We had a minister some years ago that said that there are two different types of churches. The first type is one that preaches that the Bible is the Word of God. Meaning, that if it’s written in the Bible, even though it was written by people, it is the actual word of God. The second type of church is one that preaches that the Bible _contains_ the Word of God. Meaning, that as the Bible was written over thousands of years, the wisdom and lessons can be inferred by cultures past and cultures present.

Apples is this second type of church. Each of our members believes what they believe. We are not monolithic. We are not the same politically, socially. When we hear a message from the pulpit, we are not told how to think or how to interpret the Bible verses. That is left to us as thinking humans. The goal, we believe isn’t to make us the same, rather it is to understand that – in our differences we have the same needs, the same thirst for answers.

Well, this is our (the church’s) 2nd attempt at a website. For a bunch of reasons, our 1st attempt was – not a success. This time however, we think we might have something. The purpose of this page (assuming I can figure out how to post it, make it visible and be open for comments) is to do just that. Church is not and cannot be a one-way street. God help us all if we are just ’empty vessels’ to be filled up on Sunday morning and then slowly ‘leak out’ throughout the week to be refilled on the following Sunday. I hope that we can learn from each other, help each other in our joys and concerns, our worry and anxiety. We’ll see how this publishes and if anyone is brave enough to comment.