Rush Hour
RushHour helps RushChurch members stay connected to each other, informs them about current RushChurch happenings, and also includes bible study/theology talk. We will speak about RushChurch specifics but also on current events, tough questions on faith, church and the Bible
Rush Hour
What's the Deal with..... So Many Churches?
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Welcome And Springtime Banter
SPEAKER_00Welcome everybody to another episode of Rush Hour. I'm here with Britney and Ashley in beautiful Russellvania on a spring day. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and we're doing a podcast.
SPEAKER_04Inside. We're all out in the front yard, right?
SPEAKER_00Sometimes I just start talking and don't know where it's gonna go. So that's how this podcast usually goes. But we're happy to be with you guys again. I don't know, we're here to talk about all things rush church. We're talking about random stuff, and then we're back on the topic of church again today. I liked last week's episode. I thought that went really well about why we go to church, why is it important? Got some good feedback on that one. So good job, fellow podcasting people.
SPEAKER_03Good job, Cody.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you.
Rush Church Announcements And Events
SPEAKER_00Uh announcements coming up. We have graduation Sunday on May 17th. Those are for graduating seniors, high school, college, any seniors that we want to recognize uh who are graduating this spring. I just ask that you get those names to me a week ahead of time. So what is that, May 12th? And I need all I really need is some pictures that you want to share of your graduate and just kind of where they graduated from and what the next thing in life is, where they're moving on to next, whether it's a job, another school, or whatever comes next. And so future plans, we'll call it. That's a good idea. Uh so graduation Sunday, we recognize our seniors. That'll be May 17th. So that's my announcements. What else are we doing?
SPEAKER_04I don't know.
SPEAKER_00You don't know.
SPEAKER_05Oh, we're going to prom. Yeah, we're going to prom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Rush 18's going to prom this year. So we'll have our photo booth at the regular prom, and then we'll bring our trailer out to after prom. Just get to have fun with the students, show them the love of Jesus, and help keep them safe.
SPEAKER_00We get to show off our dance moves.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yes, to some very interesting music.
SPEAKER_00Stretch.
SPEAKER_05Maybe it will bring our own airpods. Oh, we should do the silent disco. Yeah. And we can put on our own station.
SPEAKER_00Perfect.
SPEAKER_05Right?
SPEAKER_00That's gonna be great. Us three with headphones on just dancing through. Right?
SPEAKER_04They're like, we're talking to you.
SPEAKER_00No, you're not. Anyway.
SPEAKER_04I feel like Rush 1 8 does so good with volunteers, except for after prom.
SPEAKER_05Because we're the only crazy ones who want to be up till 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_04If you're interested in volunteering at 3 o'clock in the morning, please call the office.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. Well, what else is Rush 1 8 doing? We're doing in June.
SPEAKER_05We're doing a lot.
SPEAKER_00A pineapple of Travaganza.
SPEAKER_05Pineapple Palooza.
SPEAKER_00Pineapple Palooza is what I said.
SPEAKER_05Same thing.
SPEAKER_00Same thing.
SPEAKER_05Yep, we'll be in downtown Bellfoun June 7th for that. That's gonna be a lot of fun. 2 to 8 p.m. Uh, did I say the wrong day? I think it's the sixth. Is it the sixth? Yeah, the six. It's a Saturday.
SPEAKER_00It's the first Saturday in June.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yep, you're right. June 6th. From 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. out in front of Kiomi. Um, that's where we'll be in the peach tree area. We'll have our obstacle course, our yard games, our photo booth. We'll be right next to the river radio station. So we're partnering with them and just making our presence known in downtown Bellfoun. We're super excited about that. That should be a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_04All right. I don't think I've ever been to that event.
SPEAKER_00I don't think I have either.
SPEAKER_05I've been once and it's very crowded. Yeah. And so I think it's exciting because that means just all the more people that we get to talk to and it'll be exciting if we get volunteers to help us out. It will.
SPEAKER_00If it's just us three, but then we're not gonna have a good day.
SPEAKER_05This is the worst day ever.
SPEAKER_00But so yeah, give you an opportunity to serve, do something fun, come hang out with us. We when can you sign up for that?
SPEAKER_05Is that I believe signups are starting now, and there's two different shifts, so you don't have to be there the whole time.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna five, five to eight.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yep. We're gonna do two different shifts. That way you can decide which one you like to do. Very simple this time, just manning the obstacle course and the photo booth. So nothing too extreme. It's just crowd control for the most part.
SPEAKER_00Sweet.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_00I don't have any other announcements. Paintball camp's full.
SPEAKER_05Already?
