Switching Churches 2 Series

Lets talk about when it is wrong to leave a Church.

1. Never leave a Church during a crises, especially if you are involved in the crises. Every crises in the body of Christ is supposed to be settled. If it is beyond your power to settle a crisis, make it known to all that you wish for peace but since it is beyond your power to make and enforce peace, you are left no option but to seek out a peaceful exit for yourself. The Bible says follow peace with all men… It is important that you make all efforts. As you stand and worship God in the new Church, how would you feel if the worship leader was an invited singer from your former church who happens to be the one you had issues with. How about if your former Pastor comes to preach in your new Church. Blessed are the peace makers… it is also important for you if you have a call of God on your life, that you make sure you leave with a good name. A good name is better than money says the book of Proverb. Let it be known that you tried your very best to get and retain a clear conscience, void of any offence towards God and His people. Also that You endeavour to protect your good name. You need a good name to preach the Gospel. So many pastors have stories about their misdeeds destroying their efforts to preach the gospel. A friend once had marital issues and wanted to leave his church because his wife was the Pastor’s daughter. When I found out why he left, I told him to return. He first fought me and my advice. However, a few months after he left, he was applying to become a member of a ministerial organisation and the Membership Director was his former pastor and father-inlaw. All the lies he told on his application were revealed. He was admitted but that was after he had been embarrassed. His wife applied for a Job and walked in for the interview and there he was, the ex-husband. If you said I don’t care, I would walk away and look for another job, you have anger problems and your heart is not right with God…simple. It is important to pursue peace.

2. Never leave a Church without your pastor’s blessing. This is a great sign of Christian maturity. To be able to sit down in front of your pastor and tell him you are leaving and have him bless you and pray with you as you leave is a sign of outstanding Christ likeness. People don’t do this because they are proud, angry and self centered. A friend who served as an assistant to another pastor had been constantly mistreated by the wife of the senior pastor. When he decided it was time to move on, we prayed together, and agreed that he would not tell the Pastor the main reason, but would seek his blessing. It could have caused problems for the pastor and his wife, if he had said anything. As he sat down listening to his pastor talk, he heard the Pastor say things he could never imagine. It turned out that his pastor had been asked by God several years ago, to give him some money and help set up his ministry in a different city. He had resisted this instruction from God for about three years but was afraid that he might not have another chance to do God’s will if he missed it now. The Pastor gave him about #100,000 (Nigerian money) which was a lot in 1994. My friend now pastors a Church as large as the one he left, but his foundation was laid when he humbled himself to tell his pastor he was leaving and to ask for his blessings. Do this whether you were wronged or you are the one wrong. You Pastor’s call, authority over your life and position does not depend on how you feel, whether he is anointed or not, whether he can teach/preach the word or not, or whether he was wrong or right. God gave him that position, it is God that called him and gave him that authority. If you disrespect it, you are disrespecting God and that may follow you wherever you go.

3. Never destroy as you leave. If your leaving destroys it, stop and look back and help as much as you can. You would hope that someone would do the same for you one day. A pastor friend was leaving another church. He knew so many secrets of this Church. I told him to sit down and talk with the senior pastor and to tell the Pastor any thing that would help them. He refused to do this. Soon after he left, the church moved to a different property and he wanted to move into this building now. The safety inspectors disqualified the building and he lost it and had to move out two weeks after he had moved in. His Church had no where to meet and after three months, they started meeting outside. However, the damage had been done. He lost over 100 members during that time. He has not recovered from that since then.