Catholics and the House Church Experience
A RECENT SCENARIO: An Hispanic man attended a House Church gathering with his wife and family.
He loved the fellowship and could feel the presence of God during ministry moments.
He has examined the fruits of those who attend and he has no doubt that this House Church his wife is occasionally dragging him off to is definitely of God.
Problem? He's enjoying it far more than he ever imagined he would.
He admitted that he's attending Mass less frequently and is even feeling guilty about his spotty attendance at the Catholic Church.
He confesses that he has entertained thoughts that he is a poor Catholic father and husband for not insisting that his family attend Mass.
He's worried aboutwhat his Catholic relatives would think.
The House Church leaders listen to his concerns and, while assuring him of their love, also encourage him to continue to attend Mass if that is the way the Holy Spirit is leading him.
After all, we must always obey the Holy Spirit.
He is reminded that where the Legacy Church is concerned, it's NOT to be considered "them" vs.
"us" - it's just US, the Body of Christ.
WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME...
? What in Heaven's Name is going on within America'sCatholic Church? The following statistics came from Kenneth Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators.
Other dismal statistics can just as easily be provided to describe many other Institutional churches as well.
In this article, however, we're highlighting America's Catholic Church: Priests.
After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002.
By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests--and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70.
Right now there are more priests aged 80 to 84 than there are aged 30 to 34.
Priestless parishes.
About 1 percent of parishes, 549, were without a resident priest in 1965.
In 2002 there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of U.
S.
parishes.
By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest.
Seminarians.
Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700--a 90 percent decrease.
Without any students, seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered.
There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2002.
Sisters.
180,000 sisters were the backbone of the Catholic education and health systems in 1965.
In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68.
By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000--and of these, only 21,000 will be aged 70 or under.
In 1965, 104,000 sisters were teaching, while in 2002 there were only 8,200 teachers.
Religious Orders.
The religious orders will soon be virtually non-existent in the United States [article did not elaborate].
High Schools.
Between 1965 and 2002 the number of diocesan high schools fell from 1,566 to 786.
At the same time the number of students dropped from almost 700,000 to 386,000.
Parochial Grade Schools.
There were 10,503 parochial grade schools in 1965 and 6,623 in 2002.
The number of students went from 4.
5 million to 1.
9 million.
Sacramental Life.
In 1965 there were 1.
3 million infant baptisms; in 2002 there were 1 million.
Mass attendance.
A 1958 Gallup poll reported that 74 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1958.
A 1994 University of Notre Dame study found that the attendance rate was 26.
6 percent.
A more recent study by Fordham University professor James Lothian concluded that 65 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1965, while the rate dropped to 25 percent in 2000.
ARE CATHOLICS WISING UP, TOO? A growing number of American Christians - Catholics and Evangelicals alike - are down-sizing the established Church as we know it.
The rise of House Churches, Simple Churches, Organic Churches, Cell Churches, Open Churches and Church-planting Movements indicate the growing level of discontent with Church-As-Usual by Christians of every flavor.
This is true among Church leaders as well as the Christian populace.
As one Blogger wrote: "The era of spectator Christianity is now ending because the urgency of our present cultural crisis in America and abroad simply won't permit it!" While Christianity seems to be flourishing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, many believe it is dying in the U.
S.
and is wheezing on its deathbed in Europe and Canada.
As America enters what many refer to as the "Post Christian Era" (I prefer the phrase Post Edifice Era), with Islam on the rise and the level of sin in our culture soaring out of control, an alarm seems to be going off deep within the hearts of many followers of Christ.
Something needs to change.
I contend that, if we want something we've never had, we must do something we've never done.
Today's Catholic must recognize thatthey were born for such a time as this.
Then they must ask themselves if God isn't requiring something more of them than He has ever required of Catholics for the past 1700 years Is the Holy Spirit moving in the USA today just as He has in third world nations for decades? HOUSE CHURCH: A MODEL THAT WORKS, EMBRACED BY CATHOLICS House Churches are everywhere among Catholics in China as well as Cuba.
What many are NOT aware of is that similar small groups are alive and well in the American Catholic Church, too.
