How To Disagree With The Church w/ Ty Gibson
Ty Gibson tells his story about being a young Adventist and feeling unwelcome by an authoritarian church leadership he didn’t even know existed. In the end, he learned how the Gospel can give clarity though he felt he didn’t belong.
Twitter: @SDAstuffpodcast
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Music by: Jon Luc Hefferman, Gillicudy, gunctrl, Jahzaar, Fields Ohio, & Scott Gratton
What do you do, how do you cope when your church tells you that you don’t fit in there anymore, that your difference is more important to them than your similarity in Christ?
I was Woman’s Ministries Leader. I was the church clerk. I was the delegate to the Conference Constituency meetings. I was Assistant Sabbath School Superintendent and Primary/Junior teacher – if we had anyone of that age come…I was active in Community Services…and I was told that because I chose to use a Service Dog to help me cope with many disabling conditions (that our church leadership told me to apply to Social Security Disability because of – and I was granted it) that I could not come back to church with a service dog, and not only I but anyone who had a service dog would not be allowed in the church building including fellowship hall. It’s been 10 years now. The people I trained my service dog with, the people who are broken like I am, are not welcome in the local churches near where I live. No, I do not attend, I don’t have the finances, energy or health to travel the distance necessary to go elsewhere…and without my service dog, I cannot. Without a lengthy explanation, just know it is impossible for me to go….
How does one work against that when the General Conference says it’s up to the local Conference? When the local Conference says it’s up to the local church and the local church says they’d rather not have me at all than have me with a service dog?
How does one ever invite people to a church where they themselves are not welcomed? Yes, how does one disagree with their church?
I don’t know what country you are in but that doesn’t really matter. To not allow a service dog into any place whether it be church, shopping centre, public transport etc, is against the law. It is discriminatory & the church could be sued. Yes I know that’s not Christian & yes, that would probably make matters worse but if a church discriminates in this way, then they will discriminate in other ways.
Chrissie, that is absolutely the antithesis of Christianity, of Christlike behavior! Such a place holds no attraction for me, but I can tell you have been terribly hurt and I am very sorry for that! It is time to move on to better things. This is when you gather your seeking friends and neighbors together and in fellowship, listen to Ty Gibson and his team’s archived messages! I am now in a place where I can attend Storyline Adventist Church and be personally blessed but many are spiritually fed by the recordings. Don’t give up, enjoy what will feed you spiritually and share!
https://subsplash.com/storylineadventistchurch/messages
And for Sabbath School lesson study: http://comeandreason.com/index.php/en/bible-study-class/2018/1st-quarter
Well done Nick and team. Very helpful. Thank you for giving an intelligent perspective on a much needed discussion. When I bring up the fact that our youth find church irrelevant and are too embarrassed to invite friends, people dont want to talk about. But doing the same old thing expecting a different result is we have been told insane. Btw Maureen I love Come and Reason Sabbath class. Praise God for Storyline church an Ty too