Goodbye Church!!

I've found church to be a safer environment than society-at-large myself. If those three churches really are bad environments, there's driving aways to find another one, and there's also house churches.

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Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
- Proverbs 30:5-6

Thats kind of bitter sweet:
Sweet because of your love for Jesus:
Bitter because of what you experienced:
Cant say i go to church either:
But I dont exclude the thought of church all together: But I am not one to go looking for a good church; when I am the church;
And my heart is led to ask God to allow me to start my own fellowship"
Because if we see something wrong in the body of Christ: Even though so many people may not see the same wrong things; then maybe God allowed you to see what you saw; not for you to run, but rather to show you how to do it right:
Starting a place for people to go since you testify to being a watchman":
If you see wrong its because God allowed you to see; just as God allows us to love Him, and the watchman isnt on the wall to tear the wall down; but rather to help others learn how to build a strong wall

So I pray that God allows me to seek to make things right; and to open a place of fellowship where people can come and not be judged; but rather loved: BUT ALL AND ALL:
we are the church:
And its up to each one of us that are called to share Gods Word; and we grow through the word; if you are already grown; then teach others how to grow; so that together you can build your own church in Christ Jesus: I pray that for us: BIG HUG

I'm glad Jesus found you, I hope someday you will really want to know exactly what the Lord wants from us, certainly the easiest is to love one another, and love God, but if we truly love God, won't we be driven to find out what His likes and dislikes are? I mean when I first met my wife I was hungry to know everything about her, since the bible is the best recorded historical look at who we know as God, wouldn't a wise person start searching the scriptures for what God likes and what He don't like, and then change ourselves to fit His mold, instead of changing His Word to fit our belief

It sounds like your nearby churches are heavily ingrown, and that could be a serious problem.

I would suggest that you not take a more heroic stance than you can sustain. I'd probably suggest that you rotate among churches and find people who are comfortable with you.

Ingrown is a good description. I find that almost anywhere that people spend too much time leaning on each other, people get on each others' nerves. Weird dynamics develop and can't be shaken up. That's not just in churches, but we also see it in families, friendships, workplaces, sporting activities.... it's healthy to shake things up occasionally.

I think that visiting churches is a good solution -- then people cannot act like they own you.

Walk in like you planned it that way (especially if you did), and greet them as though you knew what you were doing, and are happy to run into them briefly.

There's a phenomenon among people that is similar among dogs and wild animals -- fear is smelled, and hierarchies are sensed and fought over. Vulnerable antelopes are the first to be attacked.

This is probably one of the reasons I enjoy attending Mass so much-- the focus is never on who is in church or not, but after spending time together praying and reading the Scriptures our full focus is on God coming to us through the Eucharist. Perhaps that won't appeal to some who don't believe the Eucharist is the true presence of Christ, but I'm not here for a theology debate. I'm just saying: at Mass our focus is on God, after that I can finish up with some personal prayer time and leave-- there is no need to socialize with others besides saying hello to our priest.

To the opening poster, you said in one of your posts that you're a newer Christian~ I'd like to recommend that you check out a site that I use to learn more about the Bible (It's one of the few sites geared towards Protestants that I still use): www.christiancourses.com. They offer free courses if you just want to study them, but if you'd like to earn a certificate after completing a course you pay $40. (Which is not too bad) They have good content and I'm sure it would be enriching to your understanding of this faith's history and finding out more about the Scriptures. I'm currently taking their SoulCare courses to help me be a better Staff member at this site

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Thanks everyone for your kind words and advice! Wow I love this website!

Update: Before I went to church this past week I prayed and I mean had a hard prayer with God to direct me on what he wanted me to do. I wanted to go and tell them off and how hurt I was by them but God said NO. LOL. A big stop sign came up...LOL

God okay'd for me to leave the church in a biblical fashion. So instead of doing what I was going to do I basically left the church on a positive note my sharing a testimony with them during the testimony part of the service and how God is helping me through my life through positive changes. I wished the church and everyone in the church the best of success and expressed to them I loved them and I still mean that from the bottom of my heart. It was not presented to them as a goodbye speech but instead as a testimony. I felt in my heart God was advising me to close the door gently not slam it. So no I will not being going back to that particular church again.

It was hard for me to leave that church. There is a lot of good strong christian women in that church that helped me through prayers. So the church was not all that bad but it had more rotten apples than I could bear. The leaders and the ministers of the church I feel are not supportive enough of their members. Too much favoritism and also emphasis on tithes (money). But God has released me from that church and now I can seek a new church home. It was hard for me to leave because I am not a quitter. I try to tough things out. I fell in love with that church but I felt I was tossed out.

But I know God is going to bless me. One of the posters mentioned the churches in the area are "in-grown." Wow I was trying to seek the right words but the poster hit the nail on coffin. You are sooo right. A lot of the Baptist and COGIC church leaders are related or know each other. That is a BIG problem for me trying to find new church in a small community where everyone knows everyone. People, unfortunately, base their opinions on what people tell them about a person rather than giving a person a chance to get to know them. I never do that I always have my "own mind." Also it is a sin to do so. We are not suppose to judge each other but the community I live in people JUDGE you. It so weird when people I have never met before are rude to me and I find out they are related to someone I shared information with about my life. So "TRUST" is a big factor for me right now and at this point in my life I will only trust God until he leads me to someone.

So I guess now that I have closed that chapter solidly in my life I am going to fast and pray and do some online bible courses, read my bible and I like watching church on TV. Very informative. There is a Christian church up the street (yes they know the pastors from my old church)that I will be visiting in the next month. I will walk in there with no reflection of my past. My saying is what is done is done and go in their with a renewed mind. NO bringing up my past experiences with this new church. The only way for there to be any negativity is if it is brought in from the outside to them and I have no control over that.

So I said going into this year 2012 that it was going to be the year for me and it will BE. God is first in my life and I have complete trust in him that he will lead me into a positive direction!

So I want to sincerely express my thanks to everyone that posted and let you know that I walk by faith not by sight now. It took me a while but now God is leading me!

I wish all of you a safe and happy New Year and God Bless you and your families and please feel free to post again in here or keep in touch.

I will also keep everyone up to date in this post of my progress as well.

I think I will be going to this church up the street from my house it is non-denominational and see how that goes and if that does not work then try maybe forming a bible study group.

I know that is what I was saying on the last church I left "I am the church" but it is hard to stay focused when everything around you is negative. It was frustrating with all the hypocrites that were there. They would say a wonderful thing and turn around and act completely different. I was saying to myself when this was happening you cannot love God and not like your brother in sister in Christ. Can't serve 2 masters. There is only one and that is God in my life. So I left because I did not feel God's spirit in there. I felt the other spirit and I rebuke it.