Sarabeth Posted June 25, 2018 Posted June 25, 2018 I found this forum while looking for a progressive church - not an easy thing to find in my part of Ohio. My husband and I were attending a United Methodist Church with a progressive minister, but mostly conservative congregants. He seems afraid to speak out about anything that might cause "division in the church". Essentially, that means that the church is run by conservatives - politically and theologically. Increasingly, I find it difficult to involve myself in "churchianity" - decorating for holidays, volunteering to serve at fellowship hour, making a casserole or baking cookies for a pot luck or attending the church picnic. Every Christmas we take scarves, gloves, and hats to a local elementary school in an economically depressed area. (that last one is probably the most important thing we do, at least to me) There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these activities. They are all fine. Lately, however, they have seemed trivial to me in light of local and world events. We also do not meet during the week, study the bible, or have a book club. I sense that the people are not readers. So we are looking for another church. We have two children and an empty nest. One is at college and the other recently graduated. Both are in New England. We are looking into adopting an older child from foster care. We love animals, and we share our home with a rescued mini-Dachshund, a Cocker Spaniel and three sleepy, chubby, cats. I enjoy reading, film, the outdoors and collecting mid century modern Viking glass and furniture. I love antiquing, thrift stores, yard sales and resale shops. I'm in my late 50s, but lately I have been thinking of returning to school to complete my master's degree. I am looking forward to meeting people here, and I am excited about this forum. Sarabeth Quote
PaulS Posted June 25, 2018 Posted June 25, 2018 Welcome Sarabeth, I hope you enjoy the Forum and participating here. I'm afraid I'm not much help for you with a Church as I'm over here in Australia, but I have found the Forum an excellent place (particularly the archives) for lots of discussion and information which is rarely shared within most conservative circles. Cheers Paul Quote
Burl Posted June 25, 2018 Posted June 25, 2018 6 hours ago, Sarabeth said: I found this forum while looking for a progressive church - not an easy thing to find in my part of Ohio. My husband and I were attending a United Methodist Church with a progressive minister, but mostly conservative congregants. He seems afraid to speak out about anything that might cause "division in the church". Essentially, that means that the church is run by conservatives - politically and theologically. Increasingly, I find it difficult to involve myself in "churchianity" - decorating for holidays, volunteering to serve at fellowship hour, making a casserole or baking cookies for a pot luck or attending the church picnic. Every Christmas we take scarves, gloves, and hats to a local elementary school in an economically depressed area. (that last one is probably the most important thing we do, at least to me) There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these activities. They are all fine. Lately, however, they have seemed trivial to me in light of local and world events. We also do not meet during the week, study the bible, or have a book club. I sense that the people are not readers. So we are looking for another church. We have two children and an empty nest. One is at college and the other recently graduated. Both are in New England. We are looking into adopting an older child from foster care. We love animals, and we share our home with a rescued mini-Dachshund, a Cocker Spaniel and three sleepy, chubby, cats. I enjoy reading, film, the outdoors and collecting mid century modern Viking glass and furniture. I love antiquing, thrift stores, yard sales and resale shops. I'm in my late 50s, but lately I have been thinking of returning to school to complete my master's degree. I am looking forward to meeting people here, and I am excited about this forum. Sarabeth I had similar problems with UMC. Some of the better churches I have found are are the Moravians, and the high Lutherans and Episcopalians. The worship services are prayer based (albiet formulaic) but they typically have intellectual focus groups during the week. Some seminaries offer a certificate in Christian studies where you can get the heart of an M.Div. education at a fraction of the cost. Quote
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