What's the times for your services?
Our service schedule starts as always with an Agape meal at 6:30 beforehand followed by services at
8pm. We usually get out between 11:30 and midnight.
Why do you hold services on Saturday?
The Jewish faith has Saturday as their day of rest. Services are held the day before on Friday evening.
In their faith and among Liturgical Christians, the day actually begins after sunset. So, their Sabbath observance is from
Friday evening until Saturday evening.
We decided to copy their reasoning with holding services on Saturday evening so that Sunday could truly
be used as a Day of Rest. That "rests" everyone from the often harried mothers who have to wake their grumpy children up early
to get them to church on Sunday morning to the clergy who never get a day off, since they end up "working" on Sundays.
We figure to make Sundays a REAL day of rest for the whole church, as God intended. That's why we hold
our services when we do.
Why so late?
Since we are a Recovery Church and many of our people might be tempted to do "other things" on Saturday
nights, our service schedule steers them away from weekend binges.
Besides, it makes for a good excuse to sleep in late on Sundays! (LOL!)
Why do you have people read your sermon out loud, instead of listening to you preach it?
A Recovery Church is one that glorifies the ability of Jesus to challenge, teach and change us. Listening
to a sermon is good, but when someone reads the Word aloud in their own voice it has a greater impact and makes people think.
I put my own two cents in as the sermon goes on, but I want people to truly listen and have questions and imput. This is a
good way of inviting that kind of interaction.
Are you guys Pentecostal?
No, we're Charismatic. There is little difference between the two traditions of Pentecostal and Charismatic
in the essentials. But the Charismatics are found inside and outside regular, traditional church groups. You can be a Roman
Catholic Charismatic, an Episcopalian Charismatic, a Baptist Charismatic, etc. We consider ourselves to be Liturgical Charismatics
because we believe in and teach the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and listening to the Lord reflected in both the written
and spoken Word in the context of the Liturgy of Holy Communion.
What kind of music do you use in your services?
Everything from popular Christian contemporary to meditative. Sometimes we use medieval chant too. Our criteria
is that the song must provoke greater discipleship or glorify the Lord.
The Song you're listening to now, "Firm Foundation" is the one we voted on as our official church
song. Why? Because it's catchy, glorifies the Lord and is easy to dance to!
Do you dance in church?
Yep.
The dancing in the church isn't organized. No one rehearses or sets up to do anything. The kids started
it and it just happens because people are happy to be here.
We believe in silence when it is time to be silent and rejoicing loud and hard when it's time to do
so. We do all of our songs at the beginning of service and sing certain parts of the Liturgy afterwards. That's the balance
between singing and silence. But we figure if you're going to sing hymns to the Lord then you might as well be joyful
about it. Dancing is a part of that.
But it's your choice to join in or not. You don't have to do so unless you feel it.
The service itself feels and sounds like a Catholic Mass. Why is that?
Actually the service is a combination of the liturgies from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopalian
traditions with a few touches from the Charismatic and Evangelical movements. The Liturgy is a reflection of what we feel
the Holy Ghost is doing in the Church today. The Lord is bringing us back to the Altar of the Bread of Heaven and the Wine
of Gladness but He's doing it in ways that release the fire of the Spirit and the water of the Word of God.
To us, the best way to express this balance is the Liturgy. Jesus Christ is our Life and our
Strength. He stands as our great High Priest offering His Body and Blood to the Father, along with our prayers
in the Spirit . That's how we love and honor Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, through the written and spoken Word of God and
the power of the Holy Ghost.
As we say, our calling as a church is "Bringing the Power of Heaven Into Hell." This is also
the reason why the Liturgy matters to us- it is our way of touching the power and presence of God.
Does CCLRC Ordain Women?
We ordain any hetroxsexual Christian who believes our basic statement of faith and the
Christian Twelve Steps and Traditions, who is called by God and this faith community to be a subdeacon, deacon or pastor.
That includes men and women, married or celibate.
From start to finish it is a two to three year process.
This is not an easy way of life. Any interested party should pray a lot before even considering
it.
What do you believe as a Church?
We
are a part of the Body of Christ, which identifies with the liturgical tradition of the Christian faith. We express our love
and faith in God through the worship service of Holy Communion. We also believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the call
to conversion as seen in the Christian Twelve Steps.
Taking seriously Jesus' command to "do this in memory
of Me" and "Those who eat my Body and drink My Blood shall have life within them and I will raise them up on the
last day", we see Communion Liturgy as a way of renewing and pleading the Blood Covenant of the Cross of Jesus and His Glorious
Resurrection before the Throne of God.
We are a church that follows the tenets of the Apostles'
Creed:
1) God is a Triune Being, a Family of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit
2) God the Son came down to earth through the Power of the Holy Spirit to be conceived and born as a human being in the
womb of the Virgin Mary
3) He took on our sinfulness and its penalty of sickness, poverty and death, accepting our faults and sins as His own.
He did this freely, out of love and died as a Scapegoat the two deaths of body in an agonizing death and spirit, being separated
from the Father and the Holy Spirit.
4) He rose again body, soul and spirit to live forever. Jesus will return
one day to rule over all of Creation, which according to the Bible, He created with the Father and the Holy Spirit of Wisdom.
5) After Jesus returned to Heaven, the Holy Spirit of God, the Third Person in the God Family
came to earth. The Spirit gives you a new birth and nature in the waters of Baptism and the Fire of Confirmation.
6) The Good NEWS is: God can and will change you, if you will
allow Him to do so.
The Five Challenges
As a church we feel that God has called us to deal heavily with the scandal of the splits in the Body
of Christ and in the world. These center around:
1) IDOLATRY-Worship and focus on minor points of the Faith or even denial of Christ and the power of
the New Birth in Him. This leads to cults and cliques that keep people from knowing God's Wholeness.
2) SEXISM-Hatred and coldness towards women because of their sex. This is a leading cause of pedophilia,
sexual perversion and the international oppression of women and children
3) RACISM-Hatred and coldness between nations and cultures. This leads to war inside and outside of
countries and even church groups and religions
4) GREED-Fear of poverty and the need to control this world's goods. This is the cause of war and the
starvation of whole countries.
5) VIOLENCE, especially against CHILDREN. This is the root of Abortion
Our church has been called to teach the truth about these ills by applying the Word of God in Scriptures
and the Word of God in the Sacraments, particularly in the Sacraments of Baptism in Water and the Holy Spirit, Holy Communion,
Reconciliation and Marriage.
Over the next few months we will be presenting the church's catechism on these subjects and asking for your comments
on our teachings that we give every week at Liturgy. We have presented them in the light of the Twelve Christian Steps
of Faith, which take the traditional Twelve Steps of AA into the spiritual dimension where they originally came from
in the first place.
How can we learn more about CCLRC?
or write us at:
Christ Charismatic Liturgical Recovery Churches
5230 Canyon Creek Road
Idaho Falls, ID 83402
