Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 11:54 am by Bart Gingerich

Against the Church Abandonment Manifesto 2014-12-19T11:54:26-04:00 Bart Gingerich

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

We’ve seen it before: the “I’m leaving Church but I still believe in Jesus” manifesto. Behind such testimonials, interviews, and blog posts is the false assumption that one can have the true faith without the Body that was saved by the Founder of that faith. As faithful Christians know, being in Christ means being in His Church. Yes, we are transformed by God’s grace and called to holiness, but we also realize we are in a flock with other sinners.

Moreover, many will notice that leaving the Church and thus her instruction can often lead to the eventual abandonment of Christ altogether. When we start to define Who Jesus is and what He demands of us on our own terms of comfort and preference, we create an idol. But the first step can be a severance from the Body of Faith. We who are convinced by the truth of the Scriptures may scratch our head when we see these “spiritual not religious” discourses, which seem to be the new “holier than thou” statements.

I myself ponder on whether they have more to do with error or more to do with a failure of will. I’ll grant that there are some who become intellectually convinced of other faiths, but I dare say that many of the abandonment testimonies seem fueled more by embarrassment and bad experiences. “These people who claim to be God’s treated me, my friend, and/or that group of people badly,” the trope often goes, “This is simply too much. I am going to escape hypocrisy. I am leaving.”

I wonder how many articles dealing with grievances against the church’s behavior and mistreatment from her leaders would dissipate if people were actually part of other groups and societies these days. Obviously, the church has to be a witness to the world, but many of the complaints about how certain church members treated a person are pretty universal problems found in any organization: humans in groups can be jerks, make mistakes, have blind spots, and mishandle all sorts of cases. Many of the “I’m leaving or taking a break from church because people hurt me” manifestos could just as easily been authored about the local Ruritans, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Garden, or Women’s Club. But few under the age of 40 participate are in such societies any more.

If more Christians were in voluntary associations, they may have a greater awareness of some common trends in human depravity. Abuse abounds wherever people congregate. It doesn’t matter if there’s a cross up front. People inflict hurts large and small upon other people.

The dearth of Millennials in little platoons, associations where they would rub shoulders with everyday humans in their own locality, cannot be breezily dismissed, even by non-Christians. It leads to social inexperience, emotional immaturity, and an all-round thin-skinned character, which in turn leads to a jejune understanding of what it takes to put up with people, much less love them. Civil society decays. Imposition of will becomes the word of the day. The replacement of manners and etiquette with political correctness is just one visible result of this unfortunate trajectory. After all, if people cannot be limited from bad public behavior by virtue or a sense of honor (and by extent shame), they will have to be managed by positive law. And this positive law will cater to the thin-skinnedness of the most powerful parties.

As Alexis de Toqueville pointed out, it is the discourse and bonds of voluntary associations that helped early Americans fend off several perilous excesses springing from democracy. Toqueville noticed that there are inherent dangers and drawbacks in every political structure; democracies can degenerate into a tyranny of the majority as well as a radical egalitarianism that refuses to discern good from bad. A healthy civil society with many voluntary associations prevent such problems, making the society healthier on the whole.

However, so many people these days join self-selected cliques or interface online at a distance (and thus easily evacuate in difficult circumstances), that they don’t have to exercise true patience with people. We can simply unfollow someone or block their posts from our newsfeeds. We cannot suffer the trouble of others. Call it what you will: “relational hyperefficiency,” laziness of soul, acedia.

It’s a kind of sloth; we slouch toward isolation.

In fact, the Church is one of the few remaining bodies today where people–committed to the same Person, behavior, and doctrine–are “forced” to live in peace with one another. It is actually her witness to an atomizing and alienating culture.

So, before you post that piece you wrote about abandoning church membership or before you share that apostasy testimonial, ask yourself a few questions. Is Christianity really true or not? If it really is true, do I interpret my experiences through that truth or do I try to alter reality based upon the emotions I feel from my experiences? Am I simply failing to exercise long-suffering? Am I just experiencing a shift in theology? Should I therefore seek out a different church home rather than abandon Christianity altogether? Is my local congregation an abusive religious sect? If there isn’t any significant structural difference between the governance of my congregation and abusive sects, do I need to reevaluate my ecclesiology?

Because, in the end, the Truth is what will remain. Christ Jesus, the Truth Incarnate, has brought His people in union with Himself and thus by necessity with one another. He does not fail like His fallen creatures do. If we really believe that and teach that, declarations of self-excommunication seem a lot less appealing.

Previous Post

December 1, 2014

The Jonathan Edwards Seminar in Review

Next Post

December 8, 2014 The Abolition of Man: There’s an App for That

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Culture Slideshow Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 July 2025 April 2025 February 2025 October 2024 August 2023 June 2023 March 2023 February 2023 November 2022 April 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 October 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz