Uh, yeah.  Good luck with that.

What does Jesus have to do with most churches these days?

Jythier, good point...my point is: by you being faithful and continuing to be part of what God is doing in your church and through you can bring it back to where it needs to be.

Better to find a live church than try to convert a dead one. It's called dead for a reason.

Perhaps in some circumstances, "that church doesn't suit me" is a polite way of getting around talking about the more serious problems keeping an individual out of fellowship. Unfortunately, we as humans don't tend to be honest, because when we are, we say things that others do not want to hear.

But yes, if a church being a poor fit is your sole reason for not going, your priorities may be in the wrong place.

When I say a church doesn't fit...I mean exactly that.

Sometimes it means I don't think their doctrine is solid, or there is false teaching. Sometimes it means there is no nursery, or there isn't a place to nurse, or a myriad of things.

If a church isn't family friendly then I don't want to be there. Certain denominations bring out the worst in me...I avoid them. They don't fit.

Just like a real blood family...there are other believers I don't want to spend time with....

And going to church is about God...but HE made it about fellowship as well. That we might comfort and encourage one another. Hows that workin when the members of a church don't fit with one of its members?

If all Christians were vanilla shadows of each other, fitting wouldn't be an issue. But God gave us personalities, talents, skills, gifts..and these things need to find the right home to give Him the most glory.

Better to be in a church where you feel comfortable or you start feeling quite resentful towards your religion.

I don't participate in organized worship, myself...there's really no need for it in my opinion.


As the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings emphasized, there needs to be a personal, emotional relationship with God.

~Zoo

Right.

Taking the argument to the extreme, it would be patently absurd to assume that someone with Baptist beliefs should go to the LDS church even though they feel they don't fit with the intent of correcting their doctrine.

Many times, though, the problem is bigger than a poor fit, though, and that's what I was driving at.

Speaking for myself, I don't attend the church in our small town not because it's a poor fit but because the people in this community have sent a very clear message to us that we're not welcome here. If it wasn't made clear when we attempted to be a part of the church, it was made VERY clear about a month ago when I went to our community's poker run and the "good people" of the church wouldn't even speak with me.

They sent the message, I received it. Loud and clear.

Once again I want to say: It's not about ME, MY, OUR, US, WE, etc. It's about our Lord and Savior.
You CAN make a difference in places that need help.
You CAN live for the Lord despite others.
As for going to a church outside of the Christian faith - that's just stupidity.
As for going to a church of another denomination, ask the Lord.
Simply put, it's not about us...but God can use us to change these churches to be what He wants them to be.

How old are you? Twelve?

You obviously have not been in a position of moving to new places and finding a local body of believers.

But yeah, good luck with it if you ever are.....

If He has called us there, absolutely.

But if God doesn't have a ministry for us in that area, it becomes futility to keep trying to put yourself where you don't belong.

tova,

no, Chris is good people, really. I can vouch for him.

I must also say that in our case it wasn't a matter of "they're mean to me"; it was that they were actually attacking us.

And the attacks came from leaders in the church, not just pew sitters.

I believe you're called to the community, Chris. I think it is becoming increasingly clear that we were not. And that, while God had lessons for us there, He does not seem to intend for us to stay there.

I don't see where I have a ministry in a place where the vast majority of the community doesn't want me there. And I'm not going to use my children as pawns to serve my own ego by putting them in harm's way unnecessarily.

Don't use your children as pawns, use them as bishops! Although you do have enough pawn-children for a live chess set... e4, little Johnny!