Why I, and other Christians, left Church

It seems first that we ought to defend the right to congregate in the name of Christ, and pursue our religious tradition, in our own way, rather than in the way that seems most fitting to our cultural surroundings.

Wesleyan theologian Keith Drury writes about Christian doctrine, “Some things are written in pencil... somethings are written in ink...and some things are written in blood”.

Richard Hooker points out in his essay, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, that ecclesiastical governance is of secondary importance.

Some Christians implicitly find their holiness in keeping the traditions, either Protestant or Catholic, that they grew up with. Some Christians find their holiness in moving away from the traditions they grew up with. Few would admit to this nonsensical practice, but it seems common enough in the Church, and has since the time of Hooker.

I submit that Church organization and structure is a secondary issue, written in ink, never to be a primary emphasis of anyone's walk with God. We are not sinning by pursuing Christ outside of Church walls.

The second question is a corollary, why would one wish to pursue Christ elsewhere? The answer is obvious, because I no longer find Him in Church. Some of us in the movement have found the contrary, we find ourselves distanced from Christ at Church.

There is no shortage of reasons put forward as to why we find ourselves entrapped at Church, rather than enabled at Church to pursue a deeper relationship with Christ. The most common thread in all of the arguments that I have detected is that the Church has fallen in love with itself.

Some advance this via examining Church finances, to determine where the majority of the money goes, arguing that the Church has become a place of merchandise (John 2). Other advance this by examining where invitations go, do we invite people to Christ or invite them to Church? Others advance this by the mere praise of the Church that goes on.

Kierkegaard writes, “Under the guise of worshipping and adoring God, they worship and adore their own invention” (p 92 – Practice in Christianity)

The jump from reverent worship to idolatry under the guise of worshipping God is a subtle jump, but it's an important jump. It isn't the enormous jump between the chasm separating Heaven and Hell, but it is enough to discombobulate a Christian, and leave him or her confused, desperately searching for more.

Consider this passage from the Old Covenant writings in 2 Kings 18:1-4

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

King Hezekiah had to smash the bronze symbol Moses had made because it became a source of idolatry. What was previously used for piety, a symbol for pointing people to Yahweh, became a symbol that merited its own praise. The people extolled the symbol, not the thing the symbol was pointing towards.

So many of us have been left with the feeling that the Churches we grew up, that were once symbols used to praise God, have become themselves the praised thing. Pastors are praised, congregations are praised, even praise bands are paradoxically praised – we have trouble going to a Church that asks God to share the throne of praise.

We all have our particular quarrels with particular Churches. Some church preach proper doctrine and correct thought, while producing the poorest thinkers and worst doctrinaires. Other Churches preach love and acceptance, that aren't loving or accepting unless you embrace their way of thinking; they readily dismiss you until you embrace their brand of love. But in truth, we're just looking for a Church that thinks of Christ more than it thinks of itself, and love others more than it loves itself.