{"id":695422,"date":"2019-11-20T02:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T08:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomrainer.com\/?p=695422"},"modified":"2020-02-07T14:54:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T20:54:34","slug":"11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Weak Reasons to Leave a Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Chuck Lawless<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I know there are legitimate reasons for leaving a church (e.g., the message is unbiblical, you\u2019ve moved to another city, etc.), but too many people leave a church for the wrong reasons. Realizing that there are always exceptions to any of the reasons listed below, here are 11 \u201cweak\u201d reasons to leave:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>You\u2019re angry at somebody.<\/strong> You\u2019ll simply carry your anger elsewhere. Plus, unrepentant anger is ungodly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because you don\u2019t like the worship style.<\/strong> Preferences are seldom a good reason to leave a church. Churches change, and so do our preferences over time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because your ministry passion is no longer supported.<\/strong> It may be that the program or ministry you\u2019ve grown to love is no longer as relevant as it once was. At least be open to this possibility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because you don\u2019t like the pastor.<\/strong> At a minimum, graciously address the issues with the pastor. Leaving without a conversation is unkind, and it could prove hasty.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because they ask for money.<\/strong> Sure, some churches overemphasize dollars, but every church should be teaching financial stewardship. Be willing to hear them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because you don\u2019t like the message.<\/strong> The message might, in fact, be the gospel \u2013 and the gospel is often offensive. A church preaching a message that doesn\u2019t make you uncomfortable is likely not preaching the Word.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because the congregation\u2019s getting too big.<\/strong> Regardless of the size of the church, you\u2019ll still develop genuine relationships with only a few people. Growth doesn\u2019t automatically hinder fellowship.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because there\u2019s sin in your life.<\/strong> You need to be under the Word of God if you\u2019re living in sin. A strong church <em>should<\/em> be calling you to repentance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because the church is changing.<\/strong> No church stays the same forever. What matters most is that God and His Word don\u2019t change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because no one\u2019s asked you to serve.<\/strong> That doesn\u2019t always mean they don\u2019t want you to serve; it might be that they need to improve their assimilation and recruitment process. Don\u2019t wait \u2013\u00a0 ask somebody about opportunities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Because you just \u201cknow the Lord told me so.\u201d<\/strong> He <em>might<\/em> direct you to leave, but listen to Him through His Word, His Spirit, and His people. Living according to feelings \u2014 especially if you\u2019re really not walking with God \u2014 is risky.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What reasons would you add to this list?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Chuck Lawless I know there are legitimate reasons for leaving a church (e.g., the message is unbiblical, you\u2019ve moved to another city, etc.), but too many people leave a church for the wrong reasons. Realizing that there are always exceptions to any of the reasons listed below, here are 11 \u201cweak\u201d reasons to leave:&#8230;","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":695423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,175,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-grow","category-membership-and-assimilation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>11 Weak Reasons to Leave a Church - ThomRainer.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Realizing there are always exceptions to any of the reasons in the post, listed here are 11 \u201cweak\u201d reasons to leave a church.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11 Weak Reasons to Leave a Church - ThomRainer.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Realizing there are always exceptions to any of the reasons in the post, listed here are 11 \u201cweak\u201d reasons to leave a church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-20T08:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T20:54:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Featured_Image_11_20.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"851\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"headline\":\"11 Weak Reasons to Leave a Church\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-20T08:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-07T20:54:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"commentCount\":71,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/11-weak-reasons-to-leave-a-church\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Featured_Image_11_20.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Grow\",\"Membership &amp; 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