Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?
Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?
. I was 18 when I left. Didn't darken the door of church except for weddings and funerals until I got married at age 30. Wife insisted we go somewhere. Went to a SBC church until we moved to a new town in the county. Then went to a formerly independent Baptist church that had joined the SBC. Old habits die hard and it got where we were embarrassed to tell anybody where we went to church. It seemed that nobody in leadership except the pastor could keep their pants on. We moved again to the largest city in the county and started going to the large SCB church. We've been there almost 20 years. Now the wife and I lead a young married and almost married small group. Who'd of thunk it?Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?
I have recently been visiting an evangelical free church recently. For some reason I thought the denomination was Charismatic so I avoided it. For some reason I started checking one out researching the denomination, that's when I discovered they are not.We started to attend non-IFB affiliated churches when we went RV full-timing in 2011.
Our favorite churches were:
1) Presbyterian in Brighton, MI
2) Evangelical Free in Gaylord, MI
3) Sherwood Baptist in Albany, GA
4) Grace Community Church, Glenrose, TX
EVERYONE of the churches above used the Bible and we understood it better having left the services. We didn't avoid Baptist (in-name) churches. We just couldn't find many that used the Bible and helped us understand it better. We did hear a lot of illustrations and anecdotes.
As FSSL suggested, they're very much like Baptists, perhaps a bit more latitudinarian given that they formed as a merger of a few smaller denominations and independent churches. The Canadian branch founded Trinity Western University, the largest (and probably most influential) private Christian university in the country. My own denomination considered a merger with the E-Free Churches of Canada a few years back, though it didn't happen.I have recently been visiting an evangelical free church recently. For some reason I thought the denomination was Charismatic so I avoided it. For some reason I started checking one out researching the denomination, that's when I discovered they are not.
They seem independent (I like that), but there is some oversight so if a pastor starts to wander into crazy land there is someone to sound the alarm. The Bible teaching seems solid. They are one of the rare denoms that is made up of those with an Arminian leaning as well as those with a Calvinist leaning. What I find interesting at the particular one I'm looking at is both the assistant pastor and pastor have a PhD (a real one) and neither refers to himself with the title of "Dr.". You have to read their bios to even know they have them.As FSSL suggested, they're very much like Baptists, perhaps a bit more latitudinarian given that they formed as a merger of a few smaller denominations and independent churches. The Canadian branch founded Trinity Western University, the largest (and probably most influential) private Christian university in the country. My own denomination considered a merger with the E-Free Churches of Canada a few years back, though it didn't happen.
Left an IFBx church in 2010 pastored by a HAC grad - heavily invested members for about 15 years. First went to a church that I would say is reformed Baptist. Had listened online to the sermons for months. Since my wife had grown up IFBx, it was very tough on her, so we kept looking. Visited several IFB & IFBx churches, an SBC church, but never felt at home. My son began playing basketball with a guy whose dad was assistant pastor at another IFB and he (the dad) had the sweetest spirit about him and unlike any other IFB pastor I had ever met. We decided to visit there, and when I was pulling into the parking lot that Sunday, I thought to myself, why bother. We had visited so many other churches. But on the way home after the service, my wife and I both said we felt at home there. It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years. It was quite a drive for us, and because of rush hour traffic, couldn't really make it for Wednesdays. It was what we needed though at the time. Currently looking for another church. I'd like to find one close to home so we can help minister to the local area, but having a tough time finding a biblically sound church nearby. Definitely will not be going back to any KJVO, IFBx church. Would prefer a more reformed, baptistic church that isn't looking at the newspaper to interpret Revelation.
Left an IFBx church in 2010 pastored by a HAC grad - heavily invested members for about 15 years. First went to a church that I would say is reformed Baptist. Had listened online to the sermons for months. Since my wife had grown up IFBx, it was very tough on her, so we kept looking. Visited several IFB & IFBx churches, an SBC church, but never felt at home. My son began playing basketball with a guy whose dad was assistant pastor at another IFB and he (the dad) had the sweetest spirit about him and unlike any other IFB pastor I had ever met. We decided to visit there, and when I was pulling into the parking lot that Sunday, I thought to myself, why bother. We had visited so many other churches. But on the way home after the service, my wife and I both said we felt at home there. It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years. It was quite a drive for us, and because of rush hour traffic, couldn't really make it for Wednesdays. It was what we needed though at the time. Currently looking for another church. I'd like to find one close to home so we can help minister to the local area, but having a tough time finding a biblically sound church nearby. Definitely will not be going back to any KJVO, IFBx church. Would prefer a more reformed, baptistic church that isn't looking at the newspaper to interpret Revelation.
Sadly at Windsor Hills under the leadership of the Vineyards a lot of people left.
I personally will probably avoid IFB's in the future. However, it's a mistake to broad brush them all as the same. Certainly there are some that are more Biblical than others. Part of the initial appeal of the IFB for me was the focus on the Bible. After several years with them I realized that in many cases rather than focusing on the Bible, what they are actually doing is utilizing the Bible to find anything that appears like it may support the key fundy doctrines. Went to one church in the DC area where the pastor would preach and when he was just about done he would catch his second wind and spend about another 25 minutes on each key fundy doctrines. So he would preach a sermon, then another one on women don't wear pants, don't be gay, be in church every service, go soul winning, respect your pastor, tithe, and certainly a few more I left out.This is similar to my story; we attended an IFBx church pastored by a HAC grad in the style that JH had taught. It was pretty cult-like, and there was (with the wisdom of hindsight) very little that was Biblical about the church... they claimed to do preaching from the Bible, but it was actually the pastor's philosophy propped up by some Bible verses. Very few people there were mature spiritually, but they did browbeat a lot of people into going 'soul-winning' - even if the ones 'saved' under this method had zero evidence of any real change in their life. Loyalty to the pastor was ALL.
God, being gracious and loving, woke us up to what was going on, and we escaped there. We didn't fit the mold at the old church, so we tended to be ostracized... Most people were willing to boast of what they had done for God that week, but they didn't want to discuss the Scriptures. We found a church where the people genuinely love each other, and the pastor doesn't seem to by in any "camp" -- he just preached what the Bible said, and allowed the Holy Spirit to work in lives... quite a change from the heavy manipulation we had experienced.
That new church is IFB, and they probably believe the same things as the old church, but it is not a litmus test of being accepted or a good Christian.
Not sure why this is sad... it's good when people run away from bad leaders.
This is what I would like to find. They are rare indeed.It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years.