Articles
Quitting Church
Quitting Church
By David Diestelkamp
The anticipatory words of Jesus, “I will build My church…” (Mt. 16:18) have lost their luster with a lot of people today. Some in the denominational world are fed up, discouraged and distracted – and are quitting. Some are seeing their churches as man-made institutions and are tiring of leaders marketing to them as though they are consumers. Others have come to expect churches to be more like non-profit organizations and less like religious groups – they easily become dissatisfied and move on, becoming serial quitters as they frequently shop for a group with more amenities.
Brethren are often tempted by this trend. The lure of greener grass, something new and exciting, different relationships, and less structure, lures them to quit assembling with God’s people. And local churches feel the shrinking numbers and are tempted to respond by trying to meet people’s perceived needs with unlawful activities and unscriptural teaching.
Christ’s church faces an attack from people who want to be spiritual, but don’t want anything to do with a church. They view quitting church as quitting organized religion, as quitting an outdated organization which is out of touch with modern life. They want to claim to believe in a perfect God without the hassle of having to associate with imperfect people (Christians). They wonder if Jesus had lived today if He would have said, “I will build my website,” or “ Just stay home and read my blog.”
Why The Church?
In the broadest sense, the church is all people who have been purchased by the blood of Christ (Eph. 20:28). Christ adds people to this number when they obey Him and are saved (Ac. 2:38,47). In this sense, the church exists as an expression of the collective possession of Christ. Those who say they want nothing to do with the church are therefore saying they do not want to be one of the saved. Those who reject all concepts of the church are rejecting Christ and His sacrifice for them. However, most who reject the church will say they are leaving the people-they want Christ, but not “organized religion.” It might be said they want to be one of the people of God, but not physically with others who are His people.
The word church is also used to describe a group of disciples in a common location who worship and do spiritual work together (example: I Cor. 1:2; Phil. 1:1). Assembling with, working with, and worshipping with other faithful disciples is Christ’s will (Heb. 10:24-25; Ac. 11:26). Disciples may choose with which faithful disciples to assemble and work (Ac. 9:26). But Christ expects His disciples to be “…longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-3). That means the solution to problems , conflicts and dissatisfaction isn’t to just leave. Resolving problems, not quitting, is to be a high priority among disciples because what we do together as Christ’s church glorifies Him (Eph. 3:21) and edifies each other (Eph. 4:16).
Those Who Leave
Most importantly, quitting must never involve or lead to quitting the Lord. It often does. Personal desires and goals may make exchanging our souls by quitting seem worth temporary rewards (Matt. 16:26). Frustrations, disappointments, and problems involving our lives and other people must not cause us to abandon Christ and His church.
Ultimately, irreconcilable differences over truth or edification may cause us to choose to work and worship with different faithful disciples. Unfortunately, most who leave do so because of hurt feelings, personalities, certain doctrinal teachings, and disagreements over matters of opinion. In the heat of problems or in the despair of discouragement, quitting may seem an easy solution, even what is best. However, love should unify disciples, making giving up and quitting our relationships unimaginably painful.
Those Who Stay
Those left behind often feel hurt, abandoned, and angry. Problems are left unresolved and some who were involved aren’t even around to help clean them up. Like Samuel, God has to remind them, “…they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me” (I Sam. 8:7). Pride must give way to sorrow over the breaking of fellowship and the loss of a soul if in quitting they have left the Lord.
Preachers, elders, teachers and saints would do well to do serious soul searching when people quit. It isn’t right for people to quit, those who cause offenses share in the guilt (Matt. 18:17). Not every quitter’s charge is true and not everything they are looking for can legitimately be supplied by the church, but not all complaints are false. “Test all things” (I Thess. 5:21)
God
In the decision to quit or stay, God is often forgotten. The whole concept of the church is disdained because of the frailties of man. What is ignored is that the church is a visible demonstration of the “manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:10). He adds to the number those who are being saved, but some respond by saying, “I want to be spiritual, but not linked to anyone else.” He gives His people other disciples with which to work and worship so His name can be glorified and they can be built up, but some say, “No thanks! The work required to get along with each other isn’t worth it.” We honor God when we value being His church.
God knows there will be those who go, “…out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us” (I Jn. 2:19). God knows some will quit, whether they realize it or not, because they simply do not want to be His people as He wills them to be. Continuing with God’s people is His will and to quit His people is to quit Him.
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