SPEAKER_00Erica's girls camp is almost full. So wow. Camps are good to go for the summer.
SPEAKER_05Awesome. Kids Jam. I know Kids Jam is coming up. I know that you guys don't really hear a lot about it for signups yet. However, we are gonna be sending out our wish list for that. So you'll get to see that here soon. Uh, just like last year, we sent out an Amazon wish list of all kinds of things that we're gonna need for that event. So if you are willing to help us out, that would be greatly appreciated.
SPEAKER_00Cool. Kids damn, we're gonna glow all summer. Glow times. All right. That's what's going on at Rush Church. If you have any questions, you can ask Brittany about anything else. So now I have all the answers. But yeah, you can just email the office, office at Rush Church.com. Or you can come in and see us. Uh that'd be cool too.
SPEAKER_05Yes. Come in and visit us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Come visit us. You can jump on the podcast with us. You can be a guest. There you go. Summertime's coming up.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, everybody'll be free.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, except people that have real jobs and go work every day.
SPEAKER_05But shout out to those guys that have we don't we have real jobs too.
SPEAKER_04That's debatable.
SPEAKER_00Our jobs are.
SPEAKER_05We get to have fun. Yeah, we but there's still real jobs.
SPEAKER_04Literally talk to people who was like, who are who was like, I gotta fix my grammar. Who who have been like, I think that's right. Are you guys actually working? Like, can you even call this work? It's like, well, yeah, we just have fun doing it.
SPEAKER_00Middle school students are the worst. They're like, what's your real job? I'm like, no, this is my real job. They're like, what do you do? Like during like, no, this is it. And they're like, what?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But they're just confused. But um, so that's always a youth youth pastor question that every youth pastor's always gotten. Like, what do you what do you do for a job? Like, this is my job. But all right, so that's a little bit
Icebreakers And Staff Movie Talk
SPEAKER_00about what's going on. What do we have up next on the topic of agendas? Agendas topic.
SPEAKER_05I have some icebreakers.
SPEAKER_00Okay, let's talk about them. We haven't me and Brittany haven't heard of these. No, we're going in this blind.
SPEAKER_05Okay. If our team here at the church.
SPEAKER_00Kentucky Wildcats. Nope. Oh.
SPEAKER_05If our team of staff was a movie, what would the title be?
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00The Avengers.
SPEAKER_04I'm like, wait, have we told them about our Captain Planet? Captain Planet?
SPEAKER_03I don't know that we've talked about that.
SPEAKER_00That's not a movie. It's a show.
SPEAKER_05It's a show, but I mean, I would go with that. That's fine.
SPEAKER_00With our power combined.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00We summon a blue guy with green hair to protect the environment. No, just kidding.
SPEAKER_03We all have our power specialties.
SPEAKER_04I don't know what they are. Pretend like I've never actually seen Captain Planet. You haven't?
SPEAKER_05No. Oh my word.
SPEAKER_04All right.
SPEAKER_05It's like wind, rain, right?
SPEAKER_00Wind and fire. Wind, water, fire, heart, earth. Yes. Heart is the one that everybody's like, oh, heart now.
SPEAKER_04That's Katrina.
SPEAKER_02Katrina's heart.
SPEAKER_00Well, we like Katrina. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02Nope. That's not easy to do.
SPEAKER_00So if we were in a movie, yeah, like can we make up like our own movie? We have to pick a movie that already exists. No, no, you can make up your own. A movie title that we would have for our team here at Rush Church. The Little Rascals.
SPEAKER_03That's fun. I don't know if I have one.
SPEAKER_00I can't think of original movie titles. I just think of ones that have already been made.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, I don't know. I was kind of thinking like, I don't know, pure chaos or it's pretty chaotic.
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_05Okay, next question. Would you rather have to use a kazoo to communicate for a day or communicate only through interpretive dance?
SPEAKER_00Dance.
SPEAKER_04I 100% could communicate with a kazoo.
SPEAKER_00I knew you were gonna say that. Why would you pick a kazoo?
SPEAKER_03I feel like I'd be really good at it.
SPEAKER_00You'd start and people would just be like, no, I don't even care what you have to say anymore. Forget it. Dancing people could like you look at that and be like, oh, it's like charades, like all day long. But a kazoo, people are gonna punch you in the face. I'm just saying. Let's uh no.
SPEAKER_03I feel like I could speak kazoo. Speak kazoo. I feel like I could do it. Give me a kazoo. I think okay. We I'm just kidding. We're gonna get you a kazoo.
SPEAKER_05I definitely can do interpretive dance because I was a mime, so I'm used to that.
