“Most Christians will, at some point, ask the question ‘Is it time to leave my church?’ There’s no shortage of helpful articles about how to find a church. But we don’t talk as much about what it means to leave a church well.” - TGC
Read the series.
There’s one more thing we ought to take a look at in this series. Sometimes you need to change churches. The census bureau tells us that on average, 1 in 10 Americans change residences in any given year, and many of those moves will necessitate changing churches. Sometimes a church closes. Sometimes an opportunity arises, one you feel compelled to take. Sometimes you just have to leave.
How to proceed?
“When you become the lightning rod with every change effort…. When you give up on innovation and find deep comfort in the status quo of the past…. When apathy or anger dominates your feelings.” - Sam Rainer
“When asked specifically what changed that they didn’t like, more than half (53%) said too many things in general changed…. (39%) said the church’s teachings on political or social issues changed….Three in 10 (31%) pointed to a change in the worship style.” - Lifeway
“(60 percent) say a residential move impacted their decision…. More than 1 in 4 church switchers say they changed because some things changed about the church they did not like (29 percent), the church was not fulfilling their needs or reasons for attending church (29 percent)” - BPNews
“Our members are not my sheep. They are God’s. The church is not my flock. It is God’s.” - 9 Marks
“reasons for switching to a new religious tradition or denomination…(56%) say it was because they stopped believing…. 30% indicate they were turned off by the religion’s negative teachings about or treatment of LGBTQ people, 29% say their family was never that religious growing up, 27% say they were disillusioned by scandals” - PRRI
“While I do not want to judge you or argue with you, would you consider reading the rest of this article? Would you look at the following seven considerations before you make the decision final?” - Thom Rainer
“In the past six years we’ve lived in four different cities and served at three different churches in various roles…. I can’t speak to the challenges of staying in a single place for a long period of time. I can, however, offer four lessons I’ve learned about staying from our going.” - TGC
