OK…. I stopped going to church about 2 years ago. Prior to the last church, I had been very involved in a non-denominational (joyful) church - I was growing, loved the people. Loved their ethics, not always in agreement with the Pastor but I figure if I agree on 90% of the teaching that is good. The people were very respectful of others and their was a lot of personal growth in new Christians, chances for ministry for the elder Christians…. and then I visited a small new foundling church and felt pulled to be there to help. So I left the church I really was connected to and joined this fledgling church. For about a year I met with the pastor for prayer at 5-6 am in the morning. I was there for the hour before the service on Sunday to pray. There to support new Christians and to help in anyway I could. The Pastor just wouldn't stop gossiping. I had addressed it nicely and firmly on a number of occasions. When he would tell me who needed prayer for what - then some personal issue (who had an affair, who had already been divorced or had a drinking problem etc)I would tell him, "I didn't need to know all that" and that I really didn't want to know too much personal stuff about people bc sometimes it made things uncomfortable. I finally asked to have a meeting with him, and explained that he had a problem with gossip….. he stormed out!! So now I didn't really know how to respond, I had asked a few people anonymously what would be the correct action in this case. I was told to go to him and tell him. He really is a very loving pastor, great to the outcast, goes to the homeless, reaches out to drug addicts and the unwanted. So in the whole perspective, he is a great guy and a good pastor with a problem. But it just ripped our relationship apart. He stopped by my house once and apologized (somewhat??) and I have forgiven him I just don't feel like I can be there without him being uncomfortable with me.
I have prayer meetings I go to and I was very active in three different groups for years but one thing after another and those groups all changed their schedules and I work… so now I'm at loose ends. Not getting together with others for prayer makes me feel alone even though my family are Christians. But I really don't want to go back and expose myself to all the politics of church.
So I agree you don't need to belong to a denomination to be saved BUT the scriptures say - there are teachers, pastors, helpers all given for the good of the body. So if God thought enough to give His church teachers and pastors then it makes sense that we should avail ourselves of them??? Correct?
I have been praying about visiting other churches but it is a painful process. I have belonged to 4 different churches over the last 30 years and except for leaving the one to go to the fledgling church it always ends painfully.
Plus I consider myself a non-denominational charismatic annihilist… I don't fit well in many churches. Or at least my theology wouldn't be appreciated in very many places. I believe if you love the Lord with all your heart and try to love your neighbor, be kind, be ready to share the gospel that is what is important. All the theological debates are so much nonsense, the Lord will do as He sees fit anyway. I think sound teaching should be 'what the bible says' and then how people interpret these words differently. Some of it is very important to believe and most of the rest is just what you believe. It is most important to love… God, family, church family and the unsaved, unchurched and even the atheist. Bc Christ died for all of them not just for the church. I try to see unbelievers as pre-saved and share my joy if they can't hear the gospel at least they can see the fruit.
well- anyway thats where I'm at and why I'm not in a church today…. say a prayer for me and mine to find a good fit for our family. (My daughter and her husband joined my old (joyful) church… lol… but since I left I don't feel like I fit there now. Like I left them… IDK… just doesn't feel right??
God bless, andrea
PS: apostolic34 my thought on follower, Christian, fan, love Jesus hate church is, everyone is on a path. That is where they are today. I have friends who bristle at being called 'a Christian" they prefer to be called a follower. I consider myself I follower but call myself a Christian bc its just not important what others think, the Lord already knows my heart. Its just semantics…. one day your an evangelical, the next you might be a Catholic (I know "NO WAY!!!) but you never know how the Lord will call you. You might even become a charismatic non-denomination annihilist…. its just not important what you think… its what God thinks and would you go where He tells you to go? Can you hear Him?