SPEAKER_04Right. You and Cody, you and Cody dance, and then I'll interpret it with my kazoo.
SPEAKER_05Oh, wow. Or other way around. Can you imagine? And like the more you breathe, like the angrier we know that you are, and we have to be like more dramatic on it. And our faces have to be like, what? And did you know this? That'd be awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I fixed my microphone. It was falling over again. I don't understand what you guys are talking about, kazoo-wise. And I already said no to kazoo. Yeah, we're not doing that.
SPEAKER_05All right. Okay, those are the icebreakers of the day. Let us know what you think. Would you like interpretive dancing or kazoo singing from us? That'd be fun.
SPEAKER_00Just remember what I said about the kazoos. If we don't get a punch in the face, then you better pick dancing.
SPEAKER_05I'm literally covering my head.
Jokes Of The Day
SPEAKER_05All right, time for the jokes of the day. Some of you think.
SPEAKER_00I got it. Okay, we actually got just kidding.
SPEAKER_05Some of you say I need to work on my jokes. Some of you, I love that you love the jokes. I appreciate you all good and bad feedback. But here's my two jokes. Number one, how are toddlers and those who attempted to build the tower to heaven similar?
SPEAKER_00Tell us.
SPEAKER_05They all babble. I was gonna guess that.
SPEAKER_04But I didn't want to ruin that.
SPEAKER_00Because you get it, the Tower of Babel. Oh, I just got it. No, I'm just gonna babble. They all babble.
SPEAKER_05Last joke is Oh, thank goodness. I'm gonna throw this at you. Please do. All right. At what time of day did God create Adam?
SPEAKER_00High noon.
SPEAKER_05Just before Eve.
SPEAKER_02High noon.
SPEAKER_00What? You have to make a guess. I guess.
SPEAKER_04Early morning. Before sunrise.
SPEAKER_05I'll work on the jokes, but that's what I had for today. I thought it was really good. Brody just forgot the button.
SPEAKER_00What button? Laughing button. Oh, you mean this button?
SPEAKER_04Well, isn't that one where people are laughing?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Just the plotting.
SPEAKER_00No, that's not that's not for this. This is no. So I don't even know what to do now.
SPEAKER_05You're gonna teach
How The Church Began In Acts
SPEAKER_05something. Teach us about the history of the church, Cody.
SPEAKER_00I didn't think it'd be helpful to just kind of look where the you know, look back at how we got to where we are. Uh I get, I mean, do you get the question a lot from people? Maybe not, but like, why is there why are there so many churches? Why are there so many different kinds of churches or denominations or like people like, well, what's what's the deal with all the churches? Like, didn't we? Are we supposed to be one body, one body of Christ, but like we talked about last week? And somehow we have all these different denominations, different styles, different I don't know, but just just so many churches that do different things. And it feels like they're all separated for the most part, sometimes. Now there are churches that work well together, and we partner with other churches and we do things, and we're all in it together, but I thought it would be helpful just to look back and see how we got to this point in time when we have the early church in the book of Acts. We have that, and then all the way from there until today, about 2,000 years, give or take a few, but from when the church started. So I figured it would be I don't know, we just probably should start here before we talk anymore about the church in general, and about where where it came from, how we got it. So do you guys know where the church started?
SPEAKER_04Like where it started in Axe?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, I'm in an axe study, so I better know the answer. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Maybe you better just be quiet then.
SPEAKER_04Wait, be quiet or tell you?
SPEAKER_00Tell me.
SPEAKER_04Well where do you want me to start?
SPEAKER_00Just you know what happens? How does the church start? Where do where does it just where does it start?
SPEAKER_04It starts after Jesus ascends to heaven.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_04And he tells the disciples to go and make disciples and be the church.
SPEAKER_00Yes, go out and do things. But they stay in a well.
SPEAKER_04Well, they do eventually, but they sit there.
SPEAKER_00They have to stay in a certain big town. What's the main town? The big city.
