Letters From LeaversLetters From Leavers | Letters From Leavers

Will Never Play Church Again

isabel — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:39:17 +0000

Not sure where to begin with my story but I am glad I get to share it. I and my young daughters were a part of a church for 10 years. I was evangelized by my brother outside of the church. When I was ready he brought me into the church. It was new and exciting for me. I was officially a born again Christian. My first few years were heaven but then it began to collapse. I became more aware of the gray line, clicks, favoritism, gossip, and the cover-ups that seem to plague so many “churches”. The church I was a member of encouraged me to become a good student of the word but they lacked living it. During those 10 years I became very heavily involved in ministry. I joined youth ministry, attended women’s fellowships, became a Sunday school teacher and towards the last few years I joined the choir. I’m not sure where things began to fall apart for me but I guess it was when “church” became more of a club. It was great to know and be fed the word of God but the church I was surrounded by the real church which the [...]

adapt, adjust, survive

soultosqeeze — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:37:17 +0000

Since I was born my parents were in the full-time ministry and lead a church that we were apart of since I was a baby. When your a preachers kid, theres not a whole lot of choice in the path your life will take. While my parents never verbally said “you have to live the life a christian”, being so immersed in the life of the church and so sheltered from the real world around me dictated the way I would go. I took to the life of a “disciple” as soon as I was old enough to comprehend it. I went to a non-denominational christian church that stressed the inerrancy of the bible, and how every person must give full devotion to its words. The members of the church (and myself) read our bibles daily, came to all church meetings, and spent most of our time with only our friends from church. The relationships I had in the church were deep, meaningful, and brought help to my life as a christian. I gave myself fully to the work of God. With aspirations to become a minister I read the entire bible numerous times, memorizing scripture. I tried hard to convey to [...]

Dear Baptist Christianity

spartacandream — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:31:37 +0000

Dear Baptist Christianity, You told me that you were the only way, that the Baptist Christian religion was the way to God, and heaven. All other paths lead to hell, or so you told me. You told me that I needed to take your version of “interpretation of the Bible”‘s word for it, on faith, without evidence for it; Alongside mounting evidence, filling entire libraries, against it and the credibility of the Bible itself. I tried to take your word for it, as you did tell me the devil was trying to lead me astray; But blind faith doesn’t come so easy for me as for others. You say belief is a choice, but for me, it’s never been one. You said we are all born sinners, since the day Eve ate from that old tree, cursing us all. It was all our fault, not God’s. He told us not to, and Eve disobeyed. We brought this fallen nature upon ourselves. Or so you said. You also said: - Don’t question your faith, as the devil will lead you astray. Yet what choice did I have? The devil never spoke to me, nor lead me in any direction. The voice [...]

I believe in God but not in the Bible

emergentcoach — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:38:57 +0000

I had a Damascus Road type conversion experience when I was 18. I began attending the high school Christian Club, was baptized in a Baptist church less than a year later. While finishing my undergraduate and graduate degrees, I was the leader of a Christian parachurch organization and was responsible for leading weekly bible studies, prayer meetings, outreaches, discipleship and special events (concerts, films, etc). I lead a short-term missions team overseas while in graduate school and then decided to work part-time in environmental consulting and attend Seminary full-time. Shortly after finishing a 1-year graduate program in Biblical Studies (Multnomah Biblical Seminary), I lived overseas in southeast Asia as a science teacher and Resident Director (Dorm Parent) at a Christian International school for over 3 years. I have been married 16 years to a wonderful woman and have 2 beautiful children…and I no longer believe the bible is the literal inspired words of God. Let me clarify, with some examples: I don’t believe that God drowned the inhabitants of planet earth with a flood, and at the same time saved Noah and his family inside a large ark. It’s a story. In fact, I NEVER believed this story to be [...]

A Second Wind of Grace

Euodia — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:38:46 +0000

Why did I leave the institutional church? How much time do you have? Some factors: a bone-deep sense of weariness. Frustration. A yearning for something more substantive, authentic, and relevant. Burn-out. Boredom. Cliques. Performance-based churchianity. Lock-step-it-is. “Old boys clubs.” Rote routines. Feeling like a round peg being squashed into a pre-fabricated, artificial square hole. Disrespect. The main reasons my husband and I left the (institutional) church revolved around the use (misuse?) of money, curious institutional priorities and perspectives, a weariness related to apparently endless gender restrictions and “glass ceilings,” and – for want of a better term – “ingrownitis.” Money was a big deal in the church we left. Position, prestige and “power” (in a hierarchical sense) were often linked to money. Church members who were well-to-do mattered; those who weren’t, didn’t. All elder board members were known to drop large checks in the offering plate each week, and were hefty contributors to the church building fund. Material wealth seemed to superseded spiritual and scriptural qualifications elder board membership. Also, we couldn’t reconcile the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on building programs and salaries when tangible, physical needs of church members and the surrounding community were routinely neglected and [...]

