LEAVING CHURCH

Over the years, I have had to deal with several people who have left the church because of hurtful actions on the part of people within the church.  There have been those who have their own letter writing campaign to tell people they are not wanted.  Others, have used their position as teacher or church leader to embarrass and ridicule individuals so they never come back.  Then there are those who feel it is their God given duty to control everything that happens in the church at the expense of others.

This should not be the case after all, we would suppose the church to be a place where hurts are healed – right? However, unfortunately, the church has sometimes been a place where many have experienced wounds instead of healing. In fact, statistics show that a great percentage of persons who stop attending church, do so because of some type of offense or injury to their feelings that happened there. Sometimes these occur because of the insensitivity of the those who feel they have the authority to tell people what to do; other times, people are themselves at fault for being too touchy or sensitive to misunderstandings.

If you are looking for a perfect church, when you find it and you start attending the perfect church, it will no longer be perfect.  Whatever was the reason you left your church to find another, you will find something else that you will not like.  There is no perfect church.  The church is filled with, sheep and goats, tares and wheat, wolves, and hireling shepherds along with false teachers, and godly ministers. 

Many times, individuals have taken upon themselves to be the self-appointed “prophets” telling people what they can and cannot do, who is welcome and who is not welcome.  There are individuals who feel they have the right to dictate to others how they are to conduct themselves, what they are not permitted to do in the church, and expect others to follow the rules they themselves refuse to follow.  This makes church a bad experience.

It is sad that such experiences ever occur, because the church is an essential part of the believer's life. Not only does it provide a place to worship, serve and learn about God, but it is also a community where believers can practice love toward their brethren as the Bible requires; "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

In dealing with those who have left the church, I have tried to encourage them not to leave, but equip themselves with the protection of God’s Word.  As a pastor, I have learned one thing never develop unreasonable expectations of people in the church.  Regardless, most people within the church have never truly committed their lives to the LORD.  They continue to allow the carnal nature to rule their life.  People fail to realize that they can be used by the devil to hurt others by their attitude and words.  They make material things more important than spiritual needs of people.

Keep this in mind, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD” (Jer. 17:5).

Come to terms with the fact that everyone is human and will fail you at sometimes or another. Even the pastor will make mistakes. The only one you can trust entirely without fail is the LORD.

Realizing that any human can fall short, the degree of trust we place in people must be limited and will depend on their track record. The more we get to know a person’s character and the history of their behavior, we’ll be able to determine how trustworthy they are. This is one of the reasons why the scriptures tell us to get to know our pastors and spiritual leaders — so from their godly lifestyle, we’ll be able to trust their leadership. “And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.” (1 Thes. 5:12).

Just remember, there are sheep and goats, wheat and tares, false teachers and wolves, the question you must ask yourself is which one am I?