Changing churches

It would seem that anything short of the Holy Spirit's leadership to another place of service is not going to be a good reason.

 

We left one church when the pastor called me a Pharisee for asking him why that particular denomination (not Baptist) was going soft on homosexuality and abortion. I also asked him, during that conference in his office, why he had preached that 'we know we can't really give thanks in all circumstances...' I was, by the way, head of the jr. hi department in that church and the year before had been president of the ladies' organization! I was in my late twenties or early thirties then, as I recall.

Next time we changed churches was because we moved across the state.

A few years later the pastor in our new church was having an affair with the secretary. Before we found out about that, however, I was called into his office and read the riot act for teaching the high school that the creation narrative in Genesis was actually true history...

A short time after that, my husband left me. I took the kids to another church that seemed to have straight doctrine and friendly people. My about-to-be ex and I had one counseling session with the pastor. Keep in mind my ex left me for another woman. During the counseling session I started crying and asked my about-to-be ex WHY? How could he do this to the children? The pastor sharply reprimanded me for my behavior and told me to act more like a Christian.

I walked out of the counseling session and did not return to the church.

After that the children and I attended a church where I had been asked to interpret (it was about 30 miles away, but we went for years!). We only left when the assistant pastor asked me not to bring my retarded son anymore as they had no place for him. Chris was in his teens by then and would not be quiet in the sanctuary and was too big, certainly, for the nursery! At any rate, we had to leave that church.

Here in Oregon, we attended a lovely church for a year before we found out, when we made application to join, that the pastor was a strong Calvinist and hyper-dispensationalist (the only part of the Bible worth studying was from about the middle of Acts on, as everything else was written for others...). He had hidden both beliefs very well in his sermons and they only came out during the interview before joining. We had to retract our application.

We are involved with two churches right now! That's because Barry is often asked to speak or give sermons. One is Wildfire Christian Fellowship which is American Baptist and the other is the little Redwood Country Church which is struggling to survive after a very nasty split. We are good friends with the new pastor there and are trying to give him a hand.

So, really, there is a lot more involved than some of the simple reasons stated or discussed in some church moves...

 

What aboutif you move out of the city or state?
Faithgirl

 

I agree about changing churches that do not teach sound doctorine.
Faithgirl

 

Or maybe they only read from the KJV. That would be a reason for me.