{"id":11632,"date":"2012-07-03T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=11632"},"modified":"2012-06-20T21:46:10","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T01:46:10","slug":"13-reasons-left-institutional-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/13-reasons-left-institutional-church\/","title":{"rendered":"13 Reasons Why I Left the Institutional Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is a guest post by Sam Riviera. He\u00a0spends most of his time and energy caring for others in his community so that through his life and actions they might see Jesus. If you have neighbors (and you do), you must read his series of posts on Getting to Know Your Neighbors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you would like to write a guest post for this blog, check out the guidelines here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Leaving<\/p>\n

Which Gospel?<\/h2>\n

When I was a child, I loved my church.\u00a0 I imagined Jesus sitting next to me when I was there.\u00a0 Jesus loved me this I knew, for I learned it in Sunday school.<\/p>\n

As an adult, however, something changed.\u00a0 I could no longer imagine Jesus sitting beside me as I listened to a whole \u2018nuther gospel, a gospel of money, power, authority, position, correct thinking, correct behaving and unquestioning acceptance of everything being taught.<\/p>\n

Where Is Jesus?<\/h2>\n

I no longer knew what to call the institution.\u00a0 Church seemed inappropriate.\u00a0 So I called it religion and decided to look for Jesus elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Although there are dozens of reasons why I left the institutional church, there are thirteen that especially stand out in my mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Apparently Jesus had left the building.\u00a0 I occasionally heard someone mention Him, but I could not find Him there.<\/li>\n
  2. I could no longer be part of an organization that did not treat women and men equally.<\/li>\n
  3. If I heard another \u201cChristian\u201d refer to LGBT people as abominations condemned to hell I was going to get in their face in a major way.\u00a0 I came within seconds of doing exactly that in front of hundreds of people at a mega church event.<\/li>\n
  4. The church was totally about preserving itself, which included protecting the money and playing the politics needed to accomplish that.<\/li>\n
  5. The church wanted and lusted after the rich, the beautiful, those with good jobs and large incomes, those who had married well, those who lived in the best neighborhoods and those who sent their children to the best schools.\u00a0 The church did not want or welcome the poor, the unlovely, minorities, LGBTs or the homeless.<\/li>\n
  6. The church did not want or welcome those who asked questions, those who disagreed with the leadership and those who did not contribute financially.<\/li>\n
  7. The pastor, staff and leadership rarely had time to talk to anyone except the power brokers and those who gave the most money.<\/li>\n
  8. Everyone was expected to believe exactly alike.<\/li>\n
  9. I asked the pastor \u201cDo you know what happened to \u2018Mr. Smith\u2019?\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen him in several weeks.\u201d \u201cThe last I heard he was very ill and in the hospital.\u00a0 He may have died,\u201d the pastor replied. \u201cDid you visit him at the hospital or call his family? I asked. \u201cNo.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a member of the church.\u201d\u00a0Neither was I, nor were many of the people who attended there.\u00a0 If I ended up on my deathbed, at least I knew who would not be there.\u00a0 (I later learned from another source that \u2018Mr. Smith had died a couple of weeks before my conversation with the pastor.)<\/li>\n
  10. I hated the cliques.\u00a0 There was always an \u201cin\u201d group.\u00a0 The \u201cin\u201d group ignored everyone else.<\/li>\n
  11. Most of the decisions of the church were not really made in board meetings, member meetings or in other official venues.\u00a0 They were made by a small group of power brokers behind the scenes – in phone calls and e-mails, in the hallways of the church and in other unofficial venues.\u00a0 The official venues were only for show.<\/li>\n
  12. The church disliked the people who lived in the neighborhood around the church.<\/li>\n
  13. The church did not interact with the neighborhood or community, or invest time or money in them.\u00a0 Most of the money was spent on the needs of the church.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My list of reasons was compiled based on what I experienced and observed at the churches I attended. Each item could be illustrated by numerous stories.\u00a0 My experience undoubtedly does not reflect everyone\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

    Did you ever leave the church?\u00a0 Why or why not?\u00a0 Did you return?\u00a0 Why or why not?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When I was a child, I loved my church. I imagined Jesus sitting next to me when I was there. As an adult, however, something changed. Did you ever leave the church? Why or why not? Did you return? Why or why not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1336,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-11632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-guest-post","8":"tag-theology-church","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n13 Reasons Why I Left the Institutional Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I was a child, I loved my church. 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