Dancing and Nazarene Churches.

[Bob Hunter]

I wish they would go back to the old rule where dancing is strictly forbidden. It gave me comfort that no one would ever know just how badly I am at it. Now I am at risk.

I suggest a CCC that follows the path that Hal Perkins teaches when discipling children. Instead of just disciplining the behavior, first discover what is in the heart. Which boy needs attention? The boy who accidentally drops his glass of milk or the boy who throws his milk on the floor? Same result, different attitude of the heart. It seems like we keep trying to address the behavior instead of the heart.

I will admit that letting my daughter go to a school dance was hard on me. I never went and viewed them only as events where the popular kids would further humiliate me and make my life miserable. So dancing automatically brings up some negative thoughts. I also had to make sure that I was ready to stand up for my daughter if someone in the church decided to make it an issue. A lay person may get a dirty look but if the pastor's kid isn't perfected in Christ by the time they are 3 then it is everyone's job to help them get there. Actually my children haven't experienced that since we just recently became official staff members, but I have seen it.

My daughter loves to dance and yes it still makes me uncomfortable even though there is nothing suggestive to it. She loves to dance to her Christian music. As I watch her rejoice in the love that God has given her and expresses her love for God through her dancing I just simply stuff my feelings aside and do my best to worship with her.

My daughter has Wii Dance 3 and I supervise the selection of songs as some are inappropriate. She is very good at it. I participate with 15 lb weights. Yeah, I take those delts to the burn every time! I think there is a way to allow dancing and not sell our souls to the devil.

[Roy Richardson]

I wish they would go back to the old rule where dancing is strictly forbidden. It gave me comfort that no one would ever know just how badly I am at it. Now I am at risk.

I suggest a CCC that follows the path that Hal Perkins teaches when discipling children. Instead of just disciplining the behavior, first discover what is in the heart. Which boy needs attention? The boy who accidentally drops his glass of milk or the boy who throws his milk on the floor? Same result, different attitude of the heart. It seems like we keep trying to address the behavior instead of the heart.

I will admit that letting my daughter go to a school dance was hard on me. I never went and viewed them only as events where the popular kids would further humiliate me and make my life miserable. So dancing automatically brings up some negative thoughts. I also had to make sure that I was ready to stand up for my daughter if someone in the church decided to make it an issue. A lay person may get a dirty look but if the pastor's kid isn't perfected in Christ by the time they are 3 then it is everyone's job to help them get there. Actually my children haven't experienced that since we just recently became official staff members, but I have seen it.

My daughter loves to dance and yes it still makes me uncomfortable even though there is nothing suggestive to it. She loves to dance to her Christian music. As I watch her rejoice in the love that God has given her and expresses her love for God through her dancing I just simply stuff my feelings aside and do my best to worship with her.

If that is how she expresses her love of God, who are you (we) to stifle it. It's not as if dancing wasn't used in the Bible as a form of worship.