All the information
presented is solely from what was told to me from the priest or pastor. None of it is from outside sources.
EPISCOPALIAN
INTRO: “The Episcopal church stems from the Anglican
church. The Anglican church separated
because of one big issue: the authority of the pope. The Anglicans wanted to be able to decide on
what they believe and didn’t believe that only one man had access to hearing
from God. When the colonies first
separated from England,
they wanted a new church that wasn’t the “Church of England”. So they founded the Episcopal Church which
has the same beliefs and practices as the Anglican church, except for one
difference. Democracy. As the Continental Congress formed, so did
the Episcopal church. 1776 was the birth
of the Episcopal church and from then on, church members, priests, bishops all
come together and vote on their platforms, doctrine, worship, life, etc. There is shared power. There is a hierarchy of authority and power,
but the decision making comes from the people up. This can be MESSY! Many people deciding at once leads to
arguments. Our followers are mix between
theological liberals and theological conservatives. They would not agree with everything I
say. But that’s just a testimony to
varying beliefs in the Episcopal church.” – Rev. Hehr
1) How does one
attain salvation?
A) Begins with a decision to follow
Jesus, then getting baptized. Baptism
forms a covenantal agreement involved in the church – receiving sacraments,
supporting the church (financial and servanthood), community life.
2) Are spiritual
gifts for today? Specifically the
supernatural – are miracles, prophecies, signs real?
A) Yes, God’s miraculous happens
all the time! People just need eyes to
see and ears to hear
3) I don’t know
anything about your congregation, but nationally Episcopalians seem most often
to be Democrats – is this assumption true and if so, why do you think this is?
A) No. In fact St.
John’s [his
church] is mostly Republican. It
really depends on the community if the church is mostly Republican or Democrat,
not on the denomination.
4) Is homosexuality a
sin?
A) In the Episcopal faith we
believe that all understanding comes from three pegs. Think of it as a stool. The three legs keep it balanced and standing. These three pegs are SCRIPTURE, REASON, and
TRADITION. Because of this, I have to
look at things through all three lenses.
This causes me to look at scripture holistically, not just taking one. In 21st century thinking there is
science and a great deal of study about genetics. Homosexuality is understood greatly different
today than from centuries before. Being
an Episcopalian, that matters to me.
Scripture and reason go together.
We are created in the image of God.
If that’s true, all human beings are created in the image of God. If human beings male and female are created
in the image of God, then why would one say that a heterosexual is created in
the image of God but a homosexual isn’t?
That’s where Episcopalians begin to use all three lenses to
understand. As a priest, as a follower
of Jesus Christ, I have no trouble arriving at that point. That the image of God is present in a
homosexual and a heterosexual. I have no
reason to believe that homosexuality is not part of God’s created order. You can sin in your homosexuality – adultery,
lust, etc. But homosexuality in itself
is not the sin. I believe it expresses
the diversity of creation…….Yes, I
believe that homosexuality is part of the created order.
5) Preach the gospel
at always and if necessary use words – what are your thoughts on this
statement?
A) GREAT statement! I believe in this truth, that how we live our
life is more powerful than a sermon.
6) Is Jesus the way
the truth and the life (John 14:6) and the only way to God? In other words, is Jesus the only way to God
and is he the only way to heaven?
A) First of all, let’s talk about
heaven. What is your understanding of
heaven? ……….. My understanding of heaven is that it is not a place, but a
spiritual union with God. Other religions
can tell us a great deal about God – his holiness for instance. Jesus is
the fullness of that, but he can make himself for other people who aren’t
necessarily part of the Christian tradition.
Jesus is a guaranteed way of entrance to heaven, but his mercy goes beyond
our understanding. I can’t put him in a
box and say he won’t save a Hindu, a Jew, a Muslim, an unbeliever individually
who have never heard him before because they followed him the best they knew.
Other quotes:
- Satan is evil personified,
- Catachism is our collection of teaching
- Reason, scripture, tradition are of equal importance. Episcopalians are interested in how they interact
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METHODIST
1) What does the
symbol mean?
The cross
represents Christ. The outward flame
shows the Holy Spirit in us and us taking him OUT into the world.
2) Is the bible the
inerrant word of God, or can we pick and choose what we like to believe?
All of the
Bible is truth, not just some of it, but all of it. But the Bible takes in many different
viewpoints. For example, in Romans Paul
says that women shouldn’t speak in the church.
But I also see first and foremost that there is “neither man nor woman,
nor Jew nor Greek…”. Second, I see Deborah
in the Old Testament, prophetesses in Acts, women leading the church in the
various letters. All these women had to
SPEAK in order to prophesy or lead or preach or whatever it was God gifted them
to do. Some say that the ‘no women
speaking’ viewpoint Paul had was actually to make Romans feel more welcome
because they were very against women speaking in public. This really shows that God will go to any
length to reach out to us.
Again the Bible
is the inerrant word of God, but we must take the WHOLE bible into context not
just pick and choose. Methodists use the
Wesleyan model of understanding to really make good decisions about doctrine,
life decisions, etc. It is often called
the ‘three legged stool’.
I interrupt, “Oh yes an Episcopal showed me
this. He said that Reason, Scripture,
and tradition must be balanced.”
Pastor says “Oh no. He totally got that wrong. Episcopals actually took from the Wesleyan
model of understanding because we came before.
But I’m not sure why he said that.
Scripture can’t be balanced nor trumped by reason or tradition..
The three legged stool has three
pegs – Reason, Experience, and
Tradition and they are limited tools that help balance our seat which is the
ultimate authority – Scripture.
Scripture is the most important, the primary.
