New member here, so here's who I am and why I joined....
I've been a born again Christian since I was 13 years old and I've attended various churches since I was a baby. I grew up in a Baptist church, spent a number of years in a Lutheran Church as a young adult, then spent most of my adult life in a small independent church, and recently started attending a Lutheran Church again.
The main reason I decided to join CC was because of what happened to the little independent church I loved so much. For years, it was basically my second home and the members were my second family. We all knew each other extremely well, spent lots of time together, raised our kids together, and like I said, were like family.
Then, to be blunt, the Trump/MAGA era came to our doors and everything changed. Starting in about 2016 the church became increasingly politically-focused, which started to cause divisions in the congregation. Sure, we all already knew each others' political views, but they took a distant back seat to what really mattered...our faith in Christ, our love of the Lord, scripture, and ministry. But that gradually changed until eventually people who were previously very good friends started to turn on each other, call names, and make outrageous accusations.
As you can probably guess, over time people started leaving the church until last year when the few who remained voted to just close it down. We were bleeding money and the people who were left weren't able to keep the place running and functional, so we really had no choice.
It broke my heart then and it still hurts now, mostly because from my POV it was all so unnecessary.
So you'll probably see me spend most of my time here discussing politics, but not necessarily to debate and instead to hopefully find some common ground, better understand those who have different views, and generally get along.
Thanks for allowing me into the forum!
I've been a born again Christian since I was 13 years old and I've attended various churches since I was a baby. I grew up in a Baptist church, spent a number of years in a Lutheran Church as a young adult, then spent most of my adult life in a small independent church, and recently started attending a Lutheran Church again.
The main reason I decided to join CC was because of what happened to the little independent church I loved so much. For years, it was basically my second home and the members were my second family. We all knew each other extremely well, spent lots of time together, raised our kids together, and like I said, were like family.
Then, to be blunt, the Trump/MAGA era came to our doors and everything changed. Starting in about 2016 the church became increasingly politically-focused, which started to cause divisions in the congregation. Sure, we all already knew each others' political views, but they took a distant back seat to what really mattered...our faith in Christ, our love of the Lord, scripture, and ministry. But that gradually changed until eventually people who were previously very good friends started to turn on each other, call names, and make outrageous accusations.
As you can probably guess, over time people started leaving the church until last year when the few who remained voted to just close it down. We were bleeding money and the people who were left weren't able to keep the place running and functional, so we really had no choice.
It broke my heart then and it still hurts now, mostly because from my POV it was all so unnecessary.
So you'll probably see me spend most of my time here discussing politics, but not necessarily to debate and instead to hopefully find some common ground, better understand those who have different views, and generally get along.
Thanks for allowing me into the forum!
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