SPEAKER_04Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00Jerusalem. Yeah. The church starts in Jerusalem, and we have an Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost. Alright. And so we get this idea of this is where the church begins, where people are hearing Peter talk. He's preaching about Jesus. Jesus has been crucified, risen from the grave, and now he's ascended back to his throne beside the Father. And we have this. This day is where a lot of people point to where the church officially began at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes down, people are speaking in all kinds of languages, people can understand each other, and the sudden explosion from 120 followers of Christ to thousands. So we go from about a little over a hundred people who are serious about what they saw Jesus do, what he did, and believe, and all of a sudden now it's exploding on this day of Pentecost, and we have thousands of Christians, thousands of people who are claiming Christ now. And they aren't called Christians right away, right away. It comes later on in the book of Acts. But do you know what the the movement was called early on? They wouldn't identify themselves as Christians, but they would say I'm part of the Protestant? No. It's real simple. They would just say the way. And then after that, you get the Acts 15, and you get some disagreements, and you have people finally, there's a conflict inside these group, and so the non-Jewish people, which were called Gentiles. Gentiles. They have to follow it was a whole argument and kind of division among non-Jewish people, the Gentiles, and the Jewish people, and what you had to do to actually follow Jesus. Do you have to follow the Jewish laws? You have to follow these things, or can you not? And so there was this whole big thing. And they decided that no, you don't have to follow, you don't have to do all the things to become Jewish before you become Christian. It was this massive pivot in the way that they did things. It proved the church was going to be global, not just about the Jewish people, not just about Israelite people, but it was going to explode into the entire world, even for the non-Jewish people. And you see that. And so the church becomes accessible and Jesus becomes accessible to the entire world in the book of Acts. So explain if I was to ask you kind of what a church service would look like when it first started. What comes to mind? In the book of Acts, what would a church service look like?
SPEAKER_04Well, I don't know. I can guess.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, go for it.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I'm assuming that it's just preaching. That's what I was thinking. That's all it is.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Just preaching? Alright. Anything else?
SPEAKER_05Like maybe just people gathered like outside. Yeah. Just together. Not necessarily in the building.
SPEAKER_00Not necessarily. But you would meet in people's homes. You would just go to your you gather a bunch of people together and go to uh somebody's house, and you would come and you would dedicate yourself to teaching. Somebody would read or talk about, they would read some Old Testament passage of scripture. Uh they would talk about Jesus. They would ex encourage one another. And the big thing was they would eat together. They would share meals together. And you'd come to this place and you'd sing praise songs, you'd sing a hymn, or you'd sing, you know, sing some kind of song, eat food, and prayer was a big part of this. So it's not a whole lot different than kind of what we do. We have these things, but they would they would meet, and when it first started, this was daily. They would meet together on a daily basis, and there was a time when you know you would gather offering and it would be given to those that needed it in the in the body of Christ. You'd give it to somebody who was struggling with whatever that week, or you'd give it to somebody who needed food, you'd get them food, you'd take care of one another. If you needed to sell something to get money to buy something for one of your fellow uh Christ followers, you would do that. And so this whole idea of unity and being together is right there. And this is kind of the first 300 years of Christianity, all right? Christianity is illegal. Can't be a Christian in the Roman Empire. What kind of things happened to Christians?
SPEAKER_05They were killed.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_05Aren't they lit on fire?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All kinds of things. They would be persecuted. We have that in the Book of Acts, and plus you know, keep going 300 years past the New Testament. You get still persecution. You have Rome heavily persecuting Christians, stories of prison, stories of the Colosseum feeding Christians the lions, lighting them on fire on posts and all this kind of stuff. So it was heavy, heavy persecution, like you know, uh death, and really difficult to kind of meet you had to meet together in secret. You had to kind of have these secret house churches and you know, come meet together and not not let anybody find out about it. And so for the three first 300 years, heavily persecution, but so much growth like exploded. It moved all over that region, all out from it. You know, you have all these different places hearing the gospel, hearing the good news, and the church just like explodes in those first 300 years. It's everywhere. So that's kind of the early part of the church where we first get this idea of meeting together, coming together for a purpose, doing all these different things. Like I said, the big things were prayer, going through life with each other, like supporting one another in in just however way they could, and eating together. Always a meal there. And so it kind of grew into that, and you'd have these specific house churches in these different places that you know you would the you know, the Christians in a certain town would be called the Church of Ephesus example, or the church of Philippi, and that's where you get those books in the New Testament or those letters that Paul writes, so these little house churches in these different places to encourage them among all these heavy persecution and
Persecution Then Legalization Under Constantine
SPEAKER_00places like that. So that's the first 300 years or so, you get that, and then about 313 AD around there, uh, was a huge turning point in the church history. This is a big one. Emperor Constantine issued the decree to make Christianity legal, and so now your religion is no longer you know, puts you in danger. It's now legal to be a Christian, you're not persecuted as much, and the government doesn't come in and try to throw you in prison all the time and all these different things. And so, no more, no more being thrown to the lions, all this kind of stuff. So that's a big deal. That helps a lot. You can imagine, like going from having to meet in secret, having to hide, having to worry about all this stuff to so all of a sudden now the Roman Empire says, Yeah, it's good. You can you can follow your Jesus and have your own religion if you want to, and it's gonna be legal now. How would you how do you think that changes things for the church?
