're trying to interest people in what they have to say.

The first group tries to censor other people they don't agree with (or tries to get Nathan to censor them), the second group is just a distraction, but equally out of line with the core purpose of this website. Both groups are basically taking advantage of the capital this board and the community that support it represent to promote their own agenda.

Very much part of the mission and agenda of this group is to promote the formation of the kinds of deeper relationships you're talking about. The primary effort goes to staging the three or four annual retreats across the country, the women's retreat, the men's retreat, and such other regional meetups as people want to put together (for example, we had a weekend meeting at my house in March attended by a handful of families scattered across Texas). And of course people are always free to make their own arrangements....

PS re Nathan: He's been slammed for weeks with business and personal issues, but should be back in the saddle soon. Doesn't necessarily mean he'll suddenly be all over the discussion forums; as Samuel pointed out, much of his service here goes to planning and staging the retreat events and other behind-the-scenes work. But he'll be around, and feel free to PM or email him in the meantime if you have anything specific you want to talk about. He's a cool guy. 8-)
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

If I may add a few more thoughts about the shadowy puppet master behind this board.
He is the reluctant facilitator of this board and without him it does not exist. A very busy man, but never too busy for relationship with an emphasis on "in person". Many of us have stayed at his house multiple times and have been blessed by relationship with his family.
The retreats really cannot be emphasized enough because that is where all of the good relationships are cemented and built. Nathan is the core of them in a way that you will never see just coming on this board.

Nathan and I do not see eye to eye on everything, but we love YHWH and our families more than what we differ in.

This board is simply different from any other board that I am aware of in that it is more of a place for discussion in between the face to face fellowship at the retreats.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

No worries. This is actually a useful recap of some of these thoughts and issues. There's a threshold issue of 'why not just have a BF church'? There's a context issue of how much our concept of 'church' might be changing in the 21st century. And there are some boundary issues around how BF and one or more fellowships would be aligned. Doesn't hurt at all to review those issues and be sure we're all on the same page.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

<crickets...>
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

I am not an abundance of folks, but I am interested in building fellowship.

This discussion has a whole different flavor than previous attempts to "flip" the membership into being a church under the enlightened headship of the leader du jour.

I am liking it.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Catching up....

1. I make cwcsmc, steve, FollowingHim, and myself as the four principal voices (slight pun intended!) in this convo, with possible interest by NetWatchR and JustAGuy. For the record, "where two or three are gathered" can get Jesus's attention, and large churches have started with less. If anyone else is following this thread or comes along later and is interested in fellowship, now is a good time to jump in the discussion. Otherwise I guess we can start to explore what we've got so far and see what God wants with us.

2. Re Curtis's comment above, I can say with confidence for myself (and I think I speak for all of us when I say) that I am not interested in corporate-style church. I'll have a LOT more to say about that at some point, but for now it's sufficient to suggest that you haven't found your way to this board if you're the kind of guy that needs to be told what to think, and chances are you're not the kind of guy that needs to tell others what to think, either. (I think BF so far has successfully resisted efforts by possibly well-meaning but definitely misguided souls to impose dogma on the group. Like that was ever going to go anywhere with this group....) The appropriate model for fellowship is partnership, not corporate hierarchy. (Anyone besides me into etymology? "Hierarchy" literally means "rule by priests"....)

3. I've never been in the military, but doing street ministry in the mid-90s I became interested in military leadership (rapid execution in the face of opposition, protection of members of your team from attacks, etc.). So interested that I bought 24 paintball rifles and started leading teaching exercises out in the woods for youth groups and ministry teams. It is amazing how your priorities get clarified when you have a mission. I wonder if plural marriage and the door that epiphany opens will provide the unity of purpose necessary to overcome doctrinal differences that are more abstract than functional. One can hope....
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

"one can hope."

One sure can, failing that it is bound to be a very exclusive group. ;)

To steal a phrase;
We are the ones that we have been waiting for!
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

If anyone reading this thread is interested in online fellowship, please PM me.
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Now I'm trying to work out how we can incorporate 24 paintball guns into a church service. Nothing's springing to mind yet. Particularly as we're talking about an online fellowship, which complicates matters somewhat. But surely we can find some legitimate excuse for that! :-)
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

We can handle the truly deep doctrinal disputes at retreats with paintball wars between teams fighting for their particular beliefs.
Just like normal disputes where they with the most might pummel the weaker into submission.
Sounds fair and balanced to me!
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

I think we're on to something big here....
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

And if I brought the materials to build a castle, you could "Have fun storming the castle".

But that would be "Inconceivable!", wouldn't it?

;)
 
Re: Christ Centered Poly Friendly Chruches/ PeopleWhere are

Anybody want a peanut?...

:)
 
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