Unlike the wooly mammoth, my tie refuses to totally disappear.

What is the correlation/connection between water baptism and church membership? I see where Acts 2:41 references both baptism and adding to the church in the same context, but have not found where baptism is clearly required for church membership.

Is shouting Biblical to do in the house of God or is it necessary?

What are some of the problems faced by a newly started church?

I was just looking over an angry response to my article on men wearing ties and people dressing up a bit for church. I have not reread my article, but this person seemed to think me a Pharisee and one not concerned for souls because of my take on this. I do not recall making ties a requirement, but this responder acted as if that were my position. Anyway, I still think we should clean up and dress up for meeting at church. The dressing down tendency of today is one of the signs of worldliness in our churches. A hundred years ago, everyone dressed up a bit for church. Are we more spiritual and godly today because we do not? Ties and suits are not obligatory and other cultures will use them less or none at all. That is fine. But they can still dress up a bit. Neither are we talking about the ostentatious show that was a trend at one point in the spiritual decline of the churches. Our clothing is to be moderate in every case. How we dress for something indicates how important that occasion is to us. Though we should work to make everyone welcome, we should dress as if meeting with God in the presence of God's people is also important to us. That may be different for different people, but it is still an expression of our love to the Lord and the importance we place on the occasion.

Who should have the control of money that is given to the Church?

Both polls and anecdotal evidence point to the same result: Bible-believing churches are losing their teenagers to the world. Teenagers who grow up in churches are leaving church and going to the world as soon as they get a chance. One statistic states that only 4% of the teens in evangelical churches stay in church. If that is anywhere close, that is an astounding figure. Churches have drawn the teens with entertainment and fun, but this will not keep them. Probably, the greatest contributing factor is the home. If the home is not solidly Christian--to the point of serious separation from the world--then the teens will learn their values from the world. We must work harder to exhort parents to be godly parents and then teach them how to do it.

At church we spend about 10-15 minutes greeting each other and it makes me feel uncomfortable. My question is, is it right for men and women to be shaking each others hand?

What should we look for when trying to find a Biblical church? Are there certain things that we should watch out for?

Is the church the building as we know it today or is it the body?