I think I mentioned that after years of being away from attending Sunday worship services, I had started visiting a local church and really enjoying the peaceful low-key , fairly anonymous time with other believers. I’ve been going for a couple of months I guess . I kept thinking I’d like to make an appointment to chat with the pastor , just to learn more about the Lutheran church since it’s not my usual Baptist denomination.
Well today I got a shock when I sat down and they began the announcements and I heard the pastor say that he had tendered his resignation that week. I can still hardly believe this . Why? Because I really liked him! He preaches good Biblical sermons and he’s a nice guy. I’m sure God has a reason for this and it has nothing to do with me. I just feel sad that he and his family are leaving and that the church is about to go through a transition. I’ve been through that before and don’t look forward to it . But maybe this church needs that . It had a split a few years ago and I guess things never really healed so attendance and offerings are way down. I can see how a pastor might decide it’s time to move on if he feels unwanted.
As in everything, I will keep trusting God to show me the way. If he wants me to keep going there , I’ll know. If I start seeing an ugly side of this church , I’ll move on. But I’ve been asking him to show me how I can serve so maybe something will come up .
Do you attend church? Have you ever been part of a church that split ? Have you ever left a church that you had been a longtime member of?
Blue Skies and Green Pastures 
A church is not dependent on one individual, your faith must be stronger than the social aspect of worship.
I’ve never attended church, I don’t trust groups of people repeating the same thing and pretending one day of the week. Whenever there is a group of people, I think there are always ulterior motives.
Wow, “pretending one day a week”? I’m so sorry to hear that was your experience. I hope you can experience a REAL church someday, where people don’t recite “vain repetitions” and where they live it 24-7. Not perfect people, but with hearts perfect toward God, and willing to help one another and accept His help when they stumble.
Why do you need a church to worship God?
I think it benefits believers to meet together in that the fellowship provides encouragement, accountability, support in tough times, and a place to learn more about God and his son Jesus. Yes, I can worship alone or with my family, but this provides more of focused time set aside to do that. Yes, God wants us to worship him, but I think getting together benefits US , more than him. Plus , if you choose, you can make like minded friends and enjoy their company outside church as well. In the early church, the people supported each financially and provided for the widows. The Bible teaches that Christ is the HEAD and believers are the BODY. We are all connected and we should act like it, but that doesn’t always happen. I know some phonies and some wonderful loving, giving servants of Christ. Try it. 🙂
To each their own. At the same time, your faith cannot be built by the church, since it will crumble if the church ever crumbles.
I’m sure there are wonderful congregations out there that are pure. But I’m remised with how many have moved away from God, when they lost faith in their church.
Never underestimate the human desire for power and influence. Too long people have risen to power, by falsely preaching the word of God.
You must follow God, not people.
I know this can be a touchy subject and quite intimate.
I agree that people can and will screw up, hurt you, disappoint and desert you, and that’s why I only put my faith in God. But I feel like I am ready to be in church again, even if I don’t get as involved as I did before in relationships. I will be more selective. But like I said, I enjoy it for what it offers. My expectations have changed as I’ve matured spiritually, just as they have in other areas of my life.
I’m happy for you. I hope you find what your looking for.
Attend a church? Yes, for about the past 20 of my 61 years. Attending church is a huge part of my week since becoming a pastor 6 years ago! Never been part of a church split but I am in a denomination that appears to be headed for a split. Left a church where I was a long-time member? Yup, eleven years ago, when my wife and I married. We didn’t want his church or her church, but our church. The church where we settled at went through a pastoral change about a year later, which was divisive. And while we largely sympathized with the position of those who left, we didn’t feel that the Lord was calling us to go anywhere else.
Being the pastor is one way to be sure the pastor won’t suddenly leave without you knowing . 😂 thanks for sharing . I guess the ‘body ‘ will continue to go through changes until the ‘head ‘ returns.
You make a good point , that pastors come and go as part of their work, while the rest of the church is still important. Sometimes they stay a long time , but moving around seems common. It’s not a lack of faith for me, it’s that I don’t like change in general . But it’s interesting to me to hear such an blanket distrust of churches. Where do you think that comes from ? is that a general distrust of all groups ? Are you a Bible believing Christian? I used to be naive and thought all church members were good Christians with good motives but I learned this isn’t always the case. However I’ve met mostly good folks who really do love God and attend church for the right reasons.
Our church is going through that right now. The pastor we had for many years left and they have been looking for a new pastor since June. We have other pastors in the church and guest pastors preach. Today we had a pastor from California who flew in to preach a sermon at our church near Denver. He was good. I just pray the Lord’s will be done. God bless!
Awesome blog post
I knew of a denomination that had a policy of never having a pastor stay in one place for more than three years. The reason for the policy, as explained to me, was so that the congregation would be dependent on God, not on one man. And while I don’t agree with everything this denomination teaches, I thought that policy and its explanation made a great point.
The idea of church shopping is foreign to me. I feel out of place with any change, though so can see your concern. I hope it all works out for you!
I don’t like church shopping at all. The times we have changed churches have been when we have moved to a new place and then this last time when we just didn’t feel right with a change in leadership. It was so difficult to find one that taught the doctrine that we believe is correct that we basically gave up and stopped trying. I use my weekly Bible study class as church and I still love that, but I really wanted to go to Sunday worship. I decided to try this church which is pretty similar to my beliefs. Now I hope the next pastor will be a good one.
That makes sense. I just don’t pick new parishes, etc. when moving. The one I attend has a universal curriculum.
Excellent post!!! Good to talk of these things. I am studying 1st Timothy presently and in the Letter Paul teaches Timothy about what it means to lead his church. Of course they had such troubles with false teachers and then there was the danger even in congregating. We all have a part and a gift as Christians in the church. I think since the pastor has to leave it could be helpful to unite in love and be stronger than would be otherwise. God bless! Thank
Thank you for reading. I’m approaching this with curiosity as to what God has planned and what my part will be. 🙂