3) Your
faith was founded on the 1st Great Awakening, a time of great signs and
wonders, powerful gospel proclamation, mass healings and spiritual
manifestation, and a beautiful grace message.
I myself am a “Circuit Rider”, a modern day mobile revivalist who, like the
circuit riders during John Wesley, John Edwards
and George Whitefield’s day, have chosen to go to the hardest and
darkest places and bring the gospel to the unreached and revive the saved. I am under the impression that signs and
wonders were a common part of this revival and God revealing himself to
man. Do you, your congregation, and the Methodist Church as a whole still to this day
value the physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit, healings, or powerful
gospel proclamation to the unreached as your denomination’s founders did?
Our denomination is so diverse, it spreads around the
world. Overseas we see a lot more
spiritual manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the church and during
worship. Not as much in the states. But here, we still do tons of miraculous
healing services. In the Methodist
Church, oil is a symbol
of the Holy Spirit’s presence. So we
anoint people with oil for healing. As
for powerful gospel proclamation, there isn’t a lot of yelling in the US
Methodist churches. Typically my sermon
would be about the same level as I am talking to you right now. But sharing the gospel in itself? Absolutely.
In fact that is such a firm tenant of our faith we have hours and hours
of missions and ministry shown by a jar of beads. Every hour someone spends ministering to
someone or serving the community they drop a bead in. This jar is FULL of beads. This is just for our church here, but again
it shows how important serving the community and sharing Christ is to the
Methodist church as a whole.
4) “Preach the gospel
at all times, if necessary use words.”
What do you think about this statement?
I would flip it around!
Preach the gospel at all times and use action. Preaching uses words! “How will they know if no one has told them?”
it says in scripture. There are tons of
good people out there serving the poor who aren’t Christian. What we have is something different,
eternal. If they’re not doing it in the
name of Jesus, how will they know about Christ?
My favorite way to do this is whenever we serve the thousands of people
we do outreach to, we simply tell them why we are doing this – in the name of
Jesus.
Other quotes:
- A lot of people think they are Christians but aren’t. It’s the grace of God, but it’s also a response to it.
- To say once you finish confirmation class you are a believer is coming short.
- Baptism – an outward sealing for an inward experience that already happened. Without the inward, it’s nothing
- Infant baptism – more to dedicate parenthood of the child than ‘securing salvation’. The child MUST have an inward experience at some point.
- Salvation – you must have an inward experience.
- The Methodist Church encourages people to serve to local community
- Rules and regulations can be a good thing, but it can also be binding.
- Church splits – God can use our brokenness for good
- Homosexuals invited to the church, but not to be ordained as priests – No sin is greater, all sin is the same. there are certain sins that are so binding that you can’t fully serve God in them. I am not the greatest at loving others, but I can still fully serve God in that weakness. However, I can’t fully serve God living in adultery or addicted to drugs, etc.
- Testimonial: Once, during a discipleship bible study (where you study the whole bible through), a lesbian couple read the scriptures and ended up splitting up and marrying men, spouses of the opposite sex! If we didn’t invite homosexuals to our church and love on them and let them walk the walk they need to walk, then they would have never had that transformative experience of renouncing homosexuality and living in freedom!
- Enthusiasm – literally means to be filled with the Holy Spirit (coming from the Greek ‘thus’)
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SOUTHERN BAPTIST
INTRO: “Salvation depends on us asking him into our
heart. We can’t be saved by good works,
bible knowledge, religion. We must turn
from our sins and ask Jesus into our heart!” – Pastor Bill
1) Are all Baptists
Calvinist?
No. I’m not. Calvinist believe you don’t have a choice,
but the Bible clearly says you do.
2) Are spiritual
gifts for today? Including the supernatural
gifts – prophecy, speaking in tongues, apostleship, words of knowledge,
healing, and supernatural encouragement?
Absolutely. Scripture
clearly points to these gifts as legitimate and useful to the church. Word of knowledge – absolutely! (shares
a first hand story). Faith healing
and miracles – so real! My mom got
prayed over once when she had a visible tumor and it vanished! Speaking in tongues is a gift to. Now do I speak it? No.
Does that make me an unbeliever?
No. Speaking in tongues is a
gift. It is not necessarily better than
all the other gifts. In other words it
doesn’t make or break your salvation.
But it happens! Encouragement is actually my spiritual gifting.
Me: I know!
Yesterday you prayed for me and I felt so supernaturually
encouraged. It was like the Holy Spirit
was speaking directly to my heart, all the things I needed to hear. I felt the presence of the Lord on your
prayer for me.
Pastor: That is so good to hear! What a blessing to hear! Praise God.
It’s all Him, you know.
Other quotes:
- Standing on a mountain top with my bud in the middle of Africa as we prayed for that village, we felt the Shekinah glory! It fell on us and we just started praising the Lord!
- God is saying “My Word is a love letter, not a text book”
- The Bible keeps you from sin or sin keeps you from the Bible
- Oftentimes we talk to God but never listen
- In heaven, Christ isn’t going to ask “Are you Presbyterian? Are you Assembly of God? Are you Methodist?” He’s going to ask “Do you KNOW me?”
- What happens with legalism is it becomes binding not freeing
- I tell my youth to Pray, Pursue, and Persuade. 1) Pray for the person who doesn’t know Christ. 2) Pursue them in love and conversation and action. 3) Persuade them by preaching the gospel and showing them who Christ is
- Katrina, I want you to write this on top of a paper:
- I AM A MISSIONARY.
Now write underneath it:
- A missionary is not one that crosses the sea, but one that sees the cross
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