{"id":715992,"date":"2020-07-14T21:30:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T01:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=715992"},"modified":"2020-07-14T21:30:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T01:30:56","slug":"why-the-way-you-leave-a-church-is-more-important-than-how-you-came","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/why-the-way-you-leave-a-church-is-more-important-than-how-you-came\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Way You Leave a Church is More Important than How You Came"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a layperson or a church staff member, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve left a church at some point \u2013 or will leave a church in the future. When that happens, I hope you\u2019ll remember the points of this post.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. People will remember how you leave.<\/b> They\u2019ll forget even the most miraculous works of God to bring you to the church if you leave in a negative way. Even a few weeks of negative can erase years of positive.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Those who remain may be wounded if you leave poorly.<\/b> Especially if they\u2019ve loved and respected you, they may not understand why you\u2019ve suddenly changed. Long-term friendships can be broken.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Your family can be scarred by a bad ending.<\/b> You might try to shield them from the pain, but few of us do that well when we\u2019re wounded.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Poor closures usually color future ministry opportunities.<\/b> Once you\u2019ve been hurt and carry wounds, you\u2019ll always wonder if more wounds lie in the future.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Division left by bad departures can destroy a congregation\u2019s unity.<\/b> This sometimes happens when departing members challenge others to take sides on the issues.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Good departures make ministry a celebration.<\/b> Rejoicing over victories is always better than battling over remaining disagreements.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Healthy closure paves the way for the next leaders.<\/b> One of the best ways to help the church\u2019s next leader is to leave in joyful response to God\u2019s calling \u2013 not in anger.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Leaving well fosters long-term friendships.<\/b> Moving to a different church doesn\u2019t have to harm relationships if the departure is handled well.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Good leavings promote Christian unity.<\/b> Regardless of where we serve, we pray for and love other congregations when we\u2019ve left well. Good memories promote harmony between churches.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. People will remember how you leave.<\/b> So, I repeat #1 above, but with a different flavor. Leave in a positive way, and churches often forgive years of negative.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What would you add to this list?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a layperson or a church staff member, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve left a church at some point \u2013 or will leave a church in the future. When that happens, I hope you\u2019ll remember the points of this post.","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":715993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","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":[195,190,192,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-family","category-how-to","category-lead"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the Way You Leave a Church is More Important than How You Came | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a layperson or staff member, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve left a church at some point \u2013 or will leave a church in the future. 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