Discussions

Hi. I am new to Brandon and am looking for a church that's small enough that people know one another, are friendly, and community is important to them. Where services are not only uplifting but convicting. I'd also like to know which churches have a bible study, and/or a mid-week service.Thanks

Hi and welcome to Brandon. You are welcome to come to Grand Valley Community Church. It starts Sunday @11 am. Ages from new born and up. Great music and great service. We have small groups that get together mid week so whatever your interest is we can help you with that . Listen to the podcast it's on the web. Hope to see you or anyone else that is looking for a new church .

Brandon is small enough, that even the "large" churches have a small community to each. I would really recommend that you just go and check out a few different churches and see what would work for you. If you go to a service that speaks to you, just call and make an appointment with the pastor/minister/church folk and discuss what they have to offer and what you are looking for.  
There really aren't that many churches in Brandon. In the Saturday edition of the Brandon Sun, you'll find listings of the churches and their particular belief.  
Welcome to Brandon.  

I will check out a few churches. Does anyone have any experience with Faith Fellowship Baptist church?

We would love to have you visit Keystone Baptist Church! I think you would find the things you mentioned: smaller, friendly, and uplifting/convicting preaching. We also have a Wednesday night service (with a kids' club), mens' and ladies' Bible studies, as well as teen activities.  
 
Service times: Sunday School for all ages: 10 AM, Morning service: 11 AM, Evening Service: 6 PM, Wednesday night: 7 PM  
 
I love my church and hope you will visit!

Baptist church is on 26th by Willowdale, is very good place you can visit as well.  
Small church with warmth recession and friendly worshipers.  
Sunday services from 10am with sunday sunday to around 12pm.  
And different midweek services  
 
Edited by G-Money, 2015-10-02 13:02:33

G-Money said "Baptist church is on 26th by Willowdale, is very good place you can visit as well.   Small church with warmth recession and friendly worshipers.   Sunday services from 10am with sunday sunday to around 12pm.   And different midweek services     Edited by G-Money, 2015-10-02 13:02:33"

I'll have to try it. When are the mid week services.

Mcdiarmid drive alliance is one to definitely attend prior to making a decision. Great music, great people , great facility and wonderful messages. Forbidden flavour coffee on a Sunday am is always nice too.

Lene said "I will check out a few churches. Does anyone have any experience with Faith Fellowship Baptist church? "

Great Place to be. Is a Little old school with higher average age. But very very welcoming and will make you part of the family.

Have you considered the Catholic Church?  
A Church as old as it's founder - Jesus himself, one that will not change its morals or beliefs just for popularities sake, but one which remains true to the beliefs of Jesus Himself. One where it's first 33 leaders after Christ - the first 33 popes were all believed to have been martyred for their faith. The largest Christian denomination in the world, representing at least half of all Christians on our planet. The Church that compiled the Bible. The largest Charitable organization on earth. If so, then I would invite you to consider coming to St. Augustines.

I know that this is where the actual topic will deviate but my tongue is getting sore from biting it. Jesus didn't start a Catholic church. Peter never went to Rome. Constantine started it about 300 years later. Why would you think Jesus started a church that goes contrary to his own commandments?  
For those looking for Christ's church,I suggest finding one that uses the Bible as its final authority.

Its true, the New testament was finally compiled in its current form by going through earlier lesser complilations and various assortments of books and letters, deciding which ones to put in and which ones not to, many books just never made it in, there was limited space. And this was done by the early Roman Catholic church in the 4th century, as decreed by emperor Constantine.  
 
Over the previous 3 centuries, Christianity didn't have an official new testament, just letters, writing of different somewhat conflicting accounts, held by a small number of people. People just learned then by word of mouth and hearsay amongst small scattered groups, as most were illiterate. So christianity, for those first 300 pre-new testament years was very very different than any form of it today that's based off of the Roman Catholic compilation, what Christianity was to a person back then would have been based on what letters and accounts were available. Which is why there was so much quarreling, as every sect had its own letters, writings, and completely different accounts and interpretations, differences far greater then the differences between the various denominations based off of the Catholic compilation that we have today.  
 
So its interesting to note that the Roman Catholics basically invented modern Christianity, of which Protestantism is a 16th century offshoot.  
 
So for those first 300 years, Christianity, as we know it in its current forms, didn't exist, and therefore nobody has any historical justification to call their own denomination the correct one.  
 
So just pick whichever one suits your style and taste, myself, if I had to choose, I would pick Catholic, on the basis that the architecture of their building's is just stunning.  

Brandon First Baptist on Park is a nice church. My family moved to Brandon 3 years ago and have made this our home church, just feels like a family. The Word of God is preached and believed. A good place to be. Sunday Services start at 10:30.  
 
Best of luck in your church hunt. May God bless you in your search.  
 

Derek,  
You've suggested that Jesus didn't start the Catholic Church. If that's the case, then what did he start? What followed from Him? Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "Though art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it", What followed was a Church that stayed mostly unified for the first one thousand years, there was a division into the Orthodox and Catholic Church some time after that - but it was not until the Protestant Reformation around 1500 years after Jesus' time on earth that the most significant rift took place.  
 
