Fellowship

[trainlady]

How do you experience fellowship at your church?
Is it small enough that you can experience this?
If you missed a service, who would call you? Or would it even be noticed if you were not there?
Do you attend a Sunday School or bible study?
Do you have someone at church you could call if you needed to talk or just go out for a cup of coffee?

Do you feel blessed by the friendship/fellowship at your church or is it lacking?

hugs, train

[trainlady]

This is an area of my life I am really struggling with right now, so would appreciate any feedback. I don't really want to give what is going on, I just want to hear how you experience it in your life so maybe I can figure what changes I need to make.
Thanksand hugs, train

[bar_bar]

I will say this from experience fellowship is a two way road, just like friendship.
we give and we receive. sometimes we lack and we feel we are not receiving.
other times we do not put the effort into things like we should, or we stop going for a spell and when we do go back things seems differences. I know this from experiences from my own church.
If we get go into depression, or lack our self worth which is something satan loves to happen to us, we so often don't feel the fellowship like we did once before.

I also feel we shouldn't just go to church for the fellowship but to worship the LORD.

Sometimes others does miss us when we are gone, but they don't say nothing, but how often do we call when someone is missing from the church? Do we allow others know that they are missed?

I know I hate to call others for I'm always afraid I would be calling at the wrong time, but when I do see them later I let them know they were missed. I have a few that lets me know they miss me.

I go to Sunday school because I have the girls, if I didn't I would just go to church... alot of it is John is not a sunday school person and with me living close to the church I allow myself not to go. Also with one car and John needs to go to work on Sunday that has kept me from going but with the girls, that a totally different story.
For I know I need to be in church as well as to have them in Sunday School and church

I do have someone and more than 1 to call, but I don't . I always call my best friend who goes somewhere else. but it to far for me to go to that church..

The one I go to is the one I feel GOD wants to me in so I stay until I feel He wants me elsewhere.

Hope that helps you.

[mammajigglypuff]

I go Sunday Morning to teach Sunday School and attend morning service and Sunday night for night service, then on Wednesday for Sunday School teachers meeting and weekly service and Thursday morning for Soul Winning.
We have a small Church by some standards, it is very welcoming and like a family.
when someone misses a service they are missed.
When I miss I call my Sunday School Superintendent.

[bjptl]

Hi,Train, My name is Judy(bjptl). The ptl stands for Praise the Lord! We belong to a small/new church (3 yrs old) Right now we meet in a building that is quite small, but have purchased property nearby and will have a building of our own as the Lord provides.---Any way I digress! Even though we are small we have a very loving congregation( around 60) which makes it easy to feel comfortable and accepted when you are a newcomer. We have a fellowship 1/2 hour before the church service with refreshments provided by different ones who have signed up for bringing food,l and the church provides coffee and soft drinks. It's a really good idea, I think.---We also have an evening pot-luck supper every now and then, and a Rook party night once a month at one of our member's home. We have several home Bible Studys during the week since we haven't room for Sunday school for adults.---I know it's hard to find the right place where you feel you fit in and are loved. Don't give up looking. You'll find it. Pray about where God wants you to be, then just keep trying different churches. You may have to go several times to really make a judgment.

[Pag36]

Hi all our church is very small building as well as congregation. But we are a very loving group. And if one of us is not there you can bet we will get a call unless they already know we will not be there. My Evangelist came to the hosp to se me yesterday and others called his wife called me this afternoon to see if I was home yet. She will call me again sometime Monday. I attend the New Apostolic Church. I had never heard of it till I met my beloved Otto in '86 and I became a member Jan 21 of 89, but had been going since Dec of '86. We are like one big family in fact better than some "real" families.

[ellenmelon]

How do you experience fellowship at your church? Because my dds have so many friends at school that are Catholic, I feel a little bit less lost because their friends and their parents I see at mass.

Is it small enough that you can experience this? No, our church is huge. We left the other parish and joined this one because it is where my dh grew up. Since having cancer, I get the worst claustrophobia feelings during church services. It wasn't until just last week that I could sit in the main area and not be nervous and unsettled. I always stood in the back before. That is when I noticed little pockets of people so the huge crowd became a little less terrifying.

If you missed a service, who would call you? Or would it even be noticed if you were not there? Well, my mom and my mil are always asking what mass we went to, it is their way of making sure we go! No one would notice but God and our hearts that we didn't go.

Do you attend a Sunday School or bible study? Because of the claustrophobia, for five years we did not go to church. I realized I needed to do something for fellowship so I joined a small Bible Study at the church, with everyone being 20-30 years older than me! Housewives are a rare breed up here. It has been a rewarding and steadying influence in my life, all that wisdom and humor! And when I didn't resume going after Christmas holidays, I got a call from the leader and she was real chatty and just wanted to be sure everything was all right because they hadn't heard from me in a while. Knowing I was wanted helped me return.

