I may be talking a bit more about some specific issues regarding Christianity, Bible study, and church for awhile.
One reason why is that I’ve recently felt the need to leave a church that I’ve been attending for six years — almost the entire time I’ve lived in Minnesota. There are a lot of things churning around in my mind, and I think that a lot of them are going to find their way to print… here, at least.
I’m not a person who is wont to hop from church to church; I accept that no place is perfect, so if there are little things in a church that I have some small disagreement with, I ignore them. These things are usually small, non-essential, and easily overlooked, and all churches will have them, so there is no point in leaving over them. (Someone once said that there are no perfect churches, because they all have people in them… that’s somewhat pithy, but a good point.) The more important thing is that a body of believers is working together to reach their community, and hopefully beyond, with the gospel.
I clarify this just to say that I’m not someone who’s going to jump ship the first time something rubs me the wrong way. The only reason I could have for leaving a church is if something came up which I believed was seriously wrong, and which could not be ignored (this assuming it’s a good church to begin with, which ours was, and in many ways still is).
I’m not going to list possible reasons to leave a church, but in our case it was an issue of doctrine, and not a small one, but one intimately related to salvation. Not only that, but it gradually became a major platform, an issue about which there could (apparently) be no disagreement — if we were to stay, we were expected to be on the same page, or to at least keep our mouths shut.
I’m not going to talk about the issue of doctrine specifically, in this post, though I may later on.
Suffice it say that after much study, thought, and prayer, I came to the conclusion that this particular issue:
- Represented a major error in Bible interpretation.
- Was not a minor issue which could be ignored.
- Was not something that I could accept and continue to attend the church.
I did not expect to need to make a decision like this. I’m more sad about it than I expected to be; I have a lot of friends at the church, most of which I will hopefully be able to keep as part of my life.
One last point; in Acts 17:10-12 we are told about Paul’s visit to the Bereans. They are lauded for the way that they studied the Bible diligently. We sometimes miss is the fact that their specific reason for studying was to determine whether what Paul was saying was true or false.
Think about that; if you proposed to start a Bible study in your church to determine whether or not the Pastor’s messages were correct, what sort of response would you get?
The Bereans were commended for this.
Interesting.
Congratulations of the use of the word ‘wont’ :)
Interesting post; it should be noted, however, that Paul was more of a visiting preacher than the in-situ pastor at the Berean church. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t test what is said in church, but there is a different dynamic when it comes to working with those under whose authority we have placed ourselves, and we need to be careful to avoid falling into rebellion.
I hope that you are able to make a clean break, and quickly find somewhere where you feel comfortable.
That’s a valid point; I had thought of that as well. If one is being deliberately contentious, that’s clearly different. I do think the Berean pattern of checking whether the things preached “were so” remains a good one to follow.
You can disagree without being rebellious. In our case, we kept this to ourselves as long as possible, and even as we left, tried to do so amiably to the best of our ability.
The church we attended was and is still a good church… perhaps sometime later in the week I’ll find some time to write about some of the specific issues that prompted the move.
On the other hand, I don’t want to make it sound like this one issue was the sole reason we felt we needed to leave; it was a big reason, though.
There is an old saying that everything happens for a reason.I beleive in CHRISTIANITY that would go the saying that maybe the lord has a reason for wanting you to find another church to attend. Not necessarily for you to leave your existing church. Does that make sense?
Well… I don’t know. I get what you’re saying, and I don’t claim to know everything, so that’s possible.
…And I’m not trying to say there’s something wrong with the church; it’s a good place. But there’s a few things that have come to the forefront that I really don’t agree with. So it’s either attempt to ignore these (tried that), or move on.
It might surprise you, but I don’t actually believe that absolutely everything that happens on earth is because God willed it — that would mean that it’s God’s will for people to be sick and suffer, for people to starve in the third world, and so forth and so on… and I don’t think that’s true. That’s a whole other topic though, and a pretty big one, at that. Maybe some other time…
See you round Christmas!
Well, I for one am proud of you. Of course things are kind-of funny and/or hard with this, but I’m sure you’ll come out ok. And it sounds to me like you aren’t bitter, which can be a real danger when there are disagreements amongst people who are in any sort of literal or figurative family.
Love you.
Thanks, Shiz. Yes, that is one thing that I am happy about; I know we aren’t bitter at all. I can say that with confidence because it’s just the truth; there’s no personality conflict, no offense, we aren’t hurt — it was simply a well-considered decision based on irreconcilable doctrinal differences. Which is a long winded way to say, we didn’t agree, we felt it was an important issue, so we elected to leave. :-)
Thanks again; talk to you soon.