Premium Essay

Uniting the Church

In:

Submitted By nhayne01
Words 12768
Pages 52
beginning the christian life
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ...” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, then you are a Christian. According to the New Testament, you are also a new creation. You are beginning a whole new life! And just as a newborn baby needs certain things in order to be healthy and to grow up, so do you, as a new Christian, need certain things to grow spiritually. First, you need to be in fellowship with other Christians. It is through fellowship that you will learn more about God and about how to live as a Christian. You should plan to attend church regularly and join a kinship group so that you can develop close friendships with other believers. Vineyard has many kinship groups that meet on different days and in different locations throughout central Ohio. Choose one that is convenient for you so that you can be encouraged in your new relationship with God! Second, you need to pray, which is simply talking to God. Prayer is how you will grow in your relationship with God and how you can begin to allow Him to work in areas of your life. And third, you need to read the Bible on a regular basis. It is through the Bible that God will speak to you about Himself and your life needs. Beginning the Christian Life Series was developed by Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus for new Christians. It is a series of Bible studies that are easy to follow and can help you as a new Christian start to learn the Scripture. Each study takes one passage from the Bible and goes through it in some depth. Many basic topics are covered in this series, which should give you a good start in both understanding the Bible and your new relationship with God. These studies can be done in a

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Major Christian Denominations

...Task/Step 1: Boys are to research TWO Christian denominations, one being the Roman Catholic Church and the second will be allocated by your RE teacher. Roman Catholic One unique symbol This is the Keys of Heaven, which symbolises the authority and power of the papacy. The keys are a symbol that stem from the Gospel of Matthew whereby Jesus tells Peter that he will give him the keys to the kingdom. This reflects the authority of the papacy as the Church regards St Peter as the first bishop of Rome and is often depicted...

Words: 1581 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Collective Beliefs

...love their wives as their own bodies”. Hence, it is through this structure that it allows for the macro world to continue to function and hence the micro world uses this structure to function thus displaying the functionalism theory. However, in the Galatians it displays evolutionary theory through emphasising equality between husband and wife within Christianity. The Galatians mentions “nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Through this it displays that husband and wife are both equal in their roles to each other and to the Christian community. “for all of you who were Baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” This means that anyone who has been initiated into Christianity is a part of the Church and God no matter the gender. Hence the Ephesians display that through the equality of husband and wife it provides structure for the churches and the macro world thus, showing the evolutionary...

Words: 1076 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Ephesians 4 & 1 Cor 12

...If you’ve been a part of a local church before, then you know the difficulties that can arise. People rub each other the wrong way, get on each other’s nerves; selfishness rears its ugly head; people murmur and complain; some people may think their role within the church is more important or maybe think that their role isn’t as important as that of another. There are a myriad of ways that sinful behaviors manifest themselves. Simply put, being in community with other people is hard and the same goes for those brought together by Christianity. In the days of Paul, those tensions probably were exacerbated by the newly comingling of Jews & Gentiles. God had revealed to his followers that he was not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. If you haven’t noticed by now, this was a tough pill to swallow for the Jews, as Gentiles were viewed as unclean and not even to be associated with. This wasn’t a mistake by the Jews either, as Gentiles were, in fact, “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12, ESV). Thankfully, God showed his mercy by bringing both Jews & Gentiles close to God and uniting us into one body through the death of another body, that of Jesus Christ (Eph 2:13-14). He removed the hostility between the two groups by removing the ordinances (e.g. circumcision) and spiritually united both Jews & Gentiles into one man (Eph 2:15). ...

Words: 837 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ecumenism In Australia Essay

...Christian, with approximately 0.5 percent recognizing as non-Christian religion. This all changed with the effect of migration to Australia after the Second World War, this post war period bought a huge variation to Australia’s religious and ethnic makeup. (Morrissey, 2010) Ecumenism refers to the movement towards religious harmony amongst Christian denominations, it is driven mainly by the experiences of believers who acknowledged that what Christians have in common is more important than the things that separate them. A notable achievement of the ecumenical movement in Australia is the formation of the Uniting Church. It was founded in 1977 through a union of Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The initial document for the Uniting Church, states that the reason for this union is their "seeking to bear witness to that unity which is both Christ's gift and will for the Church". The destruction of World War II launched the Australian Committee for the World Council of Churches (1946), this advanced into the Australian Council of Churches which, in 1994, led to the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA). The NCCA is an ecumenical body that targets to strengthen the relationship of member churches. The Ecumenical movement delivered increased sharing, recognition and tolerance between Christian denominations though there are still tensions between them due to their years of violent history.(Gomez, 2005) (Ncca.org.au, 2015) Interfaith dialogue outlines interactions...

