Our Church Made the Local Paper (mystic, tradition, missionaries, grace)

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by lilithu

How truly wonderful, CX.

Jay posted the mission statement from (I presume) his synagogue a little while back and it was very similar in some ways. If only we could all agree to disagree, to let people worship as their consciences sincerely lead them, and to respect and love and serve each other.

IMO, we all tend to get way too caught up in serving 1) our beliefs, 2) our religions, 3) our perspectives, instead of doing as Christ asked, which is to serve each other.

[CaptainXeroid]

Originally Posted by Terrywoodenpic

I looked through your Churches web site and The Churches national web site; I find that I agree with everything I have read; though of course I have questions.
Two of which are...
How literally does the church take the Bible?
Do you have women Pastors?

First, thank you for your kind words, and I apologize for forgetting to check back here for so long. Second, sojourner gave some excellent answers. I'll just add a few things

As for the Bible, I think most Disciples believe that its authors were inspired by God, but that it is not necessarily the inerrant word of God. If I may paraphrase what many of us might say, it is more important to understand the lesson Jesus was teaching than to quote the exact words that were used to convey the parable.

Our church had a female Associate Pastor a few years ago, and our church has ordained or nurtured on the path to ordination at least 5 woman that I can think of. Yesterday's sermon on the book of Ezra was delivered by a woman who serves as chaplain at a well-known hospital.

[sojourner]

I know lots of female clergy, and the seminaries are full of them. At Phillips Theological Seminary, I believe the female students actually outnumber the male students (although this represents a cross section of several denominations).