Why do people leave the church?

Why do people leave the church?

When I was growing up I didn’t understand why all of a sudden people would just stop showing up on Sundays. It didn’t make sense. They looked like they were enjoying the sermons, they participated in worship, and appeared to have relationships within the congregation. So why choose to not show up? I could not imagine being one of those people. I loved church.

That changed when I graduated from college. I stayed at the church I grew up in until I was 21. At that point things shifted in my life and amongst my family. That church no longer felt like home. As we had gotten closer to the core of the church it seemed like we also unearthed a sort of political hierarchy and web of gossip. The more we knew, the more our relationships shifted and it really went downhill. I became aware of some of the inner workings in the people I respected and was really disappointed.

We ended up leaving that church as a family and I am sad to say it was an ugly departure. It saddens me to have watched the people I grew up admiring become angry at the fact that we were leaving. We didn’t intend to leave on a bad note, the church was just no longer where we felt led to be.

It turns out, it’s events like that that cause people to leave the church and never return. I was almost one of those people. I gave of my time and energy to that church and in the end we were treated horribly. That is not how God intended His church to be.

The church is a place that is supposed to be spirit filled, with no limits on who can attend. Where people can come and fall into the acceptance and forgiveness only Christ can offer. There should not be a hierarchy. Rather the church should work toward the common goal of sharing the Gospel with seekers and nurture the Faith of Christians. Judgement and gossip should have no place there.

I felt burned and betrayed by my former church home, and I had my guard up each time I ventured into a new one. For the next 3 years Josh and I “church hopped.” There were even times we would go months without setting foot in a church and think nothing of it.

I believe there are incredible churches out there that are doing exactly as the Bible says. It is that belief that kept a longing in my heart to find a new church home. I think that in my absence from the church I have learned a lot. I have learned who I want to be as a member of the Body of Christ, and I have learned the kind of church I want to make myself home in.

If you have experienced something that has caused you to leave the church, I encourage you to keep trying. Pray for direction and know God has a plan for you. I am proud to say that today Josh and I went to a new church and for the first time in years, it felt like it may be the one for us in this stage of our lives.