Church Fellowship

I have worked in the hotel industry in some way or another for 13 years now. My girlfriend has worked in hotels for 4 years now (different hotel). Many different religious groups stay for conferences and holy events. Often we would cringe when we saw their names on the calendar. Some of these groups were incredibly rude.

I’m not trying to be rude, but you may see your church on here and not like what you see. But this isn’t a lie. Any of you working in similar workplaces will probably agree. I do realize that some congregations differ from their church as a whole, but we often had major groups of many congregations, not just one.
Here are some churches that I have dealt with.
1. Assembly of God. Never seem to understand tipping. I once took luggage from individual rooms (upstairs, no elevator) and loaded two busses. I received one thank-you and a $1 tip. Both from an old lady with one bag. It was common for them to just leave spare change as tips for waitresses. They weren’t necessarily rude, but didn’t understand "thank-you" and tipping.
Note: Once a minister from one of these conventions parked in a handicapped spot. He got a ticket. He came into the lobby and threw the ticket at the front desk clerk and said that we should take care of it. For all I know, he never paid it nor felt bad for parking in a handicapped spot.
2. United Church of Christ: Decent tippers, but acted like we owed them the world. For some reason this church always seems to request every possible ammenity. Also two members come to mind during a convention. One got a ticket for fishing without a license on our lake. He brought the ticket up to the counter and asked us to take care of it. Many from this group demanded money off from their rooms because it was raining outside. I hope this makes no sense to you either. The second individual demanded to be refunded for buying her own bedspread. Ours had blood on it. Well actually it was a red stamp with our initials on it. She actually got her money and kept her beadspread eventhough I showed her the stamp.
3. Watchtower. Apparently those little pamphlets that they hand out work as tips too. For some reason the grocery store won’t accept them as currency. They treated us like we didn’t exist, unless of course they were unhappy. This is the only religious group that I know of that would still demand a refund on a room after this. A guest turned off the AC in their room. Later on that day they called for maintenance. Maintenance came in, turned the AC back on, and left. The next day the guests asked for their money back because they didn’t have AC. Wow.
4. Jews for Jesus: The worst! Their events were so poorly organized. One member plugged her toilet late at night, then blamed it on the maid and said she wanted her room for free. Wow! They had requested no service. The maid never entered their room.
5. Catholic church: We actually only had the priests and bishops at our hotel for an annual conference. Other than one priest telling me I was a "f*ck*ng idiot", they were a great and peaceful group to have. How the members themselves would be, I don’t know.
6. Baptists: Fun! But tipping must not be in their vocabulary either.
7. Hasidic Jews: Incredibly demanding. While I understand how important your holy days are, you’re going to have to give us some slack when we are trying to make our third kitchen completely kosher for your event. So Julio forgot about the bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer. He’s only human. I’m sure God will understand. Yes, we would scrub down one of our three kitchens and remove all non-Kosher items for some Jewish groups. The group never came back after Julio’s bag of frozen shrimp.
8. United Church of God: Incredibly demanding. Decent tippers, professional, and pleasant for the most part. However the church was just as demanding as the Hasidic Jews. The only church that ever requested a bar. Interesting. No, no one got drunk.
9: Living Church of God: From my understanding they are related to the above church. A little more friendly, but still quite demanding.
10: The Unicorn Church: I’m told that they are Wiccans, but they prayed to Jesus. So maybe this is an isolated church. They were good tippers, incredibly friendly, and a wonderful group. I felt like I was part of their group at the end of the week.
11. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship: No, we didn’t charge you for a late checkout because these specific members were black. It’s impossible for us to have rooms cleaned by 4pm if you checkout at 2pm. You do realize that tipping is an American custom?
12. Evangelical churches: My employees have work to do. Could you please stop trying to convert them? Could you also stop assuming that they all don’t know Jesus? One group kept trying to push the rapture on me. I said that I felt the chosen people would go through a similar scenario as the Israelites in Egyp
Anyone have any similar experiences?
Icthus: But isn’t it odd that most church groups are the rudest groups? It’s not wrong of me to generalize my experiences.

I never worked in a hotel but I did volunteer at a center where they gave free food and all the street people would come and get the free food and sell it or trade the food for crack , and I thought, how rude when so many people are going hungry, but the pastor who was organizing said that it was to be given to whoever asked and what they did with it was entirely on them. He did his job. The moral of the story is not that every person asking for food must be a crackhead, but that we are judged by our fruits and one must keep track of his own. So No, I don’t believe that all should be evaluated by the ways of some.

The Bible teaches that in these days we should flee the churches. Gods judgment has begun, and God starts it at the external church. We should, if possible, fellowship with other believers; (He.10:25) but not in a church.
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Re.14:7)

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: (Matthew 24:15)
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. (Lu.21:20-22)

In these verses, Jerusalem and Judaea refer to the external or corporate churches. The ETERNAL CHURCH consists of all those whom God has saved and these will live with Him forever in Heaven.
The armies are Satan (the antichrist), as he comes with his false prophets and lying signs and wonders.
This is Gods judgment on the church. See also:2 Thessalonians 2:1+.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Pe.4:17)

E-Bible Fellowship: http://www.ebiblefellowship.com

The Bible does not tell us to flee from churches but from religiosity. Not all churches are bad. Take a look at this short article about the kind of church that I think God wants for today:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/413300/the_weird_places_some_churches_congregate.html

Since we are all annonymous (nobody’s blowing their own trumpet) I thought it would be interesting to see the ministries we have in common and also the variety. Thanks….I’ll start:
Bible Study Fellowship Discussion Leader
Summer mission to Guatemalan orphanages
Stephen’s ministry
Support Campus Crusade for Christ

1)apartment ministry for VBS & after-school tutoring for minority children
2)sponsoring congregation for children in an inner-city school (providing a food pantry, a Clothes Closet for parents)
3)children’s ministry projects (visiting nursing homes on a monthly basis)
4) Alpha courses throughout the year for the unchurched in our area
5) supper club to introduce new attendees/members to members of the congregation (meets one Sun. night per month in members’ homes – split into groups)
6) as an LPC, I personally provide counseling services for anyone needing it (pro bono) within the congregation; I am also waiting to take the Stephen’s Ministry course next time it is offered in this area; there are presently two Stephen’s ministers in our congregation
7)contemporary music ministry (We are raising money to make a CD that will be included in our newcomers’ packets)

where can i fine used or donated church dining room furniture

check out www.gumtree.co.uk they have lots of furniture and freebies too!

I miss belonging to a Church and spending time with fellow believers. Organized religion has not worked out very well however.
Too many cliques and other problems.
I’d like to get together with others for fellowship hopefully in each others homes. It seems like it would be a comfortable setting. How would I go about initiating this? We would need a person very knowledgeable about the Bible. Where would you look to find such a person? I would rather not go to the people from my former Church as I feel bad and embarrassed about leaving.
Any ideas on where to start would be greatly appreciated!
Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t want to lead this group. I have no business doing anything like that. I want to learn and discuss and share faith with others. I miss being with like minded people.

Taking turns, meeting at each others homes is a good way to meet and when you get together it is best to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and have a subject (such as God’s love) and take turns around the room reading the scripture and letting the Holy Spirit teach by revelation as each one reads the word let the Spirit of God give understanding;it’s better to come together in Him with prayer and praise and be open to Him rather than coming with a mind set on what you know or have been taught, asking Him to lead and guide into all truth like He promised

First John is a good place to start about God’s love and 1 Corinthians 13
the main thing is prayer, that is essential as a base

I mean, I see so much hypocrisy in the churches. I know that no one is perfect, but still, that’s no excuse. What should I do? Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions??????

as long as you go back knowing that no-one is perfect. Also not putting anyone in the church on a pedestal. They are just plain old sinners, the lot of them.
Church is for fellowship and encouragement, as well as worship and praise. If you need that in your walk, then go for it.

the southren baptist messianic fellowship? if so could you tell something about it. or give me a web site on it,thankyou
please dont answer if you dont know

Yup, here you go!