hope – my story

JOYJUNKIE — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:07:36 +0000

Joy, fun, discovery, open New, interesting, curious, he found me, used me Hurt, close to save oneself HE found me Joy, fun, discovery Wonder, awe, worship Open, open more – Desire To love and be loved To know and be known they find me tell me of my not rightness Pain, darkness, shame Match voice heard in the darkness HE finds me Once found can not be forgotten Hope, shame removed Voice of grace, love, infinite eternal compassion Joy, fun, discovery Life outside Living, hoping, seeking A King and His Kingdom His children Hope for community of love Knowing, gulping breathing grace Open – open wide

Out of the box

apple17.8 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:45:18 +0000

I have never known a time I didn’t love Jesus. When I was a toddler I would sit on my mom’s lap with her while she had her devotions and talk to him. As I grew up, Jesus and I had teaparties with mudpies, climbed trees together, laughed together–were best friends. Since most of the sermons in church were over my head (or boring) I would just sit and read the Bible, and as I grew compared the God I read about in the Old Testament and the Jesus I read about in the New and wondered, with my child’s mind, where was He in the church? It made no sense to me that I was taught to be afraid of the devil and his evil ways when I knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph was so much more powerful. The Jesus I was taught in church was one of yesteryear, whose power was not relevant in contemporary times. All through my youth I was taught that if anything supernatural (or anything we didn’t understand) really happened it was probably the devil. This made no sense to me. At an early age I understood that the church [...]

Why I have to leave

raybob — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:48:04 +0000

I was “worship leader” at an AOG for years and Calvary Chapels prior to that. For me, I had to leave. I haven’t found a fellowship since that I know to be faithful to the Word and what it teaches. The problems I saw, in subtle ways, changed the meaning of being a Christian from one who walks with Jesus into someone that religiously attends a service at a “church” as if the word church meant an institution, not the people that serve Him. The following is a copy of a letter I handed to the pastor and elders: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Why I need to leave. John’s message this morning was all about ‘prosperity’ and how God will let His people ‘profit’ with ‘prosperity’. I searched the scriptures quoted this morning and found that “prosperity” spoke plainly of NOT financial gain but: 1) good, pleasant, agreeable 2) a good thing, benefit, welfare. I’ve heard him before speak of praying for finances. The bible tells me I must leave in 1 Tim. 6:5. 1Ti 6:5Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that GAIN IS GODLINESS: from such WITHDRAW thyself. This is not my only reason for [...]

why i left the church and organised religeon

pmutley — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:47:37 +0000

My story is long but i will shorten it – i was brought up in a earnest anglican missionary family where my father was an anglican minister for 30 -40 years. I gravitated towards the Fundamentalist pentacostal side of the christian spectrum and even went on missionary work in my adult years. My doubts started to become a real issue when I came back from one missionary trip in Guatemala – i recieved very little support or encouragement from my church in that period and only my closest friends helped me recover from the experience . AFter that i became less than enthusuiastic about anything to do with the church and it’s activities -this was exacerbated when my Dad decided to divorce my Mother just so he could be comfortable and self -reliant in his retirement leaving my mother with very little but to have to start over again when she should have been enjoying her retirement . I thought a change of scene would help so I changed churches and started going to Hillsong Church for 3 years -even sang in their choir in that time . After a while though i saw that the church was only interested in [...]

Freedom

Floman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:02:44 +0000

I was a religious man for over 30 years. I served in “the church”, I tithed, I taught sunday school , I picked up kids in the bus ministery. I was busy for the Lord. But no matter how much I did, it wasn’t enough. I knew in my heart that there was something missing in my walk with God. When people would speak of their amazing encounters with God,(usually visiting evangelists), I would say Amen, but in my heart I would wonder why doesn’t He meet me like that. So I would do more, thinking that I wasn’t working hard enough. One night paster called a group of men together to pray for revival. We all kneeled at the altar and took turns praying. The first time around everyones prayer sounded the same “Forgive me God for I have sinned”,but about half way through the second time, the Holy Spirit said to me “There is no condemnation. All those sins are gone. The Son has redeemed you. Move On! This was the first time God had spoken to me since I got saved in 1977! Well, it was the first time I heard Him speak in a very long time. My spiritual life [...]