Yes, House Churches ARE within the tradition of Catholicism and a recent study identified 37,000 small faith communities, and some estimates place the number at 45,000 to 50,000.
Like the rest of us, the Roman Catholic Church appears to have recognized the need for laity leadership and a more intimate level of fellowship as a stop-gap to rapidly decreasing numbers in their own ranks.
In 1988, Father Art Baranowski published Creating Small Faith Communities: A Plan for Restructuring the Parish and Renewing Catholic Life.
His book was a blueprint for establishing small church communities of faith and prayer.
(SOURCE: U.
S.
Catholic, Jan 2002 (Vol 67, No 1, Pages 18-23).
From the back cover of Baranowski's book: This is the story of a pastor's vision of church and a parish's journey to renewal.
Baranowski brought the church into the homes of his people by restructuring his parish into Small Basic Christian Communities.
The people of his parish do not just go to church, they are the church.
His story can become your story.
"I believe that our deliberate pastoral attempt to bring parishoners together into small groups can serve as a model for any parish, for all parishes.
This book is an effort to share the vision which inspired us as well as the nuts and bolts of how we did what we did," says Baranowski.
Church leaders say the time has come to renew Catholic life through the faith and love discovered in the small group experience.
On a website called OurLadysWarriors.
org, a 1998 conference was promoted entitled: "Imagining Future Church: Small Christian Communities.
" The course description was as follows: Robert Pelton, CSC, and Rosemary Bleuher, ask what tomorrow's Church will look like.
Will leaders emerge from communities, regardless of sex and race? Will the parish be a community of communities? Indications around the world say 'yes.
' Pelton, specialist in Latin American/North American Church Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, was at the 1997 Bishops' Synod for America, where Small Christian Communities (SCCs) were emphasized.
Bleuher, the Joliet, Ill.
, Diocesan Director of RENEW 2000, on a team preparing a follow-up to the Synod.
Both have been involved in the development of SCCs for years.
They here lead a process envisioning pastoral implications of SCCs.
THE RCC AND THE SCC The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) is hearing more and more from their own adherents regarding the growing House Church movement and somthing referred to as "Small Christian Communities" (SCC's).
In the book entitled "Small Christian Communities Today," co-author Joseph Healey writes, in the first chapter entitled "Promoting SCCs via the Internet":" I live in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania...
Here in the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam alone we have over twenty-three hundred Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in forty-nine parishes.
Yet as I travel around the world people often ask, "Do you have SCCs in Africa?" He continues, "How can we get this message out? How can we share our good news of SCCs with people in other continents? The young people in Dar es Salaam tell me: "That's easy.
Use IT [information technology].
" It's true! E-mail, Internet, Web sites, online PowerPoint presentations, online education, and so on open up an exciting window of opportunity to mutually share our experiences of SCCs in our global society and world church.
If we are convinced about SCCs, we must also be convinced about the importance of the Internet - especially in reaching young people today.
" ROMAN CATHOLICS: WHY SO IMPORTANT TO THE REST OF US? With so many of the world's Christians coming from an RCC background, it seems apparent that these people not merely be strengthened in their Catholic practices, but become strengthened as a faith family as well, sharing their lives and not merely an hour a week.
House Church appears to be an excellent vehicle that the RCC has recognized as a means for developing a sense of familial commitment to each other and to the denomination.
Here's a question that The Church at large MUST answer: If Catholics were to fall away at their current rate, would future generations of ex-Catholics turn to cults or irreligion at best? If so, how would this impact ALL evangelistic efforts both at home and abroad? Much of what Catholics already believe coincides with the beliefs of Evangelicals as it is.
How difficult would that make the advancement of the Kingdom if multitudes left Roman Catholicism for the cults? The Evangelical Christian world needs to examine the worst-case scenarios as the ramifications could present many difficulties.
THE EUCHARIST: POSSIBLE IN HOUSE CHURCHES? Participation in the Mass is a major part of Catholic tradition.
The partaking of the Eucharist, according to Church teaching, is paramount to the Catholic experience.
