[CS-FSLUG] Free Church Software

[Tim Young]

On 1/27/2012 8:44 AM, Ed Hurst wrote:
> I can't speak to questions about the EFC, and not really too much 
> about
> the Evangelical Covenant Church itself. 

My wife and I are members of an Evangelical Covenant Church, and we 
do like it.  I grew up in a "cross denominational" environment.  My 
parents were part of a non-denominational mission that worked with 
missionaries from many different denominations, and the mission I am 
now part of is the same.  During the 8-months of the year that we are 
traveling, we are at a different church every week, most of the time 
at a different denomination every week.  While there are things to 
argue about with most denominations, I find that most of churches 
also have interesting strengths.  And I like to look for the 
strengths instead of the weaknesses.

One of the things I like about our Evangelical Covenant Church is 
that it is a "creedal church".  It believes that the main thing that 
makes you a Christian is not your denominational stance, but rather 
that you can honestly agree to the statement of faith found in some 
of the old creeds.  (I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and 
earth...).  In a Bible-study I attend, we have a number of retired 
pastors, each one coming from a different denomination.  So the 
church stresses unity over cookie-cutter-beliefs.  I like that.

Of course, the down-side is that, in an attempt to keep the peace, 
many of the people who could discuss the different denominational 
stances do not do so.  For example, one retired missionary keeps 
mentioning that he is struggling to understand the concepts behind 
eternal security vs free will.  Cool.  Great topic to discuss.  But 
nobody else in the group will share any opinion, simply because they 
worry that things might get too argumentative.  (sigh)  But there are 
areas where they are willing to have a little deeper discussion, even 
if it makes people dig into their beliefs a bit more.  So it is not 
like the church is totally shallow, just a little less willing to 
discuss problematic areas, even when someone is really struggling to 
understand it.

Up in Minnesota, the majority of our members are Swedish in descent, 
so we hold fairly close to the roots of the ECC.  But they do a good 
job not looking down on my wife and I, as we are definitely not 
Swedish...

Anyway.  I like the Evangelical Covenant Church, at least the one we 
attend.  ;)

     - Tim Young