I am musing a bit about why people leave. Some grow up in Church and leave when they graduate from high school, leave when they graduate from college, leave when they get married, leave when they begin to have children, or leave when they take a transfer. As an aside, is it not interesting how grown men and women act they have no choice regarding transfers away from family and church as if they couldn’t look for another j-o-b rather than leave those they claim to love so much, be they family or church? Then there are those who grow up in our movement and serve in positions of spiritual leadership in the gospel ministry before leaving our movement. How is it that a guy can serve as a Baptist pastor for several decades, supposedly embracing Baptist convictions related to baptism, the church, the doctrine of salvation, eternal security, and the cessation of sign gifts, and then all of a sudden become charismatic in his position (can I call them convictions?), which entails a take it or leave it approach to baptism, a non-existent notion of the local church, ignoring the doctrine of salvation, abandoning any idea of a coherent view of eternal security, and tolerating if not promoting counterfeit sign gifts? How is that not virtual apostasy? Oh well, let me muse about leaving rather than the inconsistencies of those who leave.
First John 2.19 addresses the topic of leaving, with some being of the opinion that doctrinal deviancy is referred to by the Apostle (that would be Scofield and Zane Hodges’ views). I am more inclined to agree with John MacArthur and Adam Clarke on this one, that the Apostle refers here to someone abandoning the congregation. Here is the footnote from the MacArthur Study Bible:
“The first characteristic mentioned of antichrists, i.e., false teachers and deceivers (vv. 22-26), is that they depart from the faithful (see vv. 22,23 for the second characteristic and v. 26 for the third). They arise from within the church and depart from true fellowship and lead people out with them. The verse also places emphasis on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Those genuinely born again endure in faith and fellowship and the truth (1 Cor. 11:19; 2 Tim. 2:12). The ultimate test of true Christianity is endurance (Mark 13:13; Heb. 3:14). The departure of people from the truth and the church is their unmasking.”
The thought that occurs to me is how infrequently this passage is referred to when consideration is given to those who leave, be they those who leave their church or those who leave their movement. Does this passage not suggest, whatever your understanding of its meaning and application, that departure from a congregation or a movement is a vastly more significant action than is usually believed to be true?
How often leaving a church and then joining another church is treated as somewhat inconsequential, as rather unimportant, when the reality is that it is one of the most significant actions a Christian will ever take. Warren Buffett is no spiritual leader, by any stretch of the imagination. However, he is a billionaire as a result of being a methodically practical and observant man on business matters. He claims most people make five major decisions in their lives, and their life will be considered a failure if three of those five decisions is a bad one. Career choice, spouse choice, home purchase, plus two other choices are the ones he cites as significant.
If Warren Buffett is right, and on this it seems likely, church hoppers and movement abandoners are treading on very thin ice if they want their lives to be successful. When it comes to leaving your church, the Apostle John and Warren Buffett (who has never left Omaha and has lived in the same house for more than fifty years) would probably agree.
Maybe pastors should take more seriously the departure of their church’s members than many do. Maybe some leave their churches because leaving the church is not thought (or communicated) by the pastor to be as important a matter as it is, sometimes even rewarding those who have left by scheduling an annual homecoming event. I am not suggesting that those who leave should be treated harshly or unkindly when they come back to visit family and friends. However, is it appropriate to give them a send off (as you ought to do when a family leaves to go to Bible college or to establish a church somewhere)? I wonder. Have you ever seen someone who left other than for legitimate ministry purposes to spiritually thrive in their new situation? I cannot say that I have.
