I don't understand why in the Church of England and Catholic masses we talk about Jesus being the king of Jews....

[confusedaboutreligion]

Surely then if we follow Jesus and his teachings we should be Jewish rather than Catholic or C of E?? Also why in a C of E service do we say "we believe in one holy and Catholic church" during the creed? Surely that is then saying we only believe in the catholic church (yet said during a C of E service)

V. Confused.....

He was crucified for saying/implying that he was God/Son of Man...

scienceteacher can you give me a brief synopsis of evangelic anglican please. AS you can see from my posts I am not sure where i fit, I just know I believe...I am guessing as I have said that is my journey and my path to follow but I am very interested to hear different points of view....

marybs do you live in Sutton Surrey?

The Romans at the time were Pagans, believing in all their own Gods, eg Saturn, Venus, Mars etc.

The emperor Constantine was the first to allow the Christian faith to develop, and he saw that it was a good thing, so adopted it as a state religion. He probably didn't have any faith himself, so did it for political reasons. (knowledge on this is a bit dusty, so willing to be corrected).

Confused if you're not enthralled with the catholic thing then evangelical Cof E or Baptist or Free Methodist are all pretty safe and actually all believe fairly much the same - the differences aren't noteworthy tbh!

Confusedabout. The Romans had their own religion, remember the Roman Gods Jupiter, appollo etc. One God for everything and they'd come down to Earth now and again and have sex with a handsome mortal.

What with the Greeks being similar they've always been my fav. religion, lovely stories. Not sure why they swapped it for christianity though? Just one God. That's very different.

cargirl I am not in the catholic church now - I was born and raised a catholic (quite strictly) until I was 20. Then lapsed in religion for the following 12 years and for the past 3/4 have been in a C of E church. I am still not sure if I am C of E (in fact I prefer not to be labelled) but for the time being I am happy as my church is very family orientated and so I feel I am giving my DC a good grounding.

If you picture the Anglican faith as a triangle. At one corner, you have the catholic wing - they hold a lot importance to the traditions of the church, right from the times of the apostles and early church fathers. At another corner, you have the liberals - they believe that you should follow Jesus' great commandment to love one another above all else, and they struggle to live godly lives in the modern environment. At the other corner, you have the evangelicals, you believe that we should follow scripture above all else.

Anglicanism is known for Scripture, Reason and Tradition (ie evanglical, liberal, catholic respectively).

Obviously, there should be a bit of everything in all of us - an evangelical should not ignore our catholic and liberal heritage, etc.

personally I think labels get in the way too! As long as you've found somewhere that you're happy to be that is good I thought you were still looking.

yes I am still looking - more for me than the kids....as i said it is a wonderful church in terms of family values and inclusiveness (and I am sure other churches are just as) for me I am not sure if I am following the right path for me....Does that make sense? It sometimes doesn't feel right....but then that might be the way belief is anyway and maybe one of the ways my faith will get stronger? Does that make sense? I just feel I should be exploring other avenues but don't know where to start...

I'd start with what's local and work outwards! What do you think you want more of, do you attend small/home groups are you wanting to have a deeper relationship with god, are you getting anything out of the sermons, is stuff explained, do you understand what is going on with communion etc?

Confused,

It's really important to go to a church were you feel welcome - and it looks like you have found that.

It's also important to grow in faith, so a church should be providing growth opportunities. Do you feel that your church is not doing this? Are there bible studies and home groups that you can go to?

Have you actually got to know anyone? Sunday mornings with children in tow are quite a hard time to become part of the wider picture etc

The church is lovely, but it tends to have an older congregation that actually whilst very welcoming I couldn't see myself discussing the sort of things I am with you ladies here.....There is an "element" of the older, snobby, going to church to be seen, withstanding citizen of the community etc within the church and despite mine and other "younger" members of the congregation trying to intergrate they are not open to us. We have a new Father, who is early 30s and he really has put a few people's noses out of joint. Anyway, this is by the by....I guess I am looking to have a deeper realtionship with God and to grow in my faith, and that is what I don't feel is there.....

perhaps see if there are any other churches with evening services that you can check out without taking the dc with you initially or just a Sunday morning, visit a few and see if you get a feel for any of them.

If there is a new vicar/Father??? then things may start to change where you are. Have you asked him about small groups etc?

What kind of midweek groups run at your church, confused?

i think that is part of the problem - I help at the sunday school which is in a seperate building....therefore the only real intergration I get is when I am not doing that. as you say with 2 kids in tow it is a nightmare.......yet I don't want to go alone as I feel quite strongly that they should be included.....

btw, don't dismiss the fellowship of older women. They have so much wisdom.

If you are a fairly new Christian, you should prioritise getting 'fed' yourself, and not helping out a Sunday School. It is really important to spend time in the service.

Unfortunately i don't have time to attend any groups - I work PT and my DH works most nights until 8pm, getting in at 9. Also am PG so constantly shattered!

could you offer to host one (not ideal when you're pregnant) or ask around the church for a babysitter so you can attend? I think perhaps coming off the SS rota for a term or 2 would be a way forward?

Scienceteacher I agree - I don't want to dismiss the fellowship of the older members of the congregation, in fact I openly would love to get to know some of them a bit better......particularily as I love talking to older people whenever I get a chance...I really respect what a lot of them ahve gone through and the stuggles they face and believe that we can learn a lot (maybe another thread about the lack of respect for the older generation today?!) Anyway, with regards to the teaching at Sunday School, I am on a rota so it is not every week.....again what i find frustrating is that numbers are so small (and yes there is a school attached to the church)yet if the few of us didn't volunteer there would not be a sunday school!

what sort of midweek groups do your churches run BTW?

ours are just relaunching housegroups so around 8-10 adults per "housegroup" get together weekly so get to know one another, support each other spiritually/emotionally/practically may do a bible study or continue on from the Sunday sermon or just share things that God has brought to us during the week. Some sort of worship time (not always singing!) prayer time.

I've started helping with the teenage bible study group - now that is steep learning curve!!!!!!!!!!!

For youngish women/SAHMs, we have daytime women's bible studies (with creche), and also a coffee morning, toddler group, and toddler service.

In the evenings, we have home groups,community service, social groups, and a prayer meeting in church.

We run courses throughout the year, eg Alpha, Christianity Explored, The Marriage Course etc.

We are a big church (for CofE), at around 500 Sunday attendance, so we have lots of resources to draw on.