How Do You Know When It Is Time To Leave Your Church?
If your church doesn’t follow the Bible, you can leave it. In fact, you may leave any church without guilt and operate freely as long as you follow the Bible.
Most churches don’t follow the biblical church model anyways. The situation is quite bad, because today churches are more like private kingdoms of their own christian leaders and denominations than true churches for God.
You are not obligated to be loyal to one Christian organization. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, he might be religious and manipulative more than biblical.
The real church is a church that is built upon solid rock, not sinking sand. If the church practice the teaching of Jesus Christ, then they are like a house on solid rock. As the end time approaches, many “sand” churches will get caught by increasing persecutions and evils around the world and tumble, since they are like foolish man who build his house on sand. Hopefully, the persecutions and evils will serve as a wake up call to go back to the biblical church model.
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
See Restoring the Early Churches to see what a biblical church is really like, and how many of the today churches subtly depart from and rebell against the word of God, and as a result, they have almost no resemblance to the biblical church.
The Bible warns us of folish companions. We must choose our friends carefully, especially which churches to associate with.
Proverbs 13:20a
20He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
If we fail to heed the warning of the Bible, the consequences can be severe. In fact, the failures of today churches to follow the Bible and interpret it accurately have created many problems. You can basically trace every Christian’s problems back to his church. Many people think they can keep themselves from the influences of wrong teachings, but they often turns out to be wrong, and the Bible says.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Wrong association and teachings are like leaven. Just a little leaven is enough to cause the whole dough to ferment. All it takes is a subtle error. For example, many people believe in the false doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved“, and this false doctrine is like a seed of weed. When it is sowed into the heart of man, it always manifest the weeds, not good seeds. Those who believe this doctrine will always be tempted to cherish some pet sins and repent later. It comes across in their attitudes and actions. (See also Can You Lose Your Salvation?)
Do not unite unpon falsehood. How much falsehood should we tolerate before we should stop associating with a church organization? Don’t even tolerate a tiny bit of falsehood! Build your house on the rock! Fellowship with biblical Christians who repent as long as they sin. If anyone refuses to repent, depart from him. If anyone insists even a tiny bit of falsehood after you throughoutly debated and presented him the full case, depart from him. I know you think you can also be wrong too, so how do you make sure that you are not the one who is wrong? I will talk about that at the end of this article.
If Your Church Teaches Human Doctrines and Traditions Instead Of the Pure Word Of God
Many Christians don’t read the Bible or understand it enough to realize that the majority of the churches actually follow human doctrines and traditions, rather than the Bible.
Mark 7:7
7Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 16:5-12
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.” (Or “the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” according to Mark 8: 14)
Many pastors can preach up a storm behind the pulprit, with many biblical terms, stories, jargons, but really convey an empty, rehashed message. You learn nothing and can apply nothing after listening to it. It is not result oriented. You cannot gauge if your life is going to change for the better after listening to the message. It cannot be measured immediately whether what is taught is useful or not by checking the results.
The early churches, however, had measurable results. They performed great miracles, healing, and had many new converts added to them daily. They went out to help the poor. You could witness how many people got healed if you lived in the age of early churches. Their prophesies were not general, but specific. If the prophesy didn’t come true, it would be obvious.
Many Christian leaders hate to talk about actual results, but love to have more followers. They discourage “church hopping” because it creates instability to their careers. They loath to talk about results, because as long as no body cares about the results, their work hours will continue to go unaccounted and unchecked. It’s pretty easy to be a pastor of a big church. You just sit around or talk all day long. You go to a libary to read newspaper to brainstorm your new sermon (I call it chilling), and sit down for a coffee with a church member to “counsel” him or her, or talk about how to improve the church (I call it gossip).
In another article, “Form of Godliness? Who?” I explained why these leaders hate to mention miracles and divine healing, and other supernatural power that mark the true servants of God, but loves to discredit miracles and spiritual gifts, because signs and wonders reveal who they really are—powerless Pharisees that preach with mere words. It makes them look bad.
The yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees is about mass control through man-made religion. It’s the art of humans controlling humans through religion. Jesus warned us from the beginning to keep away from religion. Obey the Bible, not men.
