The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Start your own local UR church, the easy way?

That was amazing, Trey! I linked it in another conversation here, shared it here and there, and posted it to my blog. Seriously – good stuff! Thanks for posting it. :smiley:

" Maybe I have finally reoriented enough synapses to recognize most of the lies I was taught growing up in church. I find it very difficult to listen to most preachers because the errors, probably well intentioned, are now so glaringly obvious. "

I find myself in this process, as well. It is what is inspiring me to try and start the inquirers Bible studies.

Well, I don’t need to “start my own local UR church” since I attend a church which is part of a circle of fellowship which sprang from a move of God which took place over 60 years ago. As far as I know ALL the leading brethren in this circle believe in the ultimate reconcilialtion of all people to God.

Although UR isn’t mentioned a lot from the pulpit (though sometimes it is), God revealed it to the early leaders long ago. About 30 years ago at a summer camp, I heard one of the leading brethren say at the dinner table, “I never could believe in an eternal hell”. I was shocked. I thought, “What have I gotten myself into. I’ve gotten myself into a cult!” I walked around those camp grounds deeply disturbed. Then it seemed that God Himself spoke to my heart, “Don’t worry about this. Put it on the shelf. All will become clear.” So I did that and was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the camp.

After I arrived home, it seemed that whenever I opened the Bible, I saw the reconciliation teaching there. I realized that when I had previously read these passages I was blinded to the truth of the reconciliation.

… and that is how I came to believe in UR.

That’s really interesting, Don. :smiley:
I really wish this was more widespread. The more I think about it, the less I think that Trey’s idea can have a real impact in disseminating Christian Universalism. I think contact with and teaching from universalist pastors is going to be essential. Unfortunately I don’t think modern media and communication alone will be sufficient. Real pastors (as you had, Don) are going to be necessary and perhaps Peter Hiett and a couple others like him will pave the way for others to start churches where universalism is explicit from the get go. I’ve wondered if this can start as branches from an established church such as Peter Hiett’s, but there may be other courageous pastors ready to start churches with a universalist theology on their own. I think the time is right for this and wonder if there is anything we can do here to encourage and support this. :confused:

The idea I present on the mock web site is not specifically for a UR church- it is for a Christian church that I believe would be “more Christian” than present church models. There is no mention of UR theology on the site. The idea came to me prior to my being aware of UR at all.

Using technology for preaching and praising allows a tiny church to have similar resources to a very large church at a fraction of the cost. It allows for true “community size churches” that can be free of huge buildings and budgets. Jesus had neither building or budget and I believe His church should get as close to that model as possible.

I was getting ready to start something like this when someone told me about Peter Hiett, not because of his theology, but because of his dramatic and intense style of preaching. I emailed him about this “micromegachurh” idea before I had ever met him. Then as I began attending his church and soon embraced UR, I realized it would be silly to try this in the Denver area where people do have the option of attending The Sanctuary and see him live.

But, as far as I know, there is only one Peter Hiett- I know of no other pastor that is preaching and video recording a UR compatible sermon almost every week. Hopefully there will be more soon, but I am saying let’s leverage what we have (over 10 years of video sermons) to offer people a UR church in those areas where there is someone willing to lead.

Churches are built on relationships. My sense at the Sanctuary is that there are very few people that got there looking for UR preaching (it’s not how I got there). Instead there are a lot of people who got there because they knew someone who told them it is a great church and then acceptance of the UR theology came later.

So, if we believe our UR theology, the commission is to take it into the world, not only discuss it among ourselves. The model I suggest may not work, but I can’t imagine anything lower cost/commitment to experiment with. The start up cost is less than $2,000 for a non-home location and possibly zero for a home based location. The time commitment may be large or small depending on circumstances. Services can be scheduled so they do not conflict with attendee’s existing church schedules so they can try before they buy in- remember we just need them, not their money, since there are no salaries to pay.

If anyone wants to give this a go, I usually have a lot of free time and am willing to provide assistance over the internet and would look forward to traveling to visit sometime after a church is up and running.

The reason I feel a calling for this mission is that God is One. I could never reconcile the God is one concept before understanding UR. God is 100% love and loves everyone 100%. He does not and never has tortured people endlessly. This is a message that I am thrilled and honored to take (and help others to take) to anybody in my path. I always felt troubled by evangelism that was turn or burn. People that come to God out of fear then have a huge hurdle to cross to have faith in a God who is love.

:smiley:

Trey,

It’s not a bad idea at all, but it needs a bit more developing, I think. You have to be more than “Honey I shrunk the church” if you’re going to get people interested in coming. They can watch Peter’s sermons at home. They COULD, but of course they probably won’t unless they’re already into that. There are a lot of considerations, and it’s really never easy. Best to have an idea what you’ll be facing before you take it on. (And it would be truly brilliant if you could say to people, “Yes. I’ve done this, and it works great!”) Things are never as simple as you think they’ll be; I’m sure you’ve experienced that law of nature. :laughing:

There are:

Children: House churches attract young families and these families (in our area) are NEVER small unless they’re just getting started. The children will be of various disciplinary development (that is, some of the parents WILL let them do as they please, and some parents can’t seem to stop them.)

Adults: Not all the couples will be unified in their admiration of Peter’s sermons. I love them. My husband says they’re too complicated and hard to follow. They will have expectations of what a “church” ought to look like, and they may have specific expectations for a house church.

Food: This is our method of getting close to one another. We eat together. Without this ritual on at least a semi-regular basis, it’s unlikely you’ll develop any intimacy, and intimacy is what house church is all about. Friends “doing life” together. Otherwise, there’s honestly no point. Like I said, they’ll listen (or not) at home.