SPEAKER_05Changes things a lot, yeah. But I kind of also like wonder what ha what changed. Like that's what I wonder too. Somebody new got in? Like, or were they just tired of yeah?
SPEAKER_00A new emperor takes over and he's different. He's like, you know what? I've had enough of this. This is you know, let's just make it legal and kind of they're they're causing a bunch of problems, and it's just you know, politics and stuff. He's like, it'd be better if we just let them do their thing, you know. And so he's like, it's legal, and so how does that affect the church moving forward?
SPEAKER_05Well, now it's now we're not scared to hold church services.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, at least here and not meeting in fear. Now all of a sudden you can kind of establish yourself more. You can kind of have roots in places and you can. kind of build on things and you have time to organize it in a way that you want it organized and you don't have to like fear for being arrested or or persecuted as much. And so this is where the church started getting organized and laid the groundwork for you know the church to build off of and to move forward and things. So I think that's where you get that. And so starting then the church becomes more organized. You get different councils put together and they're trying to figure out you know what do we really believe about this thing? They get more theological they had whole discussions about you know certain aspects of the faith and all these different things. And so you can get into whole rabbit trails about that. They put together the canon they put together the Bible that we have today and we have all that stuff which is a whole nother topic but they do all these kind of things because now they're able to they have time to focus on these things. And so you have that I'd say the next big thing that the the church goes through is in about 700 years after
The Great Split And Protestant Reformation
SPEAKER_00that. So now we're like 1000 AD so we're about a thousand years out from from Christ. And then we get the divorce the big split in the church a thousand years of you know we're organized now we we can have these conversations and that's good that we're not persecuted but it's also opening doors for us to disagree on things more openly have more opinions on different things. And so about 1000 AD you have the church split into two different sections and that's where you get the Orthodox side and the Catholic side. So you have Roman Catholics and then you have the Orthodox and so that's where you get the Pope in in Rome and the patriarch of in in Constantle in the Orthodox side so that's kind of getting into but you see where you're you start where Jesus ascends you have everybody meeting together daily and then they're meeting there they're doing things together they're supporting each other you have the early church in these little houses and then 300 years it's legal now and they're they're kind of growing there's lots of them all spread out everywhere and they're kind of organizing themselves and now we see the farther away from Jesus we get there's more disagreement there's more different things and so they split into these two sections and then you have the Catholics and the orthodox it was partly about power and partly about theology and all really it came down to kind of one thing and it was more about the Holy Spirit and the Father and the son so it was more of a Trinity thing. More theology comes up and they begin discussing these things like oh we don't we don't know about that and then they just kind of split. So you get this split and that gives us Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Alright so that's in 1000 fast forward lots of stuff happens but this is just kind of an overview what's going on to get you kind of idea to where we are 1500 1500 1517 is the Protestant Reformation. Alright you might have heard about this this is where you'll be more familiar with some of these things maybe it was going to reform the church Martin Luther he was a German monk and he went to the Catholic church and he nailed 95 theses to the church door. You ever heard that before he's like I've had enough of this Catholic church they're they're not doing things the right way they're kind of you know doing these things and so he's he goes and nails up these 95 things that he thinks is wrong and he's changed. He was primarily protesting indulgences like paying the church to reduce punishment for sins and the kind of the the way the church had gone off so far from scripture to adding all these different things adding things in so he's he's had enough and argued that the Bible not the pope was the ultimate authority. And so this is where we kind of shift from what the Catholic church had become the Orthodox are still doing their own thing but now we're over here in this part still and this guy's like you know why don't we just read the Bible and not listen to what the the pope or the head of the church is is trying to tell us and so there's a tension there and so they go off that and so the Reformation is gives us a lot of different things come off of that the result in Lutheranism Reformed churches Anglicans all these different things that we have today and so you kind of go that way and it kind of splits down even more into these different segments of Christianity and then and then we have
Restoration Movement And Modern Denominations
SPEAKER_00another movement in the 19th century called the Restoration movement Stone Camel movement. And these were so where the Bible speaks we speak where the Bible's silent we are silent kind of people and they really take it a step further and they're really kind of into scripture and back to the basics kind of thing they wanted to just forget about you know all the stuff that happened before and restore the church to exactly how it looked in the New Testament. That's what they wanted to do. They wanted all the way back to Acts and be like let's go back to the original and see how can we make our church as close to this as possible. So they went all the way back to that. So you have this progression and all these different things and this led to the Christian church churches of Christ and the Christian churches that we have now around so that's kind of the most recent thing that happened in the 1800s or so and so that's kind of how you get to all these different things and how we get to denominations today we got all these different different things like we have well you guys can you name some denominations that we have I guess what are some ones that you've heard of just different types of churches Methodist Methodist Presbyterian Presbyterian Lutheran Lutheran Church of God Church of Jesus that's a good so I have all these different kinds