Words: 990 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Summary Of Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

...having separate bathrooms, schools, and restaurants that existed after the era of slavery. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had expected the support of numerous local religious figures in hopes of uniting to end racial terror. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail King recognizes and replies to every nine detailed criticisms created by the white church and its leaders. What is evident in this letter is that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses emotional, rational, and ethical to persuade those who read his letter. To get his readers feeling emotion King...

Words: 584 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

St Paul Research Paper

...He furthermore wrote about the way God wanted Christians to live their lives and what to believe in since he received many questioning letters not understanding his preaching or what to complete. In addition, he wrote about his journeys for people to understand them more clearly and about the relationship between the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, which was getting worse and his only hopes was in uniting the two together. The letters address about Paul’s companies and how the well the Church, that talks about equality and freedom, welcoming everyone as brother and sister. This shows he is writing is ordinary to deal with everyday issues, but it shows he was dealing with a subject about God, addressing it in an advice forum for the encouragement in living in that lifestyle. The letters show some forms he is comforting and loving but in another he’s acted like a scolding...

Words: 732 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

...The Church demands revenge in order to uphold honor as it deems that the sacrifice of a possibly innocent soul is secondary to putting the people back in line. The killing of Santiago, due to the fact that he steals Angela’s virginity, will induce respect and obedience for the Church once more. Parallel to the church, capitalism has transformed itself into a religion that is similarly insecure about its social position and hopes to ascend to the same level of respect and authority as the aristocracy. Lopakhin’s revenge against the Ranyevsky family stems from his pride and desire to overcome the feeling of insecurity facing his fledgling capitalistic religion. Lopakhin views the new ideas of capitalism as his gospel due to the fact that he has built up a fortune from nothing using his capitalistic methods and wits. The downside of his swift ascent into prosperity is his excessive pride in his capitalistic tendencies and a burning desire to overcome his humble background and feel accepted within the upper echelons of society. Lopakhin is a character whose ideas and propensities are ridiculed by the upper class which sees “what a drab life [Lopakhin] leads what kind of nonsense [he speaks]” (361). These comments logically hurt his pride and add fuel to his desire for revenge against the Ranyevskies. This fact becomes overtly plain when he buys the cherry orchard, the symbol of power of the aristocracy, and vents out all his pride and self-satisfaction for making his pedigree...

Words: 1086 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Same Sex Issues

...Nasreen Due to the modernizing world, a lot is changing. Same sex couples are fighting for their privileges and acceptance, rights such as same sex marriage, and benefits that straight married couple’s get. Even though same-sex marriage has recently been accepted in Washington by the Defense of Marriage Act on a Wednesday as stated in the article, right after ten in the morning, many other states in America have not yet legalized same-sex marriage. (Banco 2009). Though Washington has successfully accepted same-sex marriage, thirty-seven states still consider same sex marriage illegal (Banco 2009). Something is preventing some individuals, or states to accept same-sex marriage, and this is because of the expected framework of the society which lies upon religious and moral beliefs regarding ethnocentric fallacy. In the Article Narrative, “As Rulings Are Announced, Cheers and Tears Among Waiting Crowd”, and “Defense of Marriage Act Overturned”, Media narrative, it is now legal for same-sex marriage in Washington. After waiting for days for the Defense of Marriage Act, a decision of legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington is finally made. Even though numerous changes are adapted, many still are not. Activists are warning gay couples not to expect benefits immediately because government agencies have varied rules (Banco 2009) . Not all states will be able to receive the same rights and benefits for same sex marriage. Past moral beliefs are one of the concerns preventing...

