Ex-Christians

While doing my Tidbit yesterday I came across an Ex-Christian's blog site.  If I remember right, I think the man said that he had been a believer 34 years then left the Christian faith because of various things and I think he was very discouraged saying some very negative things.  It sounded like he really wanted things to turn out differently but he lacked the support he needed to hang in there.  Then I read some of the comments and some were downright nasty and angry sounding.

Being a believer now for about the same number of years and being in various ministries, I have talked to people that felt like they didn’t fit in or weren’t accepted in the church.  I know there are cliques in the church and it is difficult to break down the barriers and be accepted.  At one time I heard a pastor say in his sermon that he was glad there were cliques in the church and that bothered me a great deal.  Who is responsible for these people that fall by the wayside and does anybody really care?  When is the last time you reached out to someone that was hurting and needed someone to reach out and love them?  Or did you judge them to be unworthy of your concern?  Or think, besides that, if they don’t want to be here, that is their problem.  

I have heard it said that a church is supposed to be like a hospital where sick people come to be ministered to, but it seems like we care more for the people outside the church than the ones that are inside the church.  People leave churches for various reasons, some are legit and others may not be, but shouldn’t the pastors care enough to ask why and take some time to follow up to see if they can help in some way, or should they just write them off.  Today there are a large majority of young people and many adults leaving the church, is anyone following them up or are they just allowing them to fall through the cracks.  Many of these people never come back to the church.

Jesus talked about this in the parable about the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So Jesus told them this story: ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!’”

These lost souls need to be found and brought back to the fold, which in this case is the church.  Why are they leaving?  Is it because of a lack of love and concern or a lack of sound teaching?  It may be a combination of all these things, plus other factors.  

I heard a preacher talking about a pastor friend that, I think, was from Brazil, who had a very large number of people in the church.  He said that every person in the church was assigned another person to help mentor them and help them grow in the faith, which seemed to work out well and the church was growing to be quite large.  

Maybe that would be something that could be used in other churches and people wouldn’t be so apt to leave.  It seems to me a lot of time and money has been wasted on programs that didn’t work over the years.  Maybe this will help more people want to be involved in this problem, I hope so.  Something to think about!  God bless and have a super day!!