How Do You Know When It Is Time To Leave A Church?

When do you know it’s time to leave a church? What are the clear signs that it’s time to leave?

Expository Preaching

When you are in a church, like a friend of mine was not long ago, that doesn’t preach expository, verse by verse Bible preaching, then you are going to starve to death like my friend who wasn’t been properly fed the Word of God by the pastor. The sheep are going to starve to death if the pastor is only feeding them pabulum or a watered-down baby food. These Christians will still be on the bottle while others in biblically-based churches will be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, which every believer is commanded to do (2nd Pet 3:18). Topological or subject sermons are great because they can focus on certain aspects of God’s Word like on love (1st Cor 13), the need for repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), or that Jesus Christ is the one and only way to the Father (John 6:44; Acts 4:12) but when the sermons become world-centered and not Word-centered, there is a famine of the Word, and in the last place you’d expect to find it; in a church.

Communion or the Lord’s Supper

Sometimes it’s not just what’s missing but what’s there. In other words, if you feel like there are things that are being done in the church that are unbiblical, you may be in the wrong church. One example is if the church membership is required to tithe 10% or to keep the old Holy Days that were commanded of ancient Israel but the greatest questions are, is the preaching Bible-centered? Is the worship music biblical or do the lyrics lift up the name of Jesus Christ and put our focus on Him or is He just a sidebar? Does the church regularly partake in the Sacraments or are these rarely done or not ever done. If there are no Sacraments or the Lord’s Supper or Communion or are rarely taken, then that’s a huge problem because we are to partake of the Lord’s Supper until He comes and when we do, we actually proclaim His coming.

Church Discipline

The same thing applies to church discipline. If there is no church discipline, when it is necessary, then the church is not being biblical. If church members are allowed to live in serious sins such as public drunkenness or sexual immorality without discipline, the church cannot be presented as the spotless bride of Christ. A few years ago our church had to discipline a member when she kept interrupting church services and talking during the sermons, board meetings, and Sunday school classes. Some of her remarks were offensive and contained sexually explicit language. Since she saw herself as not having any problems, the deaconess and I approached her after talking with her previously but she continued the same behavior, but this time gossiping in the church and in the community about certain members but she was repeating untrue, slanderous stories that were outright lies. She was warned again but to no avail so the church had no choice but to dis-fellowshipped her. This was not my decision. The church membership voted on this and it was overwhelming supportive of her being dis-fellowshipped from the church in the hopes that she would repent and be restored to our fellowship but she never came back. The point is God disciplines every child of His but this shows that He loves us. It is the same reason a parent will discipline a child to prevent them from being hurt, like playing in the street.

The Early Church

There are three important elements that every church should have; biblically-centered, Christ-focused preaching; the regular administration of the Lord’s Supper or Communion; and that of church discipline. Look at what the early church did to grow; “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) showing that the church needs fellowship and to be praying continuously but most importantly, they studied the “apostles’ teachings” which was what Jesus taught them and today we find the “apostles’ doctrine” in the New Testament. Next, notice that “all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45) meaning that if someone needed help, they helped! If someone had nothing, those that had gave to those who had not, and they had all things in common. The final part of the first century church was that the church was, “day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:46). They broke bread together (fellowship and Communion), prayed together, studied the Word of God from the apostle’s teachings, and then “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). If you ever hope to grow a church, follow the pattern of the first century church and it may be said of your church, that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).

Conclusion

As a pastor, I want to hear from the membership and hear their concerns about the church, preaching, Sunday school, or whatever else is on their mind. They know that they can come to me about anything. Nothing is trivial to me. I want that door open for anyone to be able to walk through. I should never reach a point where I can’t be corrected or admit and confess error. God will resist me if I don’t remain humble (James 4:6). I remember two key verses that I have memorized in the hopes that I will never highly of myself and not to take things personally. Psalm 199:165 says “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble” and “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Prov 27:6).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.