At that point people started to create their own Christian denominations and now there are over 30,000 denominations of Christianity - so which one of those denominations was Christ referring to when He said 'the gates of hell will not prevail against it'? If it was one of the protestant ones then I suppose you would probably suggest that the gates of hell prevailed against the Church for most of the first 1500 years of it's history and that really Jesus meant to create that specific protestant Church 1500 years earlier, but perhaps never got around to it.  
 
Enfyre is right, the Bible wasn't fully compiled until the 4th century, and so this poses a significant question for DerekBM, specifically, 'who ultimately decided on what books should compose the Bible'? The Answer was the Catholic Church. It's kind of hard to reject Catholicism but agree with their Canon of the Bible.  
 
As for Enfyre's suggestion that "So for those first 300 years, Christianity, as we know it in its current forms, didn't exist, and therefore nobody has any historical justification to call their own denomination the correct one." is not completely true either. I think most religious scholars would agree that most of the early Church followers were much closer to the Catholic Church of today than they would be to any of the protestants. That the early Church focused so heavily on the Eucharist, confession of sins, the prayers of the saints, faith and good works and had an emphasis on Mary.  
 
If the Bible is to be the final authority for our faith, then who is the final authority of interpreting it? Surely over 30,000 different and separate Christian denominations must tell you that there is a problem with anyone being able to interpret the Bible on their own - if they are all in some way different, they can't all be right? Which Church therefore has the fullness of truth?  
 
I hope and pray that if you search you will find the answer.  
As for Lene, or anyone else who might be interested, if you ever want to learn more about the Catholic Church or would like to consider talking to someone about it further, feel free to message me. We are praying for you and the world every day. God Bless.

I was at Alliance this morning and at an evening service at Keystone Baptist this evening and I liked both!

Good post, and good points.  
Still think that no church today really replicates the early original church, or maybe better said that nobody can really say for sure, as so much of the early literature and letters from apostles/authors to the various churches across the roman empire were lost in time over the ensuing 3 centuries, and many that did survive were not included in the canon. And the differences between the various early churches were so huge, so much fighting was erupting that it finally took the emperor to intervene and finalize it all to one religion and book, Roman Catholic, Catholic means Universal, to keep the Empire from being torn apart. It was a political effort, obviously they didn't appease everyone, as many Christian groups refused to accept the new state religion and were subsequently declared heretics.  
 
But I will agree that Catholicism, from a historical perspective, being that it has remained nearly unchanged since the 4th century, and that many of the elements in it that detractors say is unbiblical were indeed actually practiced by the "early church" as some archeological/historical evidence suggests, an example being "prayers to Mary" being recorded as early as the 2nd century, so in that way I would say that it's about as close to the "Original" church as one going to get, in comparison to other options.  
 
It's also a good point worth reiterating is that protestants are criticizing a faith that their own thousands of denominations branched out of. Are they suggesting that for the first 1500 years Christianity didn't exist in its proper form? And in their minds, what was the implications of this for those born in that time period and indoctrinated into the wrong faith?

Committed2Brandon said "Have you considered the Catholic Church?   A Church as old as it's founder - Jesus himself, one that will not change its morals or beliefs just for popularities sake, but one which remains true to the beliefs of Jesus Himself. One where it's first 33 leaders after Christ - the first 33 popes were all believed to have been martyred for their faith. The largest Christian denomination in the world, representing at least half of all Christians on our planet. The Church that compiled the Bible. The largest Charitable organization on earth. If so, then I would invite you to consider coming to St. Augustines. "

It doesn't matter what your belief is, as long as it brings out the best in you. All religions have it written somewhere in their teachings that all people should be tolerant, and kind and do their best to be the best person you can be.  
So, as long as your place of worship does this for you, great  
 
Edited by I_justwanna_say, 2015-10-05 08:39:56

Yes we maybe what some consider "old school" but if old school means a warm and welcoming group of not so perfect people who love the Lord and truly desire to worship and serve Him then old school we are!  
Our demographic may lean to the older but we do have many young couples and families as well.  
Please try us out-at least once -before counting us out!  
 
Hope to see you here!  
 
SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR ALL AGES 9:30 am  
SUNDAY SERVICE 10:30 am  
WEDNESDAY EVENING BIBLE STUDY AND COFFE TIME 7:00 PM

Jlk said "Yes we maybe what some consider "old school" but if old school means a warm and welcoming group of not so perfect people who love the Lord and truly desire to worship and serve Him then old school we are!   Our demographic may lean to the older but we do have many young couples and families as well.   Please try us out-at least once -before counting us out!     Hope to see you here!     SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR ALL AGES 9:30 am   SUNDAY SERVICE 10:30 am   WEDNESDAY EVENING BIBLE STUDY AND COFFE TIME 7:00 PM "

I will make sure to do that:-)