What would make you leave a church?

Question

If you were going to a church that taught the truth and you loved the people.What would make you quit going? That has happened in my church and no one will tell me why.Many people have quit coming,even the pastors grown children.

Answer 1

Perhaps the pastor has been doing something that his parish doesn't agree with. I've seen this happen in a number of churches here in Canada because the pastor decided to conduct gay marriages, or ordain women as ministers.

Answer 2

First, let me start of by saying that it is sad whenever something like that happens to a church. It is very difficult to understand at times. Someone in your church needs to address whatever issue is causing this however. If they don't, rumors will begin spreading if they have not already.

I left a church in the past because the pastor was dishonest. He would say one thing to the church, but then do something else. He also did some very hurtful things to some people I care a lot about.

I give people this advice. If there is a problem, first try to correct it, don't just leave. Handle the problem in a Christian manner, if the problem is a person, go talk to that person, even it is a staff member. If the problem is a policy, go talk to whoever was responsible for making that policy. There may be reasons behind it you don't understand. If you are unable to resolve the issue, and you reach the point where you are no longer able to go to the church and worship on a Sunday morning, then it is time to find another Church.

Answer 3

There could be something wrong with the pastor that's upsetting people. It happened at my aunt's parish. There was a new pastor and he changed everything -

*He got rid of all the teen programs, and Sunday school is no longer something the kids enjoy - they're scared of going. (He's angered the parents in another way that I can't recall, but they've since pulled most of their children from the group);
*Purposely 'forgot' about the teens who needed to be Confirmed his first year there because he had 'other duties' (see parking lot issue down below), and made them wait a year & a half when they were already completely prepared (my cousin was part of that group, and this pissed the hell out of me because I was her Sponsor);
*Verbally harassed the nuns (many of them have left);
*Stripped the Church of most of the artwork (the only 'statue' remaining is the Crucifix) saying that it was not nessecary and a waste of money. He then sold the art to make money and kept some of it for himself;
*Thought that music was distracting during Mass and tried to do away with it, and have only singing (as in no piano, no drums, no violin, no claironet). This was the only one he didn't win on though, thankfully there's still music.
*Decided it would be better to have a new & bigger parking lot than repair the actual Church;
*Was not kind to the members of the parish (refused any complaints and did not want to talk about the changes)
*His homilies were cold, not warm-hearted and helpful like the previous pastors.

THAT is enough to make someone quit going to a certain parish. Which is why there is hardly anyone left at that church.

Answer 4

I can only tell you what happened to us.

The Pastor taught the word of GOD, lives the word of GOD to the best of his human ability.

The problem came with what was going on behind the scenes, the stuff you dont see if you are not involved with the workings of the church.

It was almost like utter anarchy, it was everyone for him or herself. No one was actually doing as was being preached and taught. If you wanted change something in the church and you had the money, you just did it, there was no discussion or decisions made. Another wanted to do something else, so they would just go ahead and do it.

With so many strong wills, and refusal to submit to GOD and his teachings, the fabric that holds the body together starts to have weak spots and then holes and then falls apart completely.

Put simply , lets say your arms decided that they didnt want to work with the rest of your body anymore, they would reach out and grab people and things without your knowledge or consent.

Your feet then decided, fine, I will work by myself also. Walk or not walk where I want and when I want.
Soon you have a mess, but your head is desperately trying to teach your hands and feet to work together, but your heart sees that this is not going to happen, so it checks out and now you no longer care what is happening.

So it goes in a church where GOD is only taught and not lived.

Answer 5

Nothing would, unless the church started teaching lies or the people became cruel or hypocritical. But never underestimate the lure of the World- it's big and glittering and very attractive at first sight, and a lot of Christians who were raised to know better still walk right down that path into ruin and misery. They might stop coming because they think church is boring, or unfashionable among their friends, or even because they found another church they like better. There probably isn't one single reason for everybody.

Answer 6

I can think of 70 x 7 reasons, but here is seven reasons I quit:
1. False teachings, such as legalism, which is spiritual abuse.
2. Hypocrisy of those who sit in Moses' seat: as Law Law fools
3. Partiality: you too can have partiality from an imparital God
4. Pay tolls to trolls who trouble the water then want a troll toll
5. Law imputing sin for the hell of it, which is deadly & hellish
6. Believe spirits instead of try spirits to know which is antichirst
7. Come out from among "them", for in them(in Adam) "all die"

I've visited and tried(tested) most churches: orthodox jewish, messy-anic jewish, roman catholic, protestant, independant, charismatic, universalists, etc; And I found them all to be childish & carnal, preferring sacrifice & warfare over mercy & peace.

I also studied all major religions (about 3400) via satelite television, and found them all to be in err, some divisional, some highminded, some puffed up, some hypocritical, some partial, some legalistic, some condemning, etc; not knowing the overall objective is maturity, growth, growth in grace to the point of blotting out the law, which is against us; Not knowing all perish by the using of ordinances, and that both the biblical and historical evidence makes it "evident" that "no man(adult) is justified by the law in the sight of God".

I find more truth in movies like Merlin, where the real magic is at the end, where they all turn away from evil(law), simply stop acknowledging it and giving it place, then it simply vanishes; And in movies like The Abyss, which end notes "when I became a man I put away childish things" (like harmful churchy warfare).

The "grace" of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 7

I left my religion because the "truth" is wrong and degrades others. During mass, they keep preaching that it's the "one true religion" and in school (I went to a catholic high school), they repeated that message but with more conviction, like all other religions are false. Whatever happened to respecting other people's beliefs?

Another problem I had with it was the homosexuality factor. Okay, people are gay. So what? They're not hurting you, why should you insult them by telling them that it's wrong and they're going to hell? That's just very disrespectful to me. Also, the catholic priests scandal a while back. Those priests sexually abuse little boys. Forget the fact that they were children, but boys? Technically, wouldn't that make them gay too? Isn't that just a bit hypocritical?

These are just two of many examples of why I left, but I don't want to take up too much of your precious time.

Answer 8

Does the 'truth' they are teaching agree with the "Truth" on the written pages of the bible? That would be what would cause ME personally to leave a church, false teaching. Of course I would attempt first to show them the error and offer the study the subject, but if that fell on deaf ears, I would leave. Of course I wouldn't be there in the first place if there were any glaring errors I saw about the particular religion.

Answer 9

I can't answer for everyone, but I quit going to my church because I didn't feel like I fit in anymore. My husband and I are both in our mid-20s, and we've had fertility problems. There were so many pregnant people, and couples with children, that we just didn't feel comfortable anymore. There were no other young couples without children to form a support network with, and while everyone was really nice, they just couldn't relate a lot of the time to what we had going on. So we just stopped going.

Answer 10

the fact that the church is corrupt and in truth God did not make churches or priests or popes or any of that crap. The Pope does not have a connection with god as much as Priest doesn't.

What would make someone leave the church is the corruption and crimes commited by churches everyday. If it was a Church of God, there would be no Cash donations or payments involved because God does not subscribe to money.