Words: 1266 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Did Napoleon Make or Break the French Revolution

...Egalite and Fraternite, the three words that translate to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. These three words were the motto during the 10 year periods of 1789 to 1799 (Encyclopedia.com 2008), the influential period that shaped the social and political views in the country of France. This period was called the French Revolution. At this time, the country of France went from being a monarchy which was ruled by King Louis XVI, who was king of France from 1744 until his removal in the year 1792 (Furet 1995), to a republic ruled by the people and then a full dictatorship. Soon after, the role of ruler came to Napoleon Bonaparte who was the military general and first emperor of the country of France (History.com Staff 2009). Napoleon was born on the date of August 15, 1769 in Corsica, France and died on May 5, 1821 on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean (History.com Staff 2009). During his reign, Napoleon promised the people of France that their revolution would be honored, but rather ruled the way he wanted which provided mixed opinions on whether he destroyed or upheld the French Revolutions. This paper will argue about the parts of the French revolution affected by Napoleon Bonaparte, whether positively or negatively, and which of them he preserved and which did he destroy, keeping in mind the motto liberty, equality and fraternity as well as the three estates, the clergy, the nobility and everyone else. To begin with, Napoleon was a very popular figure in France...

Words: 3891 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Ancient Mesopotamia Religion

...medieval Europe extensively. In Europe, Christianity was the prominent religion in during most of the middle ages. Western society is almost inescapably connected with it. The church was the heart of every community, it guided you through life’s stages and was an arm during the tough times. We can learn through documents of the time that during clerical ceremonies the whole town was involved, especially if it was a significant occurrence. Such as the baptism of a king St. Remi prepared a great procession. The streets of Rheims were hung with banners and tapestry. The church was decorated. The baptistry was covered with balsams and all sorts of perfumes. The people believed they were already breathing the delights of paradise. The cortege set out from the palace, the clergy led the way bearing the holy Gospels, the cross and banners, chanting hymns and psalms. (Conversion of Clovis) The whole city was involved as it was a joyous occasion. We later can see that his conversion was important as, “Anastasius, the Emperor of Constantinople…that it pleased the Emperor and the Senators that he [Chlodovocar] be made a "Friend of the Emperor," and a "Patrician" and "Councilor" of the Romans” (Conversion of Clovis). Christianity was a vital factor in the uniting and urbanizing of western Europe, it was a uniting factor among the different groups that otherwise may not have come together. The role of religion shifted significantly through time. Though religion was always a central part...

Words: 1112 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Roman Spain

...them. Spain, known then as the Iberian Peninsula or Hispania, was vulnerable to the relentless armies of the empire because its geography hindered it from protecting itself on its three exposed coasts. Despite this fact, it would take the empire almost two centuries to conquer the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula. Once it was conquered, however, the culture of Hispania would be greatly affected by the influence of the Romans for the next 600 years. Much of the customs, religious practices, and laws still practiced in Spain are a result of this influence. Famous for their ability to establish an efficient infrastructure, the Romans created roads and bridges during and after the conquering of Hispania. This infrastructure was essential in uniting the peninsula that had since been divided by geographical obstacles. It was also crucial in that it allowed trade to flourish both within Hispania and between other geographic areas within the entire empire. This not only allowed the peninsula to become an economic force, but also furthered the mixing of all the cultures that existed under the vast Roman Empire. Today, modern roadways in Spain often run parallel to the ancient Roman roads and the layout of historical cities remain the same as they did during the empire. In addition to the transportation infrastructure, Romans recognized the need of a water supply for those cities not situated on a waterway. Just as was done in Rome, they constructed aqueducts that supplied water to some...

Words: 978 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Day Of The Dead Informative Speech

...The day of the dead is a very special celebration in the south part of Mexico and in the Catholic church. This celebration takes place on November 1 and November 2. This celebration consists of the Catholic holiday of Souls All Saint’s Day and the indigenous belief of honoring their dead loved ones. They believe on midnight of October 31 the gates of heaven open and the spirits of the adults and children come down to enjoy the celebration with their families. Their altars made for the people who have past away in each home. The altars consist of flowers, candles, fruits, piles of peanuts, bread called Pan de Los Muertos, food and toys for kids who have the past away. They leave things that their loved ones liked to do or things that represented...

