{"id":139,"date":"2014-12-02T06:30:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T10:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/?p=139"},"modified":"2014-12-19T11:54:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-19T15:54:26","slug":"against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/","title":{"rendered":"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen it before: the \u201cI\u2019m leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\u201d manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the false assumption that one can have the true faith without the Body that was saved\u00a0by the Founder of that faith. As faithful Christians know, being\u00a0in\u00a0Christ means being in His Church<\/a>. Yes, we are transformed by God\u2019s grace and called to holiness, but we also realize we are in a flock with other sinners.<\/p>\n

Moreover, many will notice that leaving the Church and thus her instruction can often lead to\u00a0the eventual abandonment of Christ altogether. When we start to define Who Jesus is and what He demands of us on our own terms of comfort and preference, we create an idol. But the first step can be a severance from the Body of Faith. We who are convinced by the truth of the Scriptures may scratch our head when we see these \u201cspiritual not religious\u201d discourses, which seem to be the new \u201cholier than thou\u201d statements.<\/p>\n

I myself ponder\u00a0on whether\u00a0they have more to do\u00a0with error\u00a0or more to do with a failure of will. I\u2019ll grant that there are some who become intellectually convinced of other faiths, but I dare say that many of the abandonment testimonies seem fueled more by embarrassment and bad experiences. \u201cThese people who claim to be God\u2019s treated me, my friend, and\/or that group of people badly,\u201d the\u00a0trope\u00a0often goes, \u201cThis is simply too much. I am going to escape hypocrisy. I am leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wonder how many articles dealing with grievances against the church\u2019s behavior and mistreatment from her leaders would dissipate if people were actually part of other groups and societies these days. Obviously, the church has to be a witness to the world, but many of the complaints about how certain church members treated a person are pretty universal problems found in any organization: humans in groups can be jerks, make mistakes, have blind spots, and mishandle all sorts\u00a0of cases. Many of the \u201cI\u2019m leaving or taking a break from church because people hurt me\u201d manifestos could just as easily been authored about the local Ruritans, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Garden, or Women\u2019s Club. But few under the age of 40 participate are in such societies any more.<\/span><\/p>\n

If more Christians were in voluntary associations, they may have a greater awareness of some common trends in human depravity.\u00a0 Abuse abounds wherever people\u00a0congregate. It doesn\u2019t matter if there\u2019s a cross up front. People inflict hurts large and small upon other people.<\/p>\n

The dearth of Millennials in little platoons, associations where they would rub shoulders with everyday humans in their own locality, cannot be breezily dismissed, even by non-Christians. It leads to social inexperience, emotional immaturity, and an all-round thin-skinned character, which in turn leads to a jejune understanding of what it takes to put up with people, much less love them. Civil society decays. Imposition of will becomes the word of the day. The replacement of manners and etiquette with political correctness is just one visible result of this unfortunate trajectory. After all, if people cannot be limited from bad public behavior by virtue or a sense of honor (and by extent shame), they will have to be managed by positive law. And this positive law will cater to the thin-skinnedness \u00a0of the most powerful parties.<\/p>\n

As Alexis de Toqueville pointed out<\/a>, it is the discourse and bonds of voluntary associations that helped early Americans fend off several perilous excesses\u00a0springing from democracy. Toqueville noticed that\u00a0there are inherent dangers and drawbacks in every political structure; democracies can degenerate into a tyranny of the majority as well as a radical egalitarianism \u00a0that refuses to discern good from bad. A healthy civil society with many voluntary associations prevent such problems, making the society healthier on the whole.<\/p>\n

However, so many people these days join self-selected cliques or interface online at a distance (and thus easily evacuate in difficult circumstances), that they don\u2019t have to exercise true patience\u00a0with people. We can simply unfollow someone or block their posts from our newsfeeds. We cannot suffer the trouble of others. Call it what you will: \u201crelational hyperefficiency,\u201d laziness of soul,\u00a0acedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a kind of sloth; we slouch toward isolation.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Church is one of the few remaining bodies today where people\u2013committed to the same Person, behavior, and doctrine\u2013are \u201cforced\u201d to live in peace with one another. It is actually her witness to an atomizing and alienating culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, before you post that piece you wrote about abandoning church membership or before you share that apostasy testimonial, ask yourself a few questions. Is Christianity really true or not? If it really is true, do I interpret my experiences through that truth or do I try to alter reality based upon the emotions I feel from my experiences? Am I simply failing to exercise long-suffering? Am I just experiencing a shift in theology? Should I therefore seek out a different church home rather than abandon Christianity altogether? Is my local congregation an abusive religious sect? If there isn\u2019t any significant structural difference between the governance of my congregation and abusive sects, do I need to reevaluate my\u00a0ecclesiology<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Because, in the end, the Truth is what will remain. Christ Jesus, the Truth Incarnate, has brought His people in union with Himself and thus by necessity with one another. He does not fail like His fallen creatures do. If we really believe that and teach that, declarations of self-excommunication seem a lot less appealing.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen it before: the \u201cI\u2019m leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\u201d manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the false assumption that one can have the true faith without the Body that was saved\u00a0by the Founder of that faith. As faithful Christians know, being\u00a0in\u00a0Christ means being in His Church. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2069,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[108,107,105,28,14,3,81,109,106],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abandoning-faith","tag-apostasy","tag-barton-gingerich","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-evangelicalism","tag-faith","tag-leaving-church","tag-millennials"],"yoast_head":"\nAgainst the Church Abandonment Manifesto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  We've seen it before: the "I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  We've seen it before: the "I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Evangelical Pulpit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-02T10:30:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-19T15:54:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bart Gingerich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bart Gingerich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/\",\"name\":\"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-02T10:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-19T15:54:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/bb5b7367d702741cda7e6bca8bb91afe\"},\"description\":\"  We've seen it before: the \\\"I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\\\" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/\",\"name\":\"The Evangelical Pulpit\",\"description\":\"The Group Blog of Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/bb5b7367d702741cda7e6bca8bb91afe\",\"name\":\"Bart Gingerich\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35c6f4e042992736ecda8f64b7b12793?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35c6f4e042992736ecda8f64b7b12793?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bart Gingerich\"},\"description\":\"Bart Gingerich is the Managing Editor of the Evangelical Channel at Patheos.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/author\/bgingerich\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto","description":"  We've seen it before: the \"I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto","og_description":"  We've seen it before: the \"I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/","og_site_name":"The Evangelical Pulpit","article_published_time":"2014-12-02T10:30:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-19T15:54:26+00:00","author":"Bart Gingerich","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bart Gingerich","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/","name":"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-02T10:30:49+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-19T15:54:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/bb5b7367d702741cda7e6bca8bb91afe"},"description":"  We've seen it before: the \"I'm leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus\" manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/2014\/12\/against-the-church-abandonment-manifesto\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/","name":"The Evangelical Pulpit","description":"The Group Blog of Patheos Evangelical","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/bb5b7367d702741cda7e6bca8bb91afe","name":"Bart Gingerich","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35c6f4e042992736ecda8f64b7b12793?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35c6f4e042992736ecda8f64b7b12793?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bart Gingerich"},"description":"Bart Gingerich is the Managing Editor of the Evangelical Channel at Patheos.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/author\/bgingerich\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evangelicalpulpit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}