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Being called out of the church

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Lightseeker:
To stay or to go has not been my call...it's been God's.  I was in the church for two years after getting born again.  Then I felt like God called me out, by His Spirit.  We were out for 17 years while fellowshipping in home groups.  We did so for many years in several cities.  Ironically, after we moved from each of those cities our homegroups had grown to the point that they became "non denominational" churches.  That happened 3 times.

18 years ago God called my wife and I back into the 'traditional church' scene.  The burden He placed on my heart was this:  "If what you have is so good then why aren't you sharing it with the body" (of Christ)?  I resisted for about a year...but that word kept hounding me.  We finally did return to "The Church"!  I had my rough times mind you, especially at the start.  But I feel like I have an enviable position now, especially when I read posts like I've read here at BT.  I truly have respect and favor...with the pastor, the elders, and the congregation and God. 

I was never used in the gifts of the Spirit before...like I have been in recent years.  And that's part of what has captured leadership's attention concerning me.  Scripture says that Jesus was a man approved of God by signs and wonders.  People in our church listen to my "radical","heretical" doctrinal views simply because they've seen/heard of authority being manifested 'through me' in the spiritual realm...authority that most of them don't walk in.

It's been said 'unless you're under authority you have no authority'.  That principle was confirmed twice in scripture by Jesus.  That has also been my experience...spiritually speaking.  So does that mean you should leave or go?  Nay, it means that 'you too' should be led of the Spirit.  In the mentoring groups and home bible study groups I've led, I have a list of governing principles concerning those 'under' me.  One of those principles says this: "If you leave because you're led...you're right.  But if you leave because you're mad...you're wrong."  

SandyFla:
I still go to church every Sunday, although I don't always agree with the preaching. I've thought about quitting, but it would put a tremendous burden on my mother. She already thinks one of her kids is going to hell; I don't want her to think she's losing me too. I can talk to her, and she'll agree with everything I show her, but then she soon forgets. Healthwise and agewise, she probably won't be around for many more years, so, for her own peace of mind, I feel like I must stay in church.

Also, I've had chances to bring up questions in Sunday School that get the people thinking and questioning things. The teacher once made the remark that he doesn't care what church doctrine says anymore and is more interested in what the Bible actually says. I wonder if he means that. I'm working on some "eye-openers" that I plan to give to him soon. It will either be the beginning of the end for me, or a means by which God can remove the blinders from his eyes.

For now, I'll bloom where I'm planted until God uproots me.

Sandy

sansmile:
God does work in strange ways. I was brought up a Northern Irish protestant, i then came to England when i joined the navy and met my husband, who was a Scottish catholic. I went through a lot of problems with my family when i married him. I changed to Catholic (secretly from my family) after 9 yrs of marriage but refused to take part in, what i said were, man made rules (confession etc). We were really involved in the catholic church during navy days, as it was mailnly fellowship and childrens groups. We moved to London when my husband came out of the navy, for work. To cut a long story short, my sister in law beacame a " born again" christiian and was desperately trying to save us. My husband and i had a wonderful awesome experience with the Holy Slpirit, seperately i hasten to add, over a period of 2 weeks. He never told me about his experience as he thought i would think he was crazy. But one morning i woke up and said to him "Jesus is alive". Thats when we started to talk. We, after a couple of experiences with tithing churches, became involved with a calvary church in Westminster in London. The teachings, we felt, were great because we had never been encouraged to read the bible. Looking back the teachings were more centred on historics of biblical times. After a while we felt the spirit was making us restless, but really was revealing to us the various doctrines that disagreed with scripture. We decided  not to attend for a while and just study. During this time, my husband was drawn to bibletruths.com. What a revelation, reading the articles was like coming home, everytime we read somerthing we would be going."yes, yes, i always felt that." Since then and that was about 1year ago we have not attended church, we  have fellowship with my sister-in-law in our homes. The Lord has revealed so much to us . How blind we were. It is a lonely walk , although i have been blessed that my husband sees the same. But the lack of fellowship is hard at times, but i still could never go back into church and listen to heresies being taught. God has us were we are, because thats were He wants us, for those of you still attending, thats where He wants you to be, but dont partake of her sins.

FREEINDEED:
When I was first called out of the Church.  I was totally lost and didn't have a clue as what to do now.  Church was my LIFE.  I mean it kept me busy.  I would go to Sunday morning service,  Wednesday night Bible Study and Choir rehearsal on Thursday.  But as I continue to read things on Bible Truth I now realize that being busy like that was a waste of time.

Right now I'm still reading the Lake of Fire series and it's sad to see that many of my Family members and Friends are lost.  But right now I'm the one that appear to be lost because I'm not going to nobody Church on Sunday.

I still haven't been totally honest to any of my Friends as to why I'm not going to Church.  Because I really don't feel like explaining to them the reason why I'm not going.  One of my friends invited me to go to Bible Study with her on next Thursday.  I told her that I will go with her, because I just didn't have the guts to tell her NO. 

hart4god:
well, this is a topic I actually know about!- and I completely understand the fear of being out of the organized type of religion- since they make sure you are programmed into believing that you will fall into heresy, sin, and unbelief if you dare to "forsake the assembling"!

Our family attended 14+ churches over the course of 25 years.....one church we stayed in for 13 years and another church just about 13 days! It was quite a journey for all of us. It was hard at times and we suffered and lost friends and were disappointed and rejected and more. We were in mega- churches and home churches. essentially they were all the same. and had the same sad effects on all the people who attended. Their doctrines hurt people bad. The over emphasis on money and also the abuse of authority which they called "spiritual"

We have been officially out of any assembly for one year. Nothing terrible has happened to any of us. There is more spiritual growth and more open discussion of God, the Bible and Jesus than ever before. My kids are learning that the life of Christ is lived in the world serving others and not ourselves. and no more serving an idolatrous church. We were church slaves before and our kids endured a lot because of it. and we were always poor since we tithed and gave ridiculous offerings to people who had so much more material possesions than we did.

Now I can actually pay my bills each month and there is money for the poor as well.

I have tried to meet for "fellowship" with friends who are out of church too, but it always seems forced and I get that horrible sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it. It is not something the Holy Spirit is leading us into right now. We are pretty much alone with the Lord. Our extended family looks at us as backslidden. But we are finally happy. Church created such horrible conflicts for us with their inaccurate and shallow teaching and sometime downright anti-Christ..... it was always hard.

The Lord leads each person to the place they should be for that time. I think the trick is to always be listening and willing to move out or move on as He leads. I think we can all do this in God's timing without fear- because we know that He is working in us. It is not ourselves. He will use what we think we are deciding to do, we don't need to be afraid of making mistakes.
One thing I learned from my last post on asking questions was that He is leading us in  the path He has set before us, in the race we are running and His Spirit will communicate all the comfort and information we need to move with Him especially when it looks impossible.

I do not think I could ever go back to the organized church. It just grates against me. I have no problems with others attending for their own reasons. and I do not try to get people to leave. It is all in God's hands.  As I can see from reading over all the posts here He does it according to each one's situation and needs. we will all have different experiences in the process of coming out of it.

All your journeys have been great to hear- and of course the encouragement that we are not the only people who have gone this way is wonderful to know.

blessings to all.
judie h

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