How would the rank and file Catholic fulfill this obligation in a House Church setting? According to an article entitled "The Abuse of Extraordinary Ministers" from "Catholic Apologetics Information": "On January 29th 1973, an Instruction was issued by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship that authorized the introduction of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist called Immense Caritatis.
This document does not grant some revolutionary indult for any and every parish to permit lay people (including Nuns) to administer Communion, it authorizes the use of extraordinary ministers in CASES OF GENUINE NECESSITY which are listed as: * When there is no priest, deacon or acolyte.
* When these are prevented from administering Holy Communion because of another pastoral ministry or because of ill health or advanced age.
* When the number of the faithful requesting Holy Communion is such that the celebration of the Mass or the distribution of the Eucharist outside Mass would be unduly prolonged.
" While many Catholics might contend that the absence of the Eucharist and its administration by an ordained Catholic Priest, a Deacon or acolyte, would keep them from attending a House Church, the truth is, most of America's 43 Million monthly House Church adherents ALSO attend a Legacy Church, therefore, a Catholic need not be any different.
In other words, there's nothing to keep a Catholic from participating in a Mass in a Catholic Church on any given day while taking part in a House Church or Simple Church gathering as well, if they so desired.
The things that Catholics appreciate about House Church are the same that are appealing to the other 43 Million American Christians each month: 1) an intimacy of fellowship with others, 2) the development of their own spiritual and, 3) in most cases, a tangible presence of God, inspired by unconditional unity.
Armed with the truth, a Catholic CAN begin - and more and more ARE - taking part in House Church communities of faith.
And they're loving the fellowship! ADDRESSING A BIG CONCERN If we were all being honest, the thought of denominational House Churches sound like quite a turn-off to most of us who are actively involved in the movement.
So, how does a non-Catholic House Church handle the Catholics who desire to join their fellowship? (Yes, incidentally, Catholics do have the RCC's blessing to fellowship with their Protestant counterparts).
Frankly, in the same way they'd handle anybody else from any other denominational background: with love.
The rule of thumb for Any House Church Group is to keep any teaching centered around the teachings of Christ.
We run into trouble when that focus shifts to manmade, denominational stuff that is not universally acceptable.
There's a church-split waiting to happen with ANY mix of people! True, the RCC claims to be "the one true church.
" My contention is that, though the RCC is without question the world's first denomination, the truth is, the REAL Catholic Church, that is, the real UNIVERSAL, Church is YET to arise.
That will happen out there, somewhere in our future.
The Catholic Church we are all familiar with is a poor substitute - a mere manmade denomination - fragmented and as imperfect as anything the Protestants, Evangelicals, Charismatics, Mormons, cults or anybody has come up with in an effort to launch their own "one true" church.
Anything with two heads is a freak.
Jesus alone is Head over The Church.
That Church is not a building, a denomination or anything less than The Universal Body of Christ.
And it will never have its headquarters anywhere but upon God's throne.
But I digress.
When the Body of Christ comes together, there is absolutely no need for anyone to wax denominational.
The House Church gathering is a great time to leave one's manmade doctrine at the door and focus everything upon the doctrine of Christ and on growing deeper as a family.
Perhaps this will help: I've been conducting a Bible study entitled "Jesus Said" since 1999.
My first group was 99% Catholic.
Since then, nearly every group has consisted of people from every mainline denomination.
As a Workplace Chaplain, conducting that same Bible study wherever I go, the attendees are equally as diverse.
You know, not once in all these years has a fight EVER broken out! In my own Texas House Church group, we have always had Lutherans and Catholics in attendance along with the Baptists, Pentecostals and Charismatic-types.
They've grown spiritually just as we ALL have.
And we all love each other dearly.
Some continue attending Mass.
Others remain active in their Legacy Churches.
But we keep coming together, loving each other as brothers, sharing our loyalty and love for Christ (1 Peter 3:8) by doing unto one another all those "one another" Scriptures.
There's power in unity, friends, and we should strive to attain it.
One day, before God, I believe many of us are going to be quite surprised when we see how this whole thing pans out...
and how little all this "Churchianity" had to do with the results.
If you have any questions regarding this subject, just ask! Every blessing, Michael Tummillo A servant of God http://www.
