Church Hopping

Last week Baptist Press had an article entitled "Study examines why adults switch churches." The top 10 reasons for leaving a church other than residential relocation are highlighted in the article. The following was noted:

To understand why adults choose to change churches, 415 "non-mover" church switchers -who changed churches for reasons other than changes to their residential location -were surveyed in December 2006. The top two specific reasons people leave their church have to do with their needs not being fulfilled by their previous church. Of all reasons churchgoers choose to leave their previous church, the top specific reason is because the "church was not helping me to develop spiritually," encompassing 28 percent of non-mover church switchers. Another 20 percent of respondents said they left because they "did not feel engaged or involved in meaningful church work."

In God's providence I had just finished reading this article when I decided to clean some old files off of my laptop. In doing so I ran across an article by Lance Quinn, pastor of The Bible Church of Little Rock, entitled "Counseling People Who Desire to Leave Their Local Church." This is an important issue concerning sanctification and maturity in the Christian life. With Quinn's permission I am providing a link and encourage you to read his paper and compare it with the reasons given above. Pastors will find this to be a valuable resource in counseling those that are contemplating leaving their congregation for another local church (and, I might add, in seeking to join their local church from another locally). Quinn makes this vital point:

"What do we make of the motives of those who choose to leave their local church for preferential reasons only?... If they leave for the sake of fulfilling their own preferences, it is simply not a good reason to leave... We have not nor would not say they are leaving because of willful sin... If a person leaves for preferences' sake, they show themselves to be leaving for reasons that can only be summed up by their present lack of maturity... The simple fact is this: all immaturity is not willful sin, but it is nonetheless a failure to conform to the ultimate standards of God's law."

I realize that this type of type of teaching will not lend itself to popular church growth methods. However, that is not the point. Our calling as believers is to live in obecdience to the Word of God - to hear it and to heed it. Take care, brethren, that your "preferences" do no cause you to stumble.