The past couple of years has been some challenging ones but God saw me through it all. One of the hardest things of these couple of years was leaving my beloved church in which is still taking some time to get over. I am still healing, but thank God I am healing!
Like I said in my post "The Black Experience in a White Church"(if you haven't read that one yet check it out https://mcfarlanemarketing.wixsite.com/sistersinchrist) Leaving my church was a very difficult decision but I am so glad we made it.
Finding a new church to call home was even harder because you have to learn how to trust again. And let me say this, I realize "The Church" has imperfect people because I am one of them. And we did not leave for that. It was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment thing, we fought to stay. We prayed and sought out sound godly counsel every step of the way but came out with the same conclusion. It was time to leave.
Leaving a church is not the "End All Be All".
There are many churches out there, however, I have to say it was hard to find one here in the Quad Cities (Iowa). But Praise God we found one!
Yes, it can be daunting, but not impossible. So don't let what made you leave your old church make you bitter with God. We as humans are fallible so don't isolate yourself, because when we isolate we can become depressed, bitter, and the list can go on and on.
Seasons When we became members of our old church we had no idea we were going to one day have to leave it. However, our season at our old church was over. Again, we stayed longer than we should've. And I think that made it even harder to leave. The feeling of Hurt, Pain, and yes, Guilt. These were the hardest. It hurt so bad. One of the reasons was because the people we called our 'Sisters and Brothers" in Christ just stop talking to us. NOT. ONE. WORD. The church is not a cult, you can still talk to the ones who left, you don't know what they are going through. For me, I did not hear from the people I thought I would hear from but thank God we heard and still fellowship with the ones that truly care. If you are a Born again Believer, that does not relegate you to one church. So people, don't stop checking on your brothers and sisters in the faith who have left a particular church, they need to hear from you. I am not a sinner because I left I am a survivor and I needed to do more than just survive, I had to LIVE. The pain of leaving is palpable but it has gotten so much better. There are other Christians who are still in pain please don't give up on them. Check on them, call, