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Thread: Church covenants/ affirming "membership"

  1. #11
    Senior Member wheeze's Avatar
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    i once got invited to b on the pastors "personal prayer team" because we were n the top 10% tithers in the church. did i feel the spirit or what! i was accused within the same time frame of "disrespecting the pastor because i called him by his 1st name" crap..... eventually i was hit with the proverbial "do not touch gods annointed" garbage.... needless to say i will never join another church again.....

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  3. #12
    The reason I ask is a particular church I know of has new leadership now (ok, it's my home church ) and has asked the members, or wanna be members, to sign/affirm the thing in the OP..I told them this past week that I had taken a sabbatical, and felt I couldn't sign it at this time. Leadership was understanding and have left the door open for me anytime. BUT when/if I go back there, I don't think I would sign it anyway...I've been there several years now and have been "faithful" so IMO signing a agreement like that would be putting a legalistic twist on what I've been doing there already. I also agree with what has been said here regarding the "tithe" one. I HOPE they don't start to require W2's or do like some churches have done recently (send letters to folk that haven't paid their tithes and dis-fellowship them).

  4. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by wheeze View Post
    i once got invited to b on the pastors "personal prayer team" because we were n the top 10% tithers in the church. did i feel the spirit or what! i was accused within the same time frame of "disrespecting the pastor because i called him by his 1st name" crap..... eventually i was hit with the proverbial "do not touch gods annointed" garbage.... needless to say i will never join another church again.....
    I don't think I have ever in my life addressed a pastor by "Pastor" or "Reverend". Maybe when I was in grade school. It was always "Mister ......", or by first name. It was never a thing of disrespect. Being raised in the church and my dad being a pastor there was never that mystical aura or fear surrounding pastors that people like to pawn off as respect or affection to have to address them with titles. As I aged and studied more it became apparent it is just wrong.

    I remember when I was 18 I visited a girlfriends youth group outing and addressed the pastor as "Mr ...." She later told me all the kids thought I was either brave or disrespectful or a combination of both. It wasn't either. I was just raised that addressing someone older as Mr, Mrs, or Miss was proper.
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  5. #14
    Senior Member wheeze's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    The reason I ask is a particular church I know of has new leadership now (ok, it's my home church ) and has asked the members, or wanna be members, to sign/affirm the thing in the OP..I told them this past week that I had taken a sabbatical, and felt I couldn't sign it at this time. Leadership was understanding and have left the door open for me anytime. BUT when/if I go back there, I don't think I would sign it anyway...I've been there several years now and have been "faithful" so IMO signing a agreement like that would be putting a legalistic twist on what I've been doing there already. I also agree with what has been said here regarding the "tithe" one. I HOPE they don't start to require W2's or do like some churches have done recently (send letters to folk that haven't paid their tithes and dis-fellowship them).
    keep that visa card ready sis! u never know...

  6. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by wheeze View Post
    keep that visa card ready sis! u never know...
    Heh heh heh... If I EVAH see an ATM machine in the vestibule me and my Visa go buh bye!! believe that!

  7. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    The reason I ask is a particular church I know of has new leadership now (ok, it's my home church ) and has asked the members, or wanna be members, to sign/affirm the thing in the OP..I told them this past week that I had taken a sabbatical, and felt I couldn't sign it at this time. Leadership was understanding and have left the door open for me anytime. BUT when/if I go back there, I don't think I would sign it anyway...I've been there several years now and have been "faithful" so IMO signing a agreement like that would be putting a legalistic twist on what I've been doing there already. I also agree with what has been said here regarding the "tithe" one. I HOPE they don't start to require W2's or do like some churches have done recently (send letters to folk that haven't paid their tithes and dis-fellowship them).
    Do as you feel led and are comfortable with. Whether you sign or not, your decision should bring you peace.

    Sometimes freedom to minister in a place will be thwarted without signing. So I can easily see times when God may lead someone to go ahead and sign. It surely would be easier and less painful than circumcision as Paul may have suggested to some.
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  8. #17
    Senior Member Pentecali's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    Heh heh heh... If I EVAH see an ATM machine in the vestibule me and my Visa go buh bye!! believe that!
    Why? My home church doesn't have one, but I've been in a few churches where it came in handy.
    I had to pay a musician once and didn't have a check and there was no other method but cash.
    I've visited churches that have a credit card machine in the front where people come up to give. A lot of people hardly carry cash anymore.

  9. #18
    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    In one church I was a pastor we had an agreement to sign but it was very grace orientated and I don't have an issue with them....since I was on the leadership team that came up with it and can genuinely say the pastors had good attitudes and the best intentions for the church

    There are some pastors that unfortunately would use them to control so I wouldn't today necessarily sign one if I detected legalistic wording or a controlling mentality

    If the church genuinely believes tithing is biblical it is better to be up front about it and let potential members know. Even then it has to be worded in such a way that if members didn't tithe they would not be judged. BTW down here churches do not keep records of people tithing or giving as everything stays secret

    We also have to face the fact that if sheep have been burnt by a legalistic pastor they can carry that wounded spirit to another church and infect sheep with their negativity and create problems where there isn't any.

  10. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Pentecali View Post
    Why? My home church doesn't have one, but I've been in a few churches where it came in handy.
    I had to pay a musician once and didn't have a check and there was no other method but cash.
    I've visited churches that have a credit card machine in the front where people come up to give. A lot of people hardly carry cash anymore.
    Bruh, it just ain't right...would remind me of Creflo Dollar

  11. #20
    Senior Member Pentecali's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FaithfulOne View Post
    Has anyone ever had to agree to or sign a "membership commitment" form that goes something like:


    ...or, if you have, do you (or have you) followed it 100%?
    I would not sign one. Not for a church membership.
    I was on the east coast recently and I saw where the music dept had one of these covenant affirmation forms that the singers had to fill out.
    Of course it stated that you had to be a tithe paying member in order to sing.
    Nothing wrong (IMO) with trying to be sure you are getting committed people to serve on your platform as well as morally upstanding individuals who will follow the platform decorum, uphold the teaching of the church etc. I'm just not sure how far it should go. I've seen some very extreme ones that I wont go into

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