YourTown4Jesus.
com
He loved the fellowship and could feel the presence of God during ministry moments.
He has examined the fruits of those who attend and he has no doubt that this House Church his wife is occasionally dragging him off to is definitely of God.
Problem? He's enjoying it far more than he ever imagined he would.
He admitted that he's attending Mass less frequently and is even feeling guilty about his spotty attendance at the Catholic Church.
He confesses that he has entertained thoughts that he is a poor Catholic father and husband for not insisting that his family attend Mass.
He's worried aboutwhat his Catholic relatives would think.
The House Church leaders listen to his concerns and, while assuring him of their love, also encourage him to continue to attend Mass if that is the way the Holy Spirit is leading him.
After all, we must always obey the Holy Spirit.
He is reminded that where the Legacy Church is concerned, it's NOT to be considered "them" vs.
"us" - it's just US, the Body of Christ.
WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME...
? What in Heaven's Name is going on within America'sCatholic Church? The following statistics came from Kenneth Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators.
Other dismal statistics can just as easily be provided to describe many other Institutional churches as well.
In this article, however, we're highlighting America's Catholic Church: Priests.
After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002.
By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests--and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70.
Right now there are more priests aged 80 to 84 than there are aged 30 to 34.
Priestless parishes.
About 1 percent of parishes, 549, were without a resident priest in 1965.
In 2002 there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of U.
S.
parishes.
By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest.
Seminarians.
Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700--a 90 percent decrease.
Without any students, seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered.
There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2002.
Sisters.
180,000 sisters were the backbone of the Catholic education and health systems in 1965.
In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68.
By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000--and of these, only 21,000 will be aged 70 or under.
In 1965, 104,000 sisters were teaching, while in 2002 there were only 8,200 teachers.
Religious Orders.
The religious orders will soon be virtually non-existent in the United States [article did not elaborate].
High Schools.
Between 1965 and 2002 the number of diocesan high schools fell from 1,566 to 786.
At the same time the number of students dropped from almost 700,000 to 386,000.
Parochial Grade Schools.
There were 10,503 parochial grade schools in 1965 and 6,623 in 2002.
The number of students went from 4.
5 million to 1.
9 million.
Sacramental Life.
In 1965 there were 1.
3 million infant baptisms; in 2002 there were 1 million.
Mass attendance.
A 1958 Gallup poll reported that 74 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1958.
A 1994 University of Notre Dame study found that the attendance rate was 26.
6 percent.
A more recent study by Fordham University professor James Lothian concluded that 65 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1965, while the rate dropped to 25 percent in 2000.
ARE CATHOLICS WISING UP, TOO? A growing number of American Christians - Catholics and Evangelicals alike - are down-sizing the established Church as we know it.
The rise of House Churches, Simple Churches, Organic Churches, Cell Churches, Open Churches and Church-planting Movements indicate the growing level of discontent with Church-As-Usual by Christians of every flavor.
This is true among Church leaders as well as the Christian populace.
As one Blogger wrote: "The era of spectator Christianity is now ending because the urgency of our present cultural crisis in America and abroad simply won't permit it!" While Christianity seems to be flourishing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, many believe it is dying in the U.
S.
and is wheezing on its deathbed in Europe and Canada.
As America enters what many refer to as the "Post Christian Era" (I prefer the phrase Post Edifice Era), with Islam on the rise and the level of sin in our culture soaring out of control, an alarm seems to be going off deep within the hearts of many followers of Christ.
Something needs to change.
I contend that, if we want something we've never had, we must do something we've never done.
Today's Catholic must recognize thatthey were born for such a time as this.
Then they must ask themselves if God isn't requiring something more of them than He has ever required of Catholics for the past 1700 years Is the Holy Spirit moving in the USA today just as He has in third world nations for decades? HOUSE CHURCH: A MODEL THAT WORKS, EMBRACED BY CATHOLICS House Churches are everywhere among Catholics in China as well as Cuba.
What many are NOT aware of is that similar small groups are alive and well in the American Catholic Church, too.
