Why do people leave the church? Part IV

They have not seen Christ in the church.

Today, many people are un-churched. Every Sunday morning as I travel to and from church, I see people mowing their yards, getting the boat ready to hit the lake, sleeping in after a night out, or doing any number of things -except getting ready for church. When I talk to un-churched people who profess to be Christians, I hear a common excuse, “I can’t find a church that’s not full of hypocrites.” They each have a story, or stories, of how things were at the last twelve churches they attended.

I have talked to numerous people (including pastors) who have left the church I attended and they say they are convinced God’s Spirit is no longer there.

I am not trying to shame anyone, nor make any personal attacks. What I seek to accomplish is address whether it is scriptural to refrain from attending church

(meaning the gathering of fellow believers).

A friend of mine who left the church I now attend told me he believed God had removed His lampstand from out of our midst and he had been pondering whether to leave or not. I suggested he give much prayer to the matter.

This is the advice I would give to anyone before leaving your current place of worship. Granted, if your pastor is not preaching truth, or he is engaged in a sinful lifestyle and the congregation excuses the behavior, go to the Lord and He may tell you to leave; or, The Lord may remove him- His way. If adultery or other sins are overlooked and not dealt with, it may be time to move.

I believe many of us take church membership way to lightly. It’s like changing our favorite restaurant, or cars, or our shirt. It is based on our own emotions and not on what God wants. I view my church family as exactly that; family. We may have disagreements at times but the thought of cutting ties with them grieves me. We have been through too much for me to get huffy and walk away. How many of us would leave our spouse and kids, or parents just because we got upset? We are commanded to love one another and I haven’t read where it makes exception.

Even if the church you attended, and the last ten churches you have visited are not scripturally and/or spiritually right, or you truly believe they are not the right one (after much prayer), is this an acceptable reason to give up on church?

“NO!”

We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. -Hebrews 10:23-25

The King James Study Bible says in reference to vs. 25:

This admonition involves more than erratic attendance. It involves the entire worship of Christ and is an outward indication of an inner condition. The assembling of God’s people provides opportunity for reciprocal encouragement, strengthening, and the stirring up that can be gained from one another (cf. Col. 3:12 -16). It consists of participation in worship and fellowship. The church is a body interacting (1 Cor. 12:14-27): it is not merely a dispensary of spiritual food and medicine.  

We rob ourselves when we hold back from the rest of the body. A body without a hand can function, but not to the full extent it could if the hand were present. So it is with the church body.

Throughout the New Testament, Peter, Paul, etc. wrote letters addressing problems within the church. Nowhere do they condone the separation from a local body.

If we feel God has removed His lampstand from the church we are now attending, and we just do not feel His presence there, we should pray earnestly.

Maybe God has put us there for such a time as this. Maybe we are the reason God has not dealt a deathblow to that local body. We need to pray earnestly, and much about what is the Fathers will.