If Your Church Is A Rebellious Ground
You will get dragged along by their sins! Carnal Christians always persecute the spiritual/biblical Christians. It is very easy to get discouraged, bitter, confused, and dillusioned if you fellowship with carnal Christians. It is a painful and negative influence. You should remove yourself from their presence if you want to have lasting peace.
It took me a long time before I understood this truth. Before that, I have experienced emotional torments many times due to negative experiences with carnal Christians. It was easy to get bitter since the pains could be quite intense. I was in religious bondage because I believed I had to fellowship with them 24/7 if I forgive them. Now I understand that true forgiveness doesn’t have to involve pardon. I don’t have to continue to take the abuse. The onus is on them to repent, not on the forgiver to accept their sinful attitude.
These people will continue to participate in religious activities, sing praises, and talk about the Bible. Their actions, however, will tell you whether they are willing to repent and submit to God (the Bible).
Matthew 15:8
8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
1 Samuel 15:22-23
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Matthew 7:16
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”
Get Out!
If you are afraid to leave your church because you are afraid of being wrong, then let me tell you that you may just be wrong if you stay in your church. What makes you think the latter isn’t a bigger possibility? If you see the wrongs and you have solid reasons, then you might be sinning for not acting upon your knowledge.
Revelation 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Comment on your unique situation below if you want to make sure you will make the right decision. I will answer your question or give you suggestions if I can.
Each week, I have to drag myself to church. I’m christian yet, I feel empty, depressed and I don’t even want to witness. Something is wrong. I like my church, but I feel like something is missing.
Hi Esperanz, are you a born again Christian? Have you confessed any sin to God and asked Him to forgive you through Jesus Christ our Savor? Do you believe Jesus as Christ, the Savor of human kind? If so, you are a Christian.
It’s normal to feel empty, depressed, and not wanting to witness when one is in a wrong spiritual environment. Can you describe something more about your church? Do they preach about repentance? Do they teach “Once Saved Always Saved”? (which I really disagree, will explain if they do teach that) Do they tell you what a biblical Church should be?
Personally, is there anything that you are mad about with God? Are there anyone you don’t want to forgive?
Hello,
I am pondering leaving my church and have felt for a long time that there’s not any room for my spiritual gifts. My spiritual gifts are evangelism and teaching. My church does not support discipleship for new Christians. An invitation to receive Christ is given at the end of our Sunday services, but nothing is done to follow up with those who have made a decision to accept Christ. I have offered a solution to this, but it was rejected by the leadership.
I am heavily involved in my church but find it very difficult to find acceptance. My church focuses a lot on multiculturalism and racial reconciliation. This is what attracted me to my church. I wanted to attend a church that honored Jesus Christ where all Christ followers would feel welcome. However, there is such a focus on race that it can be very difficult if you’re in the majority. I have been asked to step aside on many occasions or avoided because a person from another race is more desirable. Many times, I see people from other races who are supported by church leadership because the ethnicity is one that can be exploited to make our church seem more multicultural.
The bottom line is, my church does not support discipleship for new Christians, existing Christians or its leaders. I have also offered solutions for implementing discipleship, but these solutions were all rejected. I am praying for the Lord’s guidance, but I really don’t know what to do. I am in a lot of pain and feel like attending has become very damaging to my spiritual well being. I have talked to the leaders and elders of my church, and they feel like formal discipleship would be a huge cultural shift at my church. Although I have made suggestions respectfully and peacefully, I feel like I have been marginalized for speaking up. What should I do?
I think ultimately you have to seek happiness and fulfilment as long as it isn’t harmful to anyone. Your spiritual growth is the most important priority. If you are not nourished, how can you contribute with your full potential?
Trying to propose anything to a big institution is often hard. What you can do is to start from yourself, your family. Never stop learning and practicing using your gifts. It’s 24/7. There is always something to learn and gain in every situation, even if your biggest desire isn’t being fulfilled at the moment.
I am not where I want to be right now, but I find that when I see lessons in every moment anywhere, I find joy and peace. It’s not always easy and sometimes being in the same environment can make it hard to change perspective, therefore I think if you are able to seek inspiration from new environments, new projects, courses or people, it will help a lot.
When the leadership is in control of what you see need change, it can feel depressing. And everyone needs a sense of control. I really encourage to find that sense of control by doing what you can do at the current level of your gift. If you reach a very high level with any gift, no one can stop you. The sky is the limit.