Do you have someone at church you could call if you needed to talk or just go out for a cup of coffee? I noticed about three years ago that I had no Christian or Catholic close friends outside of family. I targeted five people and determined to cultivate relationships with them as I knew them to be Christian or Catholic and so began to ask them to do things with me (outside of church). Three of them have become closer friends. One was a dud, our paths just didn't work out together but not out of anything bad but scheduling and one is still on hold. Recently I went through a bad time and I was able to call the one gf and ask her to go to the chapel with me and pray, I even wept on her shoulder and I have never done that with anyone. It was very nice. I hope this doesn't sound cold but I had to do something and being a housewife I didn't have many networks!

Do you feel blessed by the friendship/fellowship at your church or is it lacking? Yes, I do. When I go to church the readings, prayers, and sacraments and communion affirm what I know in my heart to be true and what the world around me and on tv does not acknowledge or practice. When I see a lot of people at mass it is very encouraging that there are so many trying to be faithful and good. Maybe I am just so hungry and now have the time to hear the mass because my dds are older and not so squiggly that I get so much more out of it.

History: I shopped for churches. I was raised Roman Catholic, attended Young Life in high school, joined non denominational groups in college, in grad school one of the groups became an unhealthy sect and before disbanding did a lot of harm to many people. I got out before I was seriously damaged but then spent 10 years living a prodigal son's life before being prodigal. This life gets very tiresome very quickly and I determined to go back to church.

I shopped around the local community, each week attending a different service, protestant or quaker or whatever. At one of the churches I spoke after service with a woman, they had a welcoming thing going, and we talked. I mentioned about being Catholic and she said it sounded like that should be a choice too (duh!). Meanwhile I met my dh and he also said he wanted to go to Catholic Church, raised that way too. So we go to Catholic Church and it is nice. Not perfect, but still a blessing.

I hope this helps you train, I don't think size matters but who you establish contacts with. And until you do find a home, you still have a home here at FC, this website has been a true blessing for me, too.

[trainlady]

Ellen,
Based on what you wrote two years ago, how is everything going for you now?

I have become very frustrated with our church situation. I know I shouldn't have just "settled" where we did several years ago and everything has remained the same and still empty like. We attend two HUGE churches, "Marks and mine." If we miss it does not make one bit of difference to a soul in either place. I'ts not just that though, because, alone, I know that sounds immature and petty. We are like people sitting in a pew worshipping with a bunch of strangers who never talk to one another, never pray for one another outside of that hour of worship. Does that make sense? I miss having some sort of Sunday school or something which neither of our churches offer. Just a friendly voice to pray with and talk to diring the week would be nice.In the midwest we had a lot more meals together, holiday socials,mug and muffin womens prayer groups, etc....

Gotta make some serious decisions now.........

Please, anyone, jump right in and tell me about your church and what it is that makes it "right" for you.

Yes, I Believe.
YES, I have Jesus in my heart. YES, I know he is everywhere, whatever church I go to or don't.
I just feel So void of any sort of fellowship in my life. .


hugs, train

[graceygrammy]

Hi Donna, I understand where you are now. Several years ago I was in the same place. I have gone to a church very close to my house for 12 years. I have watched it grow from around 250 to over 1200 in that time. It is an Independent Baptist church, if you are not familiar with what that means, it simple means, we are Baptist but we don't follow an organized group.

We have a large children s ministry and several buses that run for all services. We have a group that meets on Friday nights called "Overcomers" It is for anyone who is trying to overcome drugs, alcohol, anything that they need support for. Our state even lets those who are required to attend AA or NA to do this instead. We also have a jail ministry. Our pastor is very outreach oriented.

If someone in the church needs help, we join together and help. We have a family right now that their 15 yr. old daughter has cancer and was in the middle of treatment when their house burned. The church has really been there for them and the town has joined in to help.

I know that I have found a great group of people to worship with and I also know how fragile things can be sometimes. I have always heard that if there are no problems it's probably not because your doing everything right, it is more likely that you are not giving the devil anything to worry about.

I hope you can find a group soon that you can grow with.

Deb

[MKS]

I would call around to all the churches in your area to see if they have a womens Bible study during the week that you could go to. We have one at our church that is made up of several different groups from several different churches. At least two of the ladies found us that way, just calling chruches looking for a Bible study. Remember that church is people, not buildings or denominations or even a service you attend. If you don't find one, you might check to see if there are any online Bible studies. It seems I remember you might be able to find Beth Moore Bible studies online now. That wouldn't give you the support group you need, but getting more deeply into the Word of God, could (WILL) meet other needs.