Yes, House Churches ARE within the tradition of Catholicism and a recent study identified 37,000 small faith communities, and some estimates place the number at 45,000 to 50,000.
Like the rest of us, the Roman Catholic Church appears to have recognized the need for laity leadership and a more intimate level of fellowship as a stop-gap to rapidly decreasing numbers in their own ranks.
In 1988, Father Art Baranowski published Creating Small Faith Communities: A Plan for Restructuring the Parish and Renewing Catholic Life.
His book was a blueprint for establishing small church communities of faith and prayer.
(SOURCE: U.
S.
Catholic, Jan 2002 (Vol 67, No 1, Pages 18-23).
From the back cover of Baranowski's book: This is the story of a pastor's vision of church and a parish's journey to renewal.
Baranowski brought the church into the homes of his people by restructuring his parish into Small Basic Christian Communities.
The people of his parish do not just go to church, they are the church.
His story can become your story.
"I believe that our deliberate pastoral attempt to bring parishoners together into small groups can serve as a model for any parish, for all parishes.
This book is an effort to share the vision which inspired us as well as the nuts and bolts of how we did what we did," says Baranowski.
Church leaders say the time has come to renew Catholic life through the faith and love discovered in the small group experience.
On a website called OurLadysWarriors.
org, a 1998 conference was promoted entitled: "Imagining Future Church: Small Christian Communities.
" The course description was as follows: Robert Pelton, CSC, and Rosemary Bleuher, ask what tomorrow's Church will look like.
Will leaders emerge from communities, regardless of sex and race? Will the parish be a community of communities? Indications around the world say 'yes.
' Pelton, specialist in Latin American/North American Church Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, was at the 1997 Bishops' Synod for America, where Small Christian Communities (SCCs) were emphasized.
Bleuher, the Joliet, Ill.
, Diocesan Director of RENEW 2000, on a team preparing a follow-up to the Synod.
Both have been involved in the development of SCCs for years.
They here lead a process envisioning pastoral implications of SCCs.
THE RCC AND THE SCC The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) is hearing more and more from their own adherents regarding the growing House Church movement and somthing referred to as "Small Christian Communities" (SCC's).
In the book entitled "Small Christian Communities Today," co-author Joseph Healey writes, in the first chapter entitled "Promoting SCCs via the Internet":" I live in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania...
Here in the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam alone we have over twenty-three hundred Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in forty-nine parishes.
Yet as I travel around the world people often ask, "Do you have SCCs in Africa?" He continues, "How can we get this message out? How can we share our good news of SCCs with people in other continents? The young people in Dar es Salaam tell me: "That's easy.
Use IT [information technology].
" It's true! E-mail, Internet, Web sites, online PowerPoint presentations, online education, and so on open up an exciting window of opportunity to mutually share our experiences of SCCs in our global society and world church.
If we are convinced about SCCs, we must also be convinced about the importance of the Internet - especially in reaching young people today.
" ROMAN CATHOLICS: WHY SO IMPORTANT TO THE REST OF US? With so many of the world's Christians coming from an RCC background, it seems apparent that these people not merely be strengthened in their Catholic practices, but become strengthened as a faith family as well, sharing their lives and not merely an hour a week.
House Church appears to be an excellent vehicle that the RCC has recognized as a means for developing a sense of familial commitment to each other and to the denomination.
Here's a question that The Church at large MUST answer: If Catholics were to fall away at their current rate, would future generations of ex-Catholics turn to cults or irreligion at best? If so, how would this impact ALL evangelistic efforts both at home and abroad? Much of what Catholics already believe coincides with the beliefs of Evangelicals as it is.
How difficult would that make the advancement of the Kingdom if multitudes left Roman Catholicism for the cults? The Evangelical Christian world needs to examine the worst-case scenarios as the ramifications could present many difficulties.
THE EUCHARIST: POSSIBLE IN HOUSE CHURCHES? Participation in the Mass is a major part of Catholic tradition.
The partaking of the Eucharist, according to Church teaching, is paramount to the Catholic experience.
How would the rank and file Catholic fulfill this obligation in a House Church setting? According to an article entitled "The Abuse of Extraordinary Ministers" from "Catholic Apologetics Information": "On January 29th 1973, an Instruction was issued by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship that authorized the introduction of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist called Immense Caritatis.