of things like the Anglican church Lutheran church the Catholic church we have all these type of churches and I'm just gonna kind of give a really quick brief summary of kind of what they focus on because all these churches are under the umbrella of Christianity I would say but they all have different focuses on what they're what their what their main focus and goals are tend to be what's what makes them different denominations. So Jesus is usually at the center of these churches and the gospel is but then all the side issues and things they focus on different parts of all this so Anglican Lutheran Catholic they focus on tradition ritual and like the church being really important like how it's structured the leadership and all these different things so they're really focused on tradition rituals different kind of keeping it historical kind of like that and so that's where you tend to get all those that fall into there I would say reform churches like Baptist and Presbyterian they focus on sovereignty of God and they're really into deep theology trying to pull things out and really focus on who God is and how he how he interacts with the world I guess you would say they're really focused on that kind of things then you get Methodist and Nazarene we did mention Nazarene but that's there's not a lot of Nazarene churches in around here in Kentucky where I'm from there's a lot of Nazarene churches around there's some in Columbus I believe or but not right here where we are they're really about social justice and some of the social issues and things and so you see that Pentecostal charismatic those are usually under the assemblies of God title they're more focused on Holy Spirit and miraculous supernatural I guess you could call it but they're really spirit filled kind of really focused on that aspect of like spiritual gifts all those kind of things that we see in the New Testament in the early church they focus on those that's kind of like their main thing then you just got non-denominational and so independent congregations seeking to just kind of do their own thing and lead without being under the umbrella of an organization I guess you'd say so you have all these different denominations and the reason we have so many churches denominations is because people have different opinions on things we have different ways of seeing things interpretations on certain things and I think the main thing is that what their focus is is on, I guess you could say because when you when you focus on different things you're gonna tend to really hone in on those things and maybe some people that were in a church were like well we're really focused on this other thing or what about this and so that's where you have all these denominations come from they're like well we want to focus on this part so we're just gonna go over and do our own thing and they're like we want to focus on you know you know the really digging in and really knowing scripture and seeing who God really is and all the theology and so we're just gonna go over here and start our own thing over here. And these people are like well we want to give back to the community we want to serve and we want to take care of people and that we want to do that all the time and so they'd go do their own thing. So that's how we got to this in my head this is how we got to where we are with all these denominations all these separate church buildings all these different church structures I guess you could say I don't know did you guys like my mom grew up Catholic and so she had a lot of Catholic background but then when she got married and kind of had kids and so stopped going to the Catholic church and then we went to a little Baptist church forever when I was growing up out in the country. It was great just different ways of doing things I feel like a lot of these denominations are the heart of them is Jesus and the gospel and what the good news about what he did and then just the focus is shifted to different areas and so you have all these different ways I don't know about you guys's have you I mean what kind of background do you have in churches?
SPEAKER_05I grew up like like the Assembly of God. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So more charismatic Pentecostal really the focus on spiritual gifts spiritual gifts the spirit so yeah Brittany I was in the Presbyterian church. Oh wow and then the Methodist church for a long time now you're here at Rush Church.
SPEAKER_04Yeah nice so I'm only giggling because I think it's the opposite of Ashley's yeah we are two different people we actually there was no children's church in the Presbyterian church and we had to sit and be quiet. Listen so it was quiet time. So it's probably the exact opposite of your church service we had kids dancing the aisle waving flags.
SPEAKER_00No we weren't allowed to move so I remember my little Baptist church that I went to growing up like we went to summer camp like the youth group did we didn't have a youth we just had volunteers. We just had some parents that were like we're gonna go to camp and so they led it and they did they were amazing. And so I always appreciate volunteers in ministry because I know like what can come from it just anybody that shows up gives you time and so they were volunteers they were amazing. They took us to camp in the summer and we would come back so hyped like all like thousands of teenagers and we'd have our songs and we'd come back and we'd like do like a song or two from camp and I remember one time we were like it was undignified by David Crowder back in the day and we were singing this and we're like we were we were just got back from camp we're hyped and we're like clapping and jumping up and down in the aisles and going around and I could I could remember the faces of the people sitting there like what in the heck is happening where we send these kids what's happening and so it was just like a shock. And like so but not it was I mean looking back I was like it was fun and it was like you know so but but yeah just different ways of doing things and just kind of the idea of not being able to see sometimes like that's okay and that's okay and it doesn't have to be let's make a whole new church because they like to dance in the aisle and I don't like to dance in the aisle and so I think a lot of times the church what we have today has become I don't know if you agree with that or not what are your thoughts on denominations why we have after me talking about all that why do we have so many denominations I guess your thoughts do you think it sometimes it's as simple as they like to get up and dance and we don't so we're gonna go start our own church down the road and like that's how it all kind of started or I don't know if it's that simple I ugh I know it's a touchy subject.
