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Author: Commoner
I dont have an answer as to why you didnt hear anything in the catholic tradition about evangelical church history. I too was raised catholic but I did a lot of reading on my own as I love history. I find most of my information at the local library. If they don't have something I need then I go to the interlibrary loan section and get what I need from there. The Christian bookstores have church history books as well. I guess that being pro-active in my faith helped me with this as well. It trained me to look into things for myself. the Catholic church I grew up in wanted me to blindly accept what the priests told me and what to believe about my faith. I could not understand why only the priests were allowed to speak to God and not me. That was the catalyst I needed to check into things for myself. I became a Christ follower from there and left the Catholic church. From there, Evengelicals helped me discover what I was missing. Thank you, Thomas for sharing your insights into church history that seems hidden from public view. Perhaps satan is trying to erase it from the minds of men so that they may blindly follow him to their own destruction.
"How much of our spiritual malnurishment is due to a complete ignorance of many voices who could offer us much insight?"
Like you, I've grown up in the church. Like you, I'm only just beginning to really take in and appreciate the richness of our Christian heritage. Like you, I wonder why in the world these great people are not given a more prominent place in the church "curriculum." A few years ago I started borrowing and reading from the very large and dusty stck of Christian History & Biography magazines stuck in the back of the office at the church. I read issues about Luther, Augustine, the Benedictines, and others. I began to realize the real benefit of knowing my Christian roots. It offers the foundation, openness, and enrichment that so many Christian lives lack (in my experience, at least).
The church circles I've been familiar with growing up--primarily evangelical, charismatic, pentecostal--have demonstrated such amazing potential for being shallow and narrow-minded (not excluding myself). But I really think it has very much to do with the absence of a strong foundation in church history. Without that foundation, we tend to look at ourselves as unique or special in some way that sets us on shakey ground. We lack the strong bones, if you will, to form the skeleton on which the Body is to be built. Does that make sense?
I've been very involved in the kids' ministry at my church and have found that it is so much fun to re-tell the stories of Wesley and Luther and Brother Lawrence. When you have to condense the facts and communicate them to 8-year-olds, you get a better grasp on the essential nature of their passionate lives.
Kingdomstrider,
Thanks for sharing. I find your story encouraging. What a challenge it is to teach effectively to that age group. As a result of your ministry perhaps they will not be saying what we have found ourselves saying after years in the church, "what about our history and the voices from the past?" They will have a rich understanding and awareness of their Christian roots. Blessings to you in ministry.