Reminiscence about my drift away from church.

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This topic contains 8 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of cowboyjunkey cowboyjunkey 1 day, 17 hours ago.

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  • #16066

    Wade
    Participant

    For some reason this evening, I was thinking about my drift away from regular church attendance. Hindsight can be a wonderful thing…

    Some of you may remember an in-depth email discussion I had with the former host of the bible study I used to go to. I shared a lot of it here, a fact he would probably be quite mortified about. But the fact remains he could not understand why I was attending church less. One accusationobservation was that I was attending only when I was rostered on somewhere, such as for music. This was true. And one of the reasons I gave for dropping off the evening cooking roster was because I was attending just for my turn at cooking.

    A much more recent comment from another friend still attending that church was that he expected me to have a church to call home. Someone else who would not understand why I left, methinks.

    And the reason I stopped going was because I’d outgrown the teaching, which would be no surprise to anyone here. But of those who remain behind, I wonder what would they say in response to the question “why do you attend?”

    Wade.

    #16077
    Profile photo of cowboyjunkey
    cowboyjunkey
    Participant

    Like you I think the biggest reason I left is that I’ve out grown the teaching. For me it took the realization that there really wasn’t much there for me anymore. Why spend 1.5hrs on my Sunday listening to music I don’t like and someone talk about things I don’t believe? I may have been able to stick around if I enjoyed the people but I had no connections there.

    #16080
    Profile photo of Richard
    Richard
    Participant

    I began to feel worse after coming home from church. I participated in music and discussion, but both were getting more and more censored. I feel so light and actually grateful that I don’t go to church on the weekend. The time is mine to engage in whatever I want without being told I’m not doing something “right.” The longer I’m out of that circle the more obvious the core investment in fear and shame the Christian church has.

    #16083

    irreverance
    Participant

    It’s sad that people have to leave churches because they are simply outgrowing them. But it’s becoming more and more common. I went back to a church for Easter. The disconnect I felt was surprisingly distinct.

    #16087

    David Hayward
    Keymaster

    Whenever I go back to church I’m very much aware of the religio-speak that is peculiar to that church.

    #16090
    Profile photo of Graham
    FrontLineXian
    Participant

    It’s got to a stage for me where being rota’d for something is the only reason I go to church. I think I’m still on the reading rota for my finance’s church…..

    #16937

    Jon
    Participant

    1.5 hours listening to music I don’t like and someone talk about things I don’t believe–that’s it in a nutshell, though my church’s most recent pastor and I are about halfway on the same page (but he can’t say anything about it because his salary depends on saying stuff that is “theologically orthodox.”)

    I am so over the formula-driven modern worship music, especially Hillsong’s Jesus-is-my-boyfriend crap. Yet that’s all they want to sing.

    Truth is, I only go when I’m rostered on. It’ll only be a matter of time before they catch on and take me off the roster.

    #17107

    Jason
    Participant

    I recently came across this blog post describing why the author left church. It’s an outstanding reflection on how churches often reflect a culture of violence that become increasingly difficult to live with:

    Losing Church: My Slow Journey to the Margins

    http://amydmartin.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/church-in-pieces/

    #17148
    Profile photo of cowboyjunkey
    cowboyjunkey
    Participant

    Great blog link Jason. I’m going to follow her now. Looks like an interesting person.

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