This document does not grant some revolutionary indult for any and every parish to permit lay people (including Nuns) to administer Communion, it authorizes the use of extraordinary ministers in CASES OF GENUINE NECESSITY which are listed as: * When there is no priest, deacon or acolyte.
* When these are prevented from administering Holy Communion because of another pastoral ministry or because of ill health or advanced age.
* When the number of the faithful requesting Holy Communion is such that the celebration of the Mass or the distribution of the Eucharist outside Mass would be unduly prolonged.
" While many Catholics might contend that the absence of the Eucharist and its administration by an ordained Catholic Priest, a Deacon or acolyte, would keep them from attending a House Church, the truth is, most of America's 43 Million monthly House Church adherents ALSO attend a Legacy Church, therefore, a Catholic need not be any different.
In other words, there's nothing to keep a Catholic from participating in a Mass in a Catholic Church on any given day while taking part in a House Church or Simple Church gathering as well, if they so desired.
The things that Catholics appreciate about House Church are the same that are appealing to the other 43 Million American Christians each month: 1) an intimacy of fellowship with others, 2) the development of their own spiritual and, 3) in most cases, a tangible presence of God, inspired by unconditional unity.
Armed with the truth, a Catholic CAN begin - and more and more ARE - taking part in House Church communities of faith.
And they're loving the fellowship! ADDRESSING A BIG CONCERN If we were all being honest, the thought of denominational House Churches sound like quite a turn-off to most of us who are actively involved in the movement.
So, how does a non-Catholic House Church handle the Catholics who desire to join their fellowship? (Yes, incidentally, Catholics do have the RCC's blessing to fellowship with their Protestant counterparts).
Frankly, in the same way they'd handle anybody else from any other denominational background: with love.
The rule of thumb for Any House Church Group is to keep any teaching centered around the teachings of Christ.
We run into trouble when that focus shifts to manmade, denominational stuff that is not universally acceptable.
There's a church-split waiting to happen with ANY mix of people! True, the RCC claims to be "the one true church.
" My contention is that, though the RCC is without question the world's first denomination, the truth is, the REAL Catholic Church, that is, the real UNIVERSAL, Church is YET to arise.
That will happen out there, somewhere in our future.
The Catholic Church we are all familiar with is a poor substitute - a mere manmade denomination - fragmented and as imperfect as anything the Protestants, Evangelicals, Charismatics, Mormons, cults or anybody has come up with in an effort to launch their own "one true" church.
Anything with two heads is a freak.
Jesus alone is Head over The Church.
That Church is not a building, a denomination or anything less than The Universal Body of Christ.
And it will never have its headquarters anywhere but upon God's throne.
But I digress.
When the Body of Christ comes together, there is absolutely no need for anyone to wax denominational.
The House Church gathering is a great time to leave one's manmade doctrine at the door and focus everything upon the doctrine of Christ and on growing deeper as a family.
Perhaps this will help: I've been conducting a Bible study entitled "Jesus Said" since 1999.
My first group was 99% Catholic.
Since then, nearly every group has consisted of people from every mainline denomination.
As a Workplace Chaplain, conducting that same Bible study wherever I go, the attendees are equally as diverse.
You know, not once in all these years has a fight EVER broken out! In my own Texas House Church group, we have always had Lutherans and Catholics in attendance along with the Baptists, Pentecostals and Charismatic-types.
They've grown spiritually just as we ALL have.
And we all love each other dearly.
Some continue attending Mass.
Others remain active in their Legacy Churches.
But we keep coming together, loving each other as brothers, sharing our loyalty and love for Christ (1 Peter 3:8) by doing unto one another all those "one another" Scriptures.
There's power in unity, friends, and we should strive to attain it.
One day, before God, I believe many of us are going to be quite surprised when we see how this whole thing pans out...
and how little all this "Churchianity" had to do with the results.
If you have any questions regarding this subject, just ask! Every blessing, Michael Tummillo A servant of God http://www.
YourTown4Jesus.
com