http://www.sbmessianic.net/

In Mark we learn through the actions of Jesus that he was constantly turning old traditions into new ones. He proclaimed all animals clean, abolishing the belief that pigs and certain tasty critters were unclean (a belief that inflitrated the Jewish every day life) and he healed the sick, sat with sinners, and help the gentils. He went across the lands, preaching about the good of god. But not once did he say, "Follow the traditions of man." Infact he called those who followed the preceps of man to be ignorant and hypocritical. Now, to state my question without sounding like I am bagging on the church- fellowship and support are an awesome thing. Seclusion, homophobia, slander, and envy are not. The church is where brothers and sisters of faith meet to talk of god and how they can better the world. They are not there to force Christianity on anyone. Pagans, islams, homosexuals are not evil, because we are supposed to believe what we preach, judge no one. Is church a building? Or people

God is in everything alive , I feel god as the spark of life itself,where ever I am there is God.

since the church is a gathering of the called-out congregation, should we feel bothered about not "gathering’ together with the church for fellowship? Is it okay for us to "forsake the assembling" together?

I ask this for those of us who prefer to gather alone or who do not gather with others, even in the twos or threes. Its just a question of curiosity on my part, no judgement. This does not apply to brothers and sisters who, due to illness or physical limitations are unable to, but to those of us who chose to.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in this question.
In Christ
sandy
Just to put to rest any questions.. I do gather together with the saints for fellowship in the twos, threes, and also all together to break the bread, drink the wine each week and to be built up.

I was thinking about this the other day. Some people complain about not sensing God’s presence in their lives, yet when you observe how much they connect with the Body of Christ it’s easy to see why they don’t sense God’s presence! If I want to enjoy someone’s presence I had better get around their body!

Now I know we have the Blessed Holy Spirit in us and without Him, ALL is lost. I don’t mean to diminish His presence and fellowship in our lives in anyway! But Christ also brought us into His Body. We need both the Spirit and the Body.

Obviously there are extraordinary examples where people can’t gather together with other believers – "Joseph in prison" type of situations or like you mentioned (severe) illnesses. In those cases, God provides grace to endure until there is a "reunion" or He brings others to that person.

But as you are aware Sister, 1 Cor. 12 speaks of the church being a body and within that body is MANY parts. If those parts are disconnected they will cease to live and the body suffers.

We cannot fully function if we cut ourselves off from the Body of Christ, let alone grow in God. There is this false idea among many followers of Jesus that if they want to grow spiritually then they need to go find a convent somewhere and isolate themselves. Many when under stress have said things like, "Well I just need to get alone with God and I’ll feel better." While there are times for "retreats" and one on one time w/God this isn’t a Biblical lifestyle. The Christians in the New Testament, lived together, ate together, worshiped together, witnessed together, bore each others burdens together, ministered together, were thrown to the lions together, died together. When they came to Christ, they came to His Body made up of MANY members!

Yet here in the West in this age, we are such an individualistic people. Some of it is personality. (I have a lot of Melancholy in me so I prefer being alone frequently). Some of it is the nature of living and working in a culture that demands long hours at the office. We must make an effort to connect with the Body of Christ on a regular basis.

I am disturbed at how many Christians in the West are SO proud of their nationality and focus on connecting with their fellow patriots yet when it comes to the Body of Christ, they have such a casual, non-committed, loose connection and relationship. If my pancreas decided to connect with the rest of my body the way some connect with other believers, I’d be dead!

No! We need each other! We need lots of each other and lots of others in the Body. Many members and each bring Christ in an unique to the others.

Of all things we are given when we come to Christ – salvation, the Bible, The Blessed Holy Spirit, a cross, grace, a gift, each other and one of the most important of these things is each other.

We need each other like our mouths need our hands and vice versa.

This excerpt is taken from a message ( The Final Generation of the Future Judgment, Luke 21:29-33) that was given a few months ago at Grace Community Church. The rapture is considered controversial in some areas of the Church but i really believe that if all Scriptures are looked at carefully and christians understand that the great tribulation is not about the church but Israel and the unbelieving world, then everything fits perfectly into place. The Church is in Heaven at the beginning of Revelation 4 and comes back to earth with the Lord Jesus at the end of the great tribulation period in Revelation 19. This is an area where christians can respectfully agree to disagree without breaking fellowship with one another.

Duration : 0:9:39

Read the rest of this entry »