Dabo Sweeney testifyin’

[Obliviax]

Over 100 adults are saved in my church every week, not because they were seeking but because a friend invited them. Once there, the gospel is preached, God is praised, people are convicted, they repent, they accept Christ and are saved. In a village of 3800 people, we get 1800+ every Sunday. We are building a new sanctuary of 1270 seats.
Our experience is that people are saved because a friend that they like invites them to church.
On Wednesday night, we get 400+ children and teenagers to youth services. People who live among dead churches never see how God is working in other parts of America.

Great stuff. The fact is that religion is a person-to-person, community-based opportunity. The large organizations bug me and are ripe for exploitation. I have many problems with the Pople and Roman Catholicism but my local Catholic Church is very active in helping people in need. And that means people struggling with finances, divorce, health, old age, a death, addictions, family dynamics, etc. That is where the measurement really comes into play.

 

[Jerry]

Over 100 adults are saved in my church every week, not because they were seeking but because a friend invited them. Once there, the gospel is preached, God is praised, people are convicted, they repent, they accept Christ and are saved. In a village of 3800 people, we get 1800+ every Sunday. We are building a new sanctuary of 1270 seats.
Our experience is that people are saved because a friend that they like invites them to church.
On Wednesday night, we get 400+ children and teenagers to youth services. People who live among dead churches never see how God is working in other parts of America.

Good to hear. Warms my heart.

The trend line in Catholicism in Europe and the U.S. is sharply downward as Sunday Mass attendance has fallen to roughly 15% of those who (at least nominally) profess the religion.

I've been to parishes that seem like the Christian churches of the old Soviet Union where faith holds on barely as the province of a handful of old people.

Yet there are a few places where this is not at all the case. One of them is Front Royal, Virginia, where two of my kids and their families live. The Catholic communities in that town are thriving, vibrant, growing...and young.

Sunday Mass is packed. Families with multiple children crowd every pew. I feel like I'm stepping back in time to the brand of Catholicism I knew as a kid. And it's no coincidence that all these communities are conservative and tradition-minded in their preaching and practice of Catholicism.

Such places are where believing Christians, surrounded and under attack by the forces of godlessness and paganism that now dominate our institutions and run our government, can take refuge and preserve the faith in the new Dark Age that is enveloping us.

In the Cross there is a message of power and grace that the Enemies of God, with all their resources and wealth, don't get: weakness becomes strength, defeat becomes victory, and Truth becomes the most powerful weapon in the universe.

All of this means that in the end: we win and they lose. I probably won't be around to see that happen, but I'll die with the comfort that its assurance provides.

 

[Marylovesthelions]

That is awesome when revival comes.

100+ a year, someone every year.

 

[Marylovesthelions]

Good to hear. Warms my heart.

The trend line in Catholicism in Europe and the U.S. is sharply downward as Sunday Mass attendance has fallen to roughly 15% of those who (at least nominally) profess the religion.

I've been to parishes that seem like the Christian churches of the old Soviet Union where faith holds on barely as the province of a handful of old people.

Yet there are a few places where this is not at all the case. One of them is Front Royal, Virginia, where two of my kids and their families live. The Catholic communities in that town are thriving, vibrant, growing...and young.

Sunday Mass is packed. Families with multiple children crowd every pew. I feel like I'm stepping back in time to the brand of Catholicism I knew as a kid. And it's no coincidence that all these communities are conservative and tradition-minded in their preaching and practice of Catholicism.

Such places are where believing Christians, surrounded and under attack by the forces of godlessness and paganism that now dominate our institutions and run our government, can take refuge and preserve the faith in the new Dark Age that is enveloping us.

In the Cross there is a message of power and grace that the Enemies of God, with all their resources and wealth, don't get: weakness becomes strength, defeat becomes victory, and Truth becomes the most powerful weapon in the universe.

All of this means that in the end: we win and they lose. I probably won't be around to see that happen, but I'll die with the comfort that its assurance provides.

Liberal politics from the pulpit instead of the Gospel has killed most main line denominations. My pastor never talks politics. He presents the gospel, God does the rest. Only He can open a heart yo gear and recieve the gospel

 

[Obliviax]

Liberal politics from the pulpit instead of the Gospel has killed most main line denominations. My pastor never talks politics. He presents the gospel, God does the rest. Only He can open a heart yo gear and recieve the gospel

I used to go to a Chinese Christian Church in LA when I was there on business. They had a great mass. They did all of the ceremonial stuff and then read the Gospel. The congregation broke into smaller groups and discussed how that day's Gospel related to their everyday life. In that session, people shared personal stories on what happened that week and how they might be able to handle it better given that day's message. Then they'd reconvene and the pastor would lead a conversation.

This did several things

• It got people talking and sharing instead of nodding off
• It got people to become friends
• It got you to understand you weren't alone in personal problems that go on behind closed doors
• It brought life to works spoken and printed over 2,000 years ago. It showed that the human condition and words from that day are still relevant today.