personal

How do you consider yourself a evangelical - what are the parameters that you use to define that in your life? I have not for instance seen you quote or refer to your relationship with Jesus. Are you sure you are saved?

This (provocative?) question was posed by marhorse in the thread ‘What is the “emerging church”?’ This is by no means a complete or even a very coherent response, but the question is important and helpful - partly for personal reasons but also because it brings sharply into focus a critical area of contention between evangelicalism and emerging theology. For a personal statement of faith you could also have a look at ‘My (tentative) beliefs’.

[This post was created from a comment (#3450) in the The Virgin Birth dilemma thread.]

THE PROMISED POST:

Ok.  I was a Christian until I was 29.  I was raised by Christian parents, who came out of the Presbyterian church.  My parents ended up joining the 4-Square denomination when I was very young.  I went to a Christian school for 3 years, then another after a year in public school.  Then I went to a prominent Christian school, Westminster Christian Academy, in St.Louis.  For my senior year, my Grandparents put me into one of the 10 top Christian schools nationwide, Cono Christian school. 

Ok here’s the thing. I thought that it might be nice to make a space amidst all the discussion and debate for contributors to OST to leave their Christmas greetings (to fellow contributors, random surfers etc.) and their hopes/dreams/wishes for 2006, and so on. Allow me to start the ball rolling.

Greetings,

I’ve jumped in a couple of places here, but I’m not sure where anything is headed.  As some are introducing themselves I thought I might too.  Someone can tell me where the most current conversation is heading.  I realize there might be many conversations going on, however.

My name is Peter.  I’m a 28 year old pastor in NY.  As I come from an historic, mainline denomination we are looking at the "practicing church."  It seems to be the mainline version of the evangelical "emergent church."

I appreciate the discussions here and I am looking forward to jumping in.  From what little I know about the emergent/practicing church this is a good format to reach people.  The next step I suppose is guiding people to the relational setting where the experience of God can "emerge."

Just wanted to introduce myself.

My name is Mark Burykin. I was born in former Soviet Union. I lived here for 16 years already, you can say that I am Americanized. Currently I attend a Pentecostal Slavic church. I am a bible student and a bible teacher. I am a hardcore bible student since a few years ago, I never knew it can be this addictive.

I have finished 4-year college with a degree of science. As many of you aware, after college you usually come out a liberal Christian and I was one. Sorry if I offend any liberals here, I am a fundamentalist now. On top of that I was not a fully devoted Christian. Other thing mattered to me more then God did, while I proclaimed otherwise at that time. I was baptized 12 years ago in a Baptist Church not for the Love of God but for the fear of the Devil. Only recently I have became a fully devoted Christian. God had put me and my twin brother through hardships to calls us fully to him. My brother was in a tragic car accident, best friend died after they attended a Slavic Conference, I was suppose to be in the car with them but God had other plans for me. I never cried on any funeral before, but that funeral made me cry like a baby. Then God put me to jail, took all my money. Not that I suffered without money, I am from Russia from a Christian big family, I know what poor is and I was not suffering. Jail was just a place to think everything through. God knows what buttons to push, he don’t have to make me look in the eyes of death to realize the truth, which my brother did as he flew out of the cars window at around 100mph hitting the pavement of the highway. It’s a miracle that he did not die. Anyways that’s my life in nutshell, now I am a married man seeking to be a missionary teacher.

I have discovered this web site through a book i recently finished (post-christindom, stuart murry). I am an urban missionary in London and i look forward to sharing in and with this wonderful place so that we might all work out what being church is now and in the future. God bless you

Dear whoever,

You are going to die.

All—

Why shouldn’t we share testimonies here for ministry as well as mission?

Yours in faith and reason,

Mark W. Ingalls

I have recently become aware of the “Emergent Church” movement through the works of Brian D. McLaren. Through the Xanga blog site I became aware of this blog community as well. I look forward to joining in the discussion of the development of the church. I also look forward to intelligent and insightful criticism from fellow believers. God be with you, A. Rust

(This post and attached comments were moved from the Revelation 12 | Marian Significance thread. It has accidentally become a place for telling life-stories.)

Purely because this seemed to be the most recent comment and therefore as good a place as any to post this: does anyone ever wonder about the identity of people frequenting this website? Andrew: urbane, polished, polite, inclusive, fantastically perfectionist scholar and with a hugely formidable intellect; Chris - sometimes gruff, learned, scholarly; John - very pastoral, probably with a John the Baptist beard, gold-rimmed specs and a twinkle in his eyes; Eric - keeps popping up from the lab, probably clutching a cup of coffee in his hand, with copies of N.T.Wright’s books in a drawer, getting ready to abandon science and go for bible college; Ivan - strict, magisterial, inquisitorial; and then there are the round-the-world theo-techies: youthful idealists from bible colleges in the mid-west; mild mannered Quakers from the outback; either that or there are some serious insomniacs out there.