I perceive from God's Word this profound truth: The value of the local church on this planet is far beyond anything that we as finite-minded believers can imagine! She is powerful and is God's sole instrument for advancing His kingdom and agenda. Yet oddly she is often treated as though she is little more than the sum of her imperfect members. It then becomes rather easy if I do not agree with the leadership or my fellow church member, to perhaps come to the conclusion that it is time my family considers a new place of worship in this same town. We talk it over with our spouse "pray" about it and perhaps make the decision to move forward in seeking a new congregation. Over the next few weeks we "visit around" and are disappointed to realize that no one from our present church even seemed to notice that we were gone for a while. This only serves to confirm our suspicions. From this we deduce that we have indeed made the right decision to leave. We may even go so far as to take it as a "sign from God" when of course it is anything but that. People often say that God is calling them to leave one church address to start attending another church address only a few miles away. How confusing this must be to a watching world. How petty God must seem as He and religiosity get rolled into one perplexing lump of insignificance. Where is the power of Christ working in the lives, hearts and prayers of His people to unite, forgive, rejoice and battle?
Experience tells me that the reasons for this fork in the road can be legion. The student and/or children's ministries do not compare favorably to another location; it is difficult to "get anything out of" Sunday morning's message; the congregation in question is lifeless lacking the spiritual fire that we so desire; preferring the old hymns, "blended" worship is just not our thing; there has been a disagreement with leadership about the church's chosen direction; we just want to go where our children will be excited about church attendance; church money woes have shaken our confidence; most of our friends are going to the new larger church; we never felt connected; the church has just changed so much over time that we hardly know anyone anymore. A friend or family member or perhaps even I have been offended in some way.
Whatever the cause, it seems out of step with God's Word to decide for any of the afore-mentioned reasons to move on to another local body of believers. My prayer is that God's people will reconsider the purposes of the Bride of Christ on this earth. She is called to make war...called to attack the gates of hell...called to pray...give...know...be. I invite those who have come to our church from another local congregation for the reasons mentioned above to return to your former congregation...I humbly ask that those who have left our congregation to do the same...repent...offer forgiveness to those who have offended...seek forgiveness from those who have been offended and join the battle to defeat the real enemy that seeks to kill, steal and destroy this beautiful bride of Christ!