Protestantism

» paper_turtle - Walking the Walk

Re the church in Chicago which is taking it to the streets:
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Back in the 60's when I was attending the University of Vermont, the local Unitarian church decided to engage in what they called a holy experiment.
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First they took a close look at Burlington to see where there was a need, then they met to determine how best to address this need with specific ministries.
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They then went to work setting up programs. One was for low-income people. Another was for men returning home after being in prison. The one I knew best was a coffee house which held weekly discussions on issues important to teens and college-age youth.
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The people involved in the various programs met together during the week and on Sundays for worship and fellowship. Once a month a regular church service was held, with a pot luck afterwards so that all the people could share what was happening in their specific program.
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I don't know how long all the programs continued, but the coffee house kept going for about 8 years. People who were involved in the various ministries said that it was a very profound experience for them--they grew spiritually in the process.
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I think ALL churches should be doing things like this.
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peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» Migisi - Walking the Walk

In response to Walking the Walk posted by paper_turtle:

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Salem Baptist is no store-front church. It's a mega-church with all the trappings and bling. A BIG impressive expensive campus (with a 10,008 seat Auditorium) in a Chicago south side slum community. It boasts a membership of 22,000.
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Check out The Millionaires-Thru-Christ Investment Club at Salem here:
A congregation of clubs: Salem Baptist Church of Chicago has made investing part of its gospel of economic empowerment. (Investment Clubhouse)(Brief Article)
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-8686...
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Cha-ching.

-- posted by Migisi

» paper_turtle - Walking the Walk

In response to Walking the Walk posted by Migisi:

I got that from reading the article.
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The Universalist church in Burlington I described was no store-front, nor did they open a store-front church. The Universalist church in Burlington sits at the head of the street which runs through the main commercial part of the city. The church itself is among one of the oldest in the city, and its membership was/is large (for Vermont) and very diverse economically.
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The projects they undertook were funded through local church monies, and the pockbooks of those who participated. Some of them took sabbaticals from their jobs to devote full time to their particular project--without pay.
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peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» Migisi - Walking the Walk

In response to Walking the Walk posted by paper_turtle:
The projects they undertook were funded through local church monies, and the pockbooks of those who participated. Some of them took sabbaticals from their jobs to devote full time to their particular project--without pay.
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You describe people who walk the walk, to be sure.
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Regarding my comments (which really didn't pertain to your post - sorry), what's bothersome to me is this...
Meeks and his church administrators live in luxury. They buy land, build big auditoriums, huge worship centers, schools, etc. - all paid for by their members' donations. Meanwhile, their poor congregation scrapes by for life's bare necessities. Do the Salem church leaders "devote full time to their particular project--without pay"? Hardly. No, they make no personal sacrifice. They promote their community projects to promote themselves, to sign up more members, thereby generating more money to support their lavish lifestyle and mega-church. How much project money really reaches the needy?
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Jesus said "sell your possessions and give to the poor" (Luke 12:33). He never said 'take from the poor, amass wealth, and build a mega church to me'. And he warned his disciples: "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men... " (Matthew 6:2).
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But, you know all this.

-- posted by Migisi

» paper_turtle - Walking the Walk

In response to Walking the Walk posted by paper_turtle:
Here's the website for the Burlington UU church. It has photos, and (as I discovered) is still actively involved in walking the walk via their JUMP program.
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http://www.uusociety.org/
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peace and love,
Paper Turtle

we must have been posting at the same time.

-- posted by paper_turtle