2 hours ago, theotherelise said:

When someone says they were hurt by the church or wants to share their story when they leave, A29 pastors freak out and talk about how church family should work through things internally and give each other grace and the benefit of the doubt and not assume the worst about their intentions. 

The verses in Matthew 18:15-17 sure cover a multitude of sins, don't they?

Hoping that the breakdown & fragmentation of Acts29 is permanent. 

Apparently around half of the ~500 Acts29 churches in the US have not renewed their membership in the network. 

There were some high profile departures over the past 18 months including a church that was originally planted out of Matt Chandler's church. Some of the louder departing pastors mentioned a video A29 put out about being nice to gay people and other things they thought indicated a "leftward" drift (LOL). Others mentioned lack of financial transparency. IIIRC, each A29 church has a small annual fee and then they are asked to give 10% back to the network for additional church planting and development. 

This recent mass departure is related to the annual renewal commitment. It included something asking pastors to not besmirch the network or if they had problems to bring them to A29 instead of airing it out in public. Many of the churches interpreted this as an anti-disparagement clause and didn't like that.

What is hilarious to me is that every single A29 pastor I've met has wanted to run their church the way A29 runs at that level. They don't want broad accountability, they want a few hand-picked dudes as elders. They don't want to have financial accountability or share decision making with the congregation. When someone says they were hurt by the church or wants to share their story when they leave, A29 pastors freak out and talk about how church family should work through things internally and give each other grace and the benefit of the doubt and not assume the worst about their intentions. 

One of the earlier departures is a church pastored by Chase Davis. He now does a podcast called Full Proof Theology. I don't have the stomach to listen, but he regularly interviews people like Doug Wilson. 

Institutional complementarianism always leads to misogyny and patriarchy. 

8 minutes ago, anachronistic said:

I don't understand how buying gifts over the course of a year would mean more savings than buying gifts for holidays and birthdays. But I also don't understand not doing holidays because holidays to me are wonderful times and all about children and children get the most joy out of them.
 

I, like many of us,😉, wear nightgowns to bed. But I have pajamas for days when I'm in too much pain to leave the house and I know that I'm just going to be going back-and-forth to bed all day, or for when I'm away from home. I don't find jeans comfortable enough to sleep in but whatever. Most clothes today don't need to be ironed anyway. Although I do think that you get a sort of rumpledyness after sleeping in something, I also don't pay enough attention to other peoples clothes that I've ever noticed that in anyone except for myself. Anyway, not buying pajamas isn't something to brag about because it wouldn't save that much anyway, as most can be passed down and according to Karissa, their clothes are really cheap anyway. (although it is very possible that the cheap, fast fashion from Walmart does not hold up enough to be passed down.)

If you don’t celebrate holidays, you have way less to do and way less money to spend. No Christmas tree to buy every year. No decorations to buy and put up. No Christmas lights for your house. You don’t have to wrap a bunch of gifts for 11 kids. Even if you limited it to 3 gifts each, that adds up. That’s 33 gifts for the kids. On Halloween you don’t have to buy or make costumes for 11 kids. You don’t have to buy candy to hand out. On Easter, you don’t have to make Easter baskets for 11 kids. You don’t have to color eggs with 11 kids. You don’t have to hide eggs for 11 kids. And they barely celebrate their children’s birthdays. But they celebrate their own birthdays big. 

I don't understand how buying gifts over the course of a year would mean more savings than buying gifts for holidays and birthdays. But I also don't understand not doing holidays because holidays to me are wonderful times and all about children and children get the most joy out of them.
 

I, like many of us,😉, wear nightgowns to bed. But I have pajamas for days when I'm in too much pain to leave the house and I know that I'm just going to be going back-and-forth to bed all day, or for when I'm away from home. I don't find jeans comfortable enough to sleep in but whatever. Most clothes today don't need to be ironed anyway. Although I do think that you get a sort of rumpledyness after sleeping in something, I also don't pay enough attention to other peoples clothes that I've ever noticed that in anyone except for myself. Anyway, not buying pajamas isn't something to brag about because it wouldn't save that much anyway, as most can be passed down and according to Karissa, their clothes are really cheap anyway. (although it is very possible that the cheap, fast fashion from Walmart does not hold up enough to be passed down.)

49 minutes ago, sleepygirl1 said:

Are they from a Jehovah’s Witness background? Why don’t they celebrate holidays?

No. They used to. But like everything else, when Karissa got overwhelmed by having too many children, she cut it out and used her cherry picked religion as an excuse.