They must be angry, right?
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has written another excellent article called “It’s Not Because of Bad Church Experiences.”
For those of you who don’t remember, Eric recently left “the pastorate.” He had been a vocational pastor, but stopped a few months ago.
Why did he stop? Why is he now pursing a more simple, organic form of church life?
Well, he must be angry, right? He must have had some bad experiences? The people at his last church treated him poorly, right?
Well, no.
Here is part of what Eric says:
I obviously cannot speak for all those who have departed from the traditional church for a simpler, organic model of church life.  However, I can tell you that our family most emphatically did not leave because of “bad church experiences.”  In our lives Alice and I have been a part of several solid, evangelical, traditional churches.  We’ve had a few negative church experiences here and there, but who hasn’t?  Overall, we were pleased with and didn’t give much thought to the traditional model until a few years ago.
I’ve written at length about why we made the decision to leave the traditional church; I won’t bring all that back up again here.  Let me simply say that we did not leave because of bad experiences.  Rather, we left because of the bible.
My understanding of the church has changed over the last few years also, and like Eric, bad experiences were not the cause. Instead, as I studied Scripture, I saw a disconnect between what was modeled and taught in Scripture and what we call the church today.
Has your understanding of the church changed? Why?
My views have been changing as well. I wish I could say that I haven’t had bad church experiences, but I have. In fact, we were having some difficulties with the church we were members of when we left the IC altogether. Looking back I reailize that the problems we were having were directly related to the problems with the unbiblical system of the IC as a whole. I only wish that the love and grace we have toward those we formerly gathered with was reciprocated.
Bobby,
I can accept and love people whose beliefs (even theological or ecclesiological beliefs) are different from my own. But, I can’t force them to reciprocate.
-Alan