Words: 318 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Amazing

...or Messiah, God’s anointed. Jesus Seminar – quest for historical Jesus Core elements in life of Jesus – kerygma 1. Baptized by John the Baptizer 2. Was a Galilean who preached and healed 3. He called disciples and spoke of 12 4. Confined his activity to Israel 5. Engaged in controversy about the Temple 6. Was crucified outside Jerusalem by Rome authorities 7. Following his death, the followers of Jesus continued as an identifiable movement 8. Some Jews persecuted some parts of the new movement Gospels were written from kerygmatic interest; that is to proclaim the faith of early Christians in Jesus but the also solidly locate Jesus uniting the social world of his time. Jesus was known as the teacher Development of the Gospels Early oral traditions – after resurrection and ascension of Jesus the church preached and individuals shared orally the stories of Jesus Need for written records As early followers of...

Words: 479 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Henry Sy and John Gokongwei Case

...12, 2010). From ducks, come balut, salted eggs. Sun.Star Davao Newspaper [News Bulletin]. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/ducks-come-balut-salted-eggs Arboleda, G. (July 13, 2010). Food Service Industry in the Philippines. Manila Reviews [News Bulletin]. http://manilareviews.com/2010/07/food-service-industry-philippines.html Magat, M. C.(2003). Western Folklore: Fertilized Duck Eggs and their Role in Filipino Culture. California. California Folklore Society. Mocon-Ciriaco, C. (October 22, 2012). More Filipino women now drink alcoholic beverages-church poll. BusinessMirror [News Bulletin]. http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/news/top-news/948-more-filipino-women-now-drink-alcoholic-beverages-church-poll EntrePinoys Atbp. (2010). Starting a Business in Balut Making. http://www.mixph.com/2010/07/starting-a-business-in-balut-making.html Espina, D.D. (2006). Balut! Balut!. One Philippines (Uniting Filipinos Worldwide). [On-line Serial]. http://www.onephil.com/arc_28_9.htm Morales, I. (2008). Balut turns gourmet. Inquirer.net [Web log comment]. http://blogs.inquirer.net/beingfilipino/food/ National Statistics Office (2012). 2010 CPH Special Release_NCR.[On-line Serial]. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:6IkNDFSTXCQJ:nso-ncr.ph/special%2520release/2010%2520CPH%2520Special%2520Release_NCR.pdf+&hl=en&gl=ph&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi_PvGzQ2fOlfkhCEbHaT89t9rBkkWKLM5buI467OoNPqT7kEInwB0pl4RWrteSWn5x8ONMBRdMscipqY5YYY-TxASTK-bGO8DONNFdigPE5tGJ6RDHXg7rA7...

Words: 281 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Social Justice In Gregory Boyle's Tattoos On The Heart

...rights and responsibilities, option for the poor and vulnerable –just to name a few. In particular, Tattoos on the Heart embodies the Catholic Social Teaching principles of Solidarity and Option for the Poor and Vulnerable for Boyle describes how he witnessed or was part of the encounters that exemplify social justice being done well. In one instance that Boyle witnesses and is in fact striking to Boyle is when he saw the words “WETBACK CHURCH” inscribed on the walls of the church. Boyle quickly remarks he will have a homie clean it up, but one of the women proclaims it will be left there for all to see that they are indeed, a Wetback Church. Boyle reflects “These women didn’t just want to serve the less fortunate, they were anchored in some profound oneness to with them and became them…they chose a oneness in kinship and a willingness to live in others hearts” (72). Thus, these women not only showed their support for the wetbacks but also demonstrated their commitment to being a part of this cause. For this reason, their interest in uniting with those by defending them exemplifies the principle of solidarity. Another prominent example that Boyle experiences is the principle of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. He mentions Pedro’s struggle with addictions and emphasizes the importance of making a difference in someone else’s life. “I’ve come to trust the value of simply showing up and showing up and singing the song without the words. And yet each time I find myself sitting...

Words: 550 - Pages: 3