Attention Span: It’s awkward to sit in a living room with other people watching a televised sermon and not talking. People will eventually break in and say things. When that happens, you really have to hit pause and have a discussion. This is a GOOD thing, but just so you’re aware, that will happen. It’s what you ought to be hoping for, imo, because if it doesn’t happen, people will start thinking, “I could watch this at home.”

“Worship:” I’m not sure singing a bunch of sings together IS worship necessarily, but it’s an experience in a huge church with wonderful musicians and sound system and a vast sea of voices. You can feel the excitement and adulation in every cell and your spirit cries HOLY! Maybe it’s a sort of meditation in which you experience a degree of transcendence. You can do this alone, too, or maybe with one or two others of like mind. It’s extremely difficult in a living room with several other families and children who are NOT under the spell of surround sound and wonderful music. It becomes “just singing songs,” and I wonder whether it’s worth including at all. But maybe you can find a way to make it happen. If you do, I’d pay to know how to do that. On the plus side, I’m absolutely certain that this wonderful transcendent experience is not all there is to worship.

Proximity: A long drive can and will kill a group over time. You need people who are close together – not just for convenience on meeting day/night, but so you can do things together, help one another, get together for coffee, etc. through the week. A long drive just gets to be too much for people and especially for families.

There are other things, but just some things to consider as you put together your program. I’d love to see this work for you. If I were getting together another group (which is difficult, in my remote location), I would definitely use some of Peter’s sermons from time to time. :slight_smile:

Yes that video is so clear it rounded out my understanding of so much in such a short space of time. I’d like to post it to my friends on Facebook I think.
But I have been into UR and considering it for some time. How will the video look to other Christians who come to it fresh. Any thoughts?

If you look at the comments, you might get some idea of that, Chris. But I suppose that people who are looking for something of the sort will likely respond well, and others who are terrified of the idea (or are of the more Pharisaical bent) might not view it favorably. I guess it just depends on the individual. I’ve been posting it up all over the place though. Personally, I think it’s brilliant.

Thanks Cindy :slight_smile: Now all I need to do is work out how?

I (for some reason unbeknownst even to me) sometimes spend time at Yahoo Answers – Religion & Spirituality section. In the last couple of days, all the snarky atheists and some of the (in this case) sincerely concerned Christians are asking whether Robin Williams is now in hell because he killed himself, and if so, why? How could God do such a thing? And if we think He did, then how could we approve of that? So I’ve been posting it there fairly frequently. I posted it to my blog, on my FB page, to Twitter and G+ and e-mailed the link to some friends/family. I also e-mailed the Sanctuary and asked whether they sell the videos in hard copy or downloadable, but haven’t heard back.

Hallelujah in Hell was produced by Novel Motion Pictures rather than by the church itself. It was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. kickstarter.com/projects/novelmotionpictures/hallelujah-in-hell?ref=nav_search

They did make hard copies, as a KIckstarter donor, I’ve got one. I have been out of town for 4 of the last 5 Sunday’s, but I will ask Ben Sullivan, Novel Motion Picture’s principal and long time Sanctuary Member, about how to get hard copies and/or downloads the next time I see him in church.

This is a link to contact Novel Motion Pictures novelmotionpictures.com/#!contact/

This video seems to be taking off as the view count seems to be accelerating now. I liken it to a TED talk on the subject. Most of the fundamentals of UR have been compressed into 15 compelling minutes.

Thanks, Trey. I appreciate your help. :slight_smile: It wouldn’t have to be a hard copy – I buy downloadable videos from artists/teachers from time to time and you just pay for the link. But whatever works is fine for me.

Trey Great to meet you. Peter Hiett has been a cool drink of water for me for a couple of years now. I’ve read every thing I can get my hands on and try to watch all the sermons. I live in Georgia and wish that there was a church like that around here. Until then I’ll tune in. I watch him through my ROKU’s vimeo channel.

Hello, Paidion, what is your denomination? I am interested in knowing any UR denominations or churches I may be able to visit in the future.

It is not a denomination; it is a circle of fellowship which attempts to express the one and only Assembly or “Church” which Christ founded . Most of the circle’s churches are in foreign countries. These churches are not clubs you can join. The Lord adds people to the church as in Acts 2:47.

The missionary organization of this circle of fellowship is called “Global Missions inc.” Here is a link to that organization where you can learn more about the group as a whole:

globalmissionsinc.org/

I checked them out. No different than the other 1,000,000 protestant splits. Their statement of faith reflects that. Seems a bit cultish to say “Not a club, only God adds people”. Whether you intended that to be smug or not, it really came across that way.

Some positions of the group are quite common with other groups.

But… do the other million Protestant splits:

  1. hold to the eventual reconciliation of all people to God?
  2. observe the eucharist or communion every Sunday?
  3. have a body ministry, that is, an open meeting every Sunday where any member of the body of Christ can give a teaching, a prophecy, an exhortation, a hymn, etc. as the Holy Spirit leads?
  4. allow full participation without having to be a member? Indeed not having a membership roll at all?
  5. having no statement of faith to which everyone is required to subscribe (Indeed, I differ substantially from a number of points in Global Missions’ statment of faith).
  6. fellowship with others, not on the basis of philosophical or theological agreement, but on the basis of discipleship and mutual love?

Was it cultish for the early church to say that God adds people? (Acts 2:47)
It was their norm, and it is our norm. Unlike a club we do not have a membership roll with only members having full privileges.

I think you will find that whenever a person is open and honest and factual, there’s always someone to interpret his words as smug or arrogant.
There were plenty who assessed our Lord Himself that way when He referred to God as his Father. If He had kept his mouth shut, and not expressed such facts, He could have avoided public criticism.
I

It is easy to misinterpret words on the internet without the benefit of facial expression and tone of voice. Let’s give each other grace. :sunglasses:

Sonia