What are your thoughts on leaving a church for another?
There are several reasons to leave the church group you are now associated with. Some reasons are correct and honorable…some are not. Let’s look at a few cases:
Someone makes you mad. To leave a group because you were angered or offended is not a good reason to leave. We are instructed to overlook offenses and forgive when necessary. Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” If you leave one group because someone offended you, you will most likely eventually leave the next group you gather with for the same reason. There is always someone or something that will cause offense if we let. We need to learn to forgive!
You are growing tired of the usual bunch of people. Perhaps you don’t feel appreciated enough. Perhaps you think the music is too old and dull. Perhaps you want more excitement in the services. All these concerns and ideas need to be dealt with in love, tolerance, and respect. As long as there is fellowship in the truth of God’s Word, we should be able to overcome these carnal obstacles.
Moral sin is being tolerated and accepted. There is a scriptural procedure to deal with someone who is practicing sin in our midst. (Read Matthew 18:15-20). If the church group refuses to acknowledge and correct the sin among them, then you would be required to leave that group. Speaking of sin in the local church, we read in 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP?” This speaks of how that unjudged sin among us will impact and permeate the entire group. If the church cannot or will not deal with the one (or ones) living in sin among them, then the whole group is considered guilty of that sin. This might involve a process that could take a while, but when believers tolerate and accept sin in other believers, we only harm ourselves, the one sinning, and we dishonor the Lord.
Unscriptural doctrine is being taught and tolerated. Speaking of doctrinal sin, the Bible says the same thing it does concerning moral sin. We read in Galatians 5:7-9, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP.” When falsehoods are being presented and followed, the whole group is considered guilty before the Lord. If you find yourself in a position where false teachings are being accepted, you may find your only recourse is to leave. How are individuals able to discern what is right teaching and what is wrong teaching? By being students of the Word! The Apostle Paul commended the believers from Berea for being faithful students of the Word of God, able to discern what is right or wrong teaching. We read in Acts 17:10-11, “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY, whether those things were so.”
We read in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” This is the Lord’s desire for us. When we follow Him and our desire is to please Him, we will find it easier to tolerate each other’s differences. When we long to honor Him by our obedience to Him, we will strive to live lives of scriptural correctness, knowing the Lord loves it when we learn and obey His truths. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (3 John 4) (CC) (638.4)