Two questions on Holiness

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On Fri, 9 Feb 1996 23:05:56 -0600 (CST), you wrote:

>It is one thing to do
>so among the church leadership or in an environment where everyone 
>is committed.  But many people I bring to church have never been before
>and don't really know the message, but are willing to investigate it 
>because they admit that perhaps they are missing something.  To be 
>faced with arbitrary rules without already having the understanding of 
>Christ could quickly turn them off.

>Just another aspect to consider.  It could be detrimental in a church
>with a strong outreach.

I would like to make two comments that some might find helpful.

First, *most* Apostolic pastors that I know do not teach Biblical
holiness *practices* in meetings that are designed to invite and
minister to visitors. In a lively and growing church, this would be
virtually all services which are widely announced and generally open
to the public. Rather special meetings or classes are designed for
this purpose. One typical forum for the explaination of such matters
is the "New Life Ministry", or less appealing titled "New Convert
Care"... 

Some who are prejudiced against the whole concept may answer that this
is a typically "legalist" action of loading on the weights immediately
after God has done a wonderful thing. To such and answer I can only
respond that the comment reveals its origins.It is particularly when a
man or woman has repented and received the promised Spirit of God that
they are hungry for instruction and LEAST likely to side with their
flesh in objecting to reasonable and ordained ministry in orienting
them to a victorious and scripturally harmonious life.

A pastor may teach holiness principles in an open public meeting, buta
wise man does not burden those who are not committed to the extent
where God has filled them with the Holy Ghost, with admonitions which
are ONLY understood by the spiritually minded.

Of course, saints who have had the Holy Ghost for a long period of
time can be as carnal as the unrepentant and lost. This also speaks
favorably for teaching the "young in Spirit". It is certainly
biblical.

Second, some comments have been raised regarding the impression which
female visitors have when they are the ONLY ones not wearing pants, or
the ONLY ones with cut hair. Well, God has a natural solution for
this, and I pity the church that must face this problem. 

If the body is reaching our and effectively ministering, and there are
always a certain balance of recent new births in the congregation,
this problem is non-existant. It is only when the church becomes
barren that it seems cold and unfreindly, first inwardly and then (as
per the comments) outwardly. Someone has said that about 80/20 is the
right proportion of established to new people. If that is true, and we
are lively and active, we will always have someone to disciple. This
sounds like a good idea to me!

MW Bassett
List Tabernacle UPC
Milford, CT