SPEAKER_05I don't I just wonder if it's more of like they everybody thinks that their way is the right way.
SPEAKER_00Okay yeah that's another you know big thing of it too I think that's the main thing that started the whole thing but I do think like I didn't it doesn't it's not I can
Worship Styles And Personal Church Backgrounds
SPEAKER_00see in a a situation where like well we want to do it this way like we want to worship in a certain style and then part of your church that's meeting in this little like like hundreds of years ago like well I'm really not into that so we're gonna go down here and meet in another place and kind of and just differences saying well my way's when it comes to theology kind of my way is the right way and you're you know I can see that but I can also see little things of just like how a service is structured and they're like well we don't like like doing communion we do communion every Sunday at Rush Church growing up I did communion four times a year in my little Baptist church it wasn't like a every Sunday type thing I see that I it's kind of like some churches like do not want drums some churches only want hymns some churches only want piano versus keyboard like yeah there are differences like that too church of Christ down where I'm from no instruments no instruments non-instrumental churches and so when I was looking at moving up here and it's like Russell Union Church of Christ I was like if I walk in there and there's no instruments on stage I don't know if I'm gonna I don't know so I got here and I saw a drum set I was like hot dang got drums but yeah so just little things like that I think like and in the big picture of Christianity and faith those little things it doesn't really matter if you don't want instruments then yeah go meet together and don't have instruments I guess and then there's some bigger issues there's some bigger things that do this but for the most part I see that's how we got all these different denominations of churches all call ourselves Christians but we go to this type of church or this type of church because they do things a different way and we kind of fit in better and doing different things differently so I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah I feel like it's kind of how they view their connection to God. Like the Presbyterian church that I was in I don't know if they're all the same but when they show up in their best dressed you know suit and tie and they're singing hymns then they feel like they are honoring and getting the connection like they're closer to God that way where Ashley might be because somebody's experiencing something different. I don't know and they feel like oh I'm no I'm connected to God you know like I'm the close this is what he wants from me.
SPEAKER_00But I just feel like everybody I mean the Holy Spirit's in all of us right so yeah I he's talking to all of us differently so I mean yeah I think that goes back to on a on why why do we have all these like you said people like to think that their way is the right way is that a bad thing or is that a good thing? I think it depends.
SPEAKER_05To me if if your way ultimately results in the verse that talks about the only way through the Father is through Jesus then that's okay.
SPEAKER_04Like I I don't care if you're Presbyterian Catholic whatever whatever it is as long as you know that Jesus is
Unity Versus Division And Core Beliefs
SPEAKER_04the reason for all of this then have have hymns have worship music have dancing don't have dancing raise your hands don't raise your hands like whatever you want yeah I feel like yeah I've had conversations before with people that were different denominations and we have a we had a lot of disagreements and they were trying to convince me of their ways being better and I flat out just said do you think Jesus is the only way?
SPEAKER_05Okay then we're good like let's so yeah I think there's a there's a line where like my way is you know it works for me maybe it doesn't work for you and some issues but like let me we'll finish up with a couple of questions that I wanted to ask does having so many denominations in the in Christianity having all these different ways all these different titles on churches all these denominations does it mean that the church is broken as a whole or does it just mean that there is a flavor in a different way of of for people in different cultures with different personalities what do you think so to me this is Ashley Phillips's point of view I think the church is broken because I don't think this is what Jesus intended like when he first came on the scene I don't think that he wanted us to split up into all these different things when okay back in Acts when they first decided to become together when they were all together and they were living close to each other taking care of each other selling things to provide for each other that's what I think was intended first of all I think that'd be so cool not just because I'm just because you feed everybody yeah but that's what I like when I read that I'm like oh my gosh that's what we're supposed to be right it's like they focused on everything together not just the single out things not just the social justice not just the you know the teaching part not just the it's like they were all together I I just think that's probably more of how it's supposed to be than what we're currently seeing I think it's a little bit of both I think the the idea of personality and uniqueness for individuals and how they want to worship like yeah this is good but couldn't we find a way to still meet all together under one thing and have be like that's okay that you like to be more charismatic in your worship style and I'm okay over here with just you know nodding my head along or kind of putting one hand in the air kind of thing you know like I think we could could have found a way without dividing so much on all these different things to still be united and still find our own ways to do things inside of that unity.
SPEAKER_00That's just me. So like I do think that we probably aren't where Jesus intended us to be as far as how we meet as a church how we do things as the global church I guess because we have like all these different and I think it's just like go back to Acts and look at what they were doing and wouldn't it be cool if we could just like do that and like but I don't know I don't know like when all is said and done we're all in heaven I don't think it's gonna be split up like that.
SPEAKER_05Like we're all worshiping our one true God.
SPEAKER_02What were you you're over here you're right you're in the back now I'm reading a book about Ephesians right now and you're in the back who's in the back I don't know yet somebody's gonna be in the back no I'm just kidding I'm just kidding I'm gonna get in so much trouble for things so I'm reading I'm reading about the church and what Paul writes about it in Ephesians and stuff and reading a book about Ephesians really good so far.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of like he uses he has New Testament's full of the theme of unity being united being together being the same team for the same common goals and purposes and so and what the church is supposed to represent is you know what what it's gonna be like in heaven one day. The church is supposed to be a glimpse of what it's gonna be like to be in God's presence all together worshiping him the same the church is supposed to mirror that we're supposed to be able to show unity and I don't think we show unity very well in and expect like right now. Yeah. Um and and so that's just you know we just have to do better on individually I guess and kind of move towards this idea of and then I want to finish off with like there are essential things that you have to believe to to call yourself a Christian and to follow Jesus. I mean you can't just believe whatever the heck you want to and do whatever you want to we still hold the Bible to be authoritative. We still hold to Jesus being who he is and what he said he was and so there are like essential things that you have to you have to have you just can't go make your own church and then claim to be part of the part of the body I guess is what I'm saying issues that we all must agree on but there are things that we can disagree on and still be united most of the things that you have to agree on come down to Jesus in the gospel and you know the those are non-negotiables negotiables. Is that that's not is that a word that's okay non-negotiables. There we go I think I added a different syllable in there but yeah I just wanted to make that clear that you know there are things that we have to hold to yeah but I think you can do that and there's other things that you know are secondary and wouldn't it be cool if we could not separate over those secondary things and just be together and awesome. And so you see that the pattern of farther away we get from Jesus, the more we're kind of and I see it in the Old Testament too, you know the church in the Old Testament. That wasn't really called the church, but it was God's people assembled together under Moses and coming out of Egypt and in the wilderness and they set up their things and then by the time you get to the Jesus' point there's like four different sects of Jewish people and they believe different things and it's like denominations in the Old Testament. And so the farther away they got from God on the mountain with Moses all the way up to there it became more divided, more separated by different beliefs and different things like that. And so you see it the farther away you move from that point I see we just got to refocus and kind of get back to what is most important I think. So but yeah that's just a little bit of I just wanted to start in Acts the church and how we got to where we are today because like some people ask like well why do we have all these different things? So hopefully we helped a little bit in the separations the the couple main ones and then how we got and I didn't really go into detail about a lot of things because that wasn't what this was for this was a big picture kind of thing and so good. Yeah if you have any questions you want us to go further on on that you can drop them off or let us know. We might cover them for you. But that's that's it for today yeah I don't know what we're gonna talk about next time yet I haven't gotten that far oh may I'll I'll I want to talk about Rush Church specifically next time a little bit I think I think
Questions For Next Time And Closing Prayer
SPEAKER_00that'd be helpful. Like what denomination are we? Where do we fit in? What do we believe and what kind of what kind of who are we as a church because Wrestlevania Church of Christ is the name but we call ourselves Rush Church and we're not and we're also not under like the umbrella of the Church of Christ right now we're not yeah we kind of are out here on our own in Wrestlevania doing what we're but yeah so I'll pray and then see you but here we go God thank you so much for this day thank you for springtime thank you for baseball and softball season coming up and all the things get to be outside again enjoying your creation enjoying beautiful weather hopefully and so I just ask that you be with us as we go out help us to focus on you the things that we know are true help us to do our best to stay united under your name focus on what you want us to do day to day thankful for the church thankful that you gave us the church for the purpose that it is to encourage each other to help each other to go through life together and help keep us on track help keep each other accountable and so I I ask that you continue to work in this church and all churches and just be with us the rest of this week. Jesus pray amen all right thanks again guys I appreciate you listening thanks to Brittany and Ashley for being here and listening to me talk for a little while hopefully they learned something or uh thought it was interesting. But Brittany's ready she's taking her headphones off and she's good forget it. We're done she's like I got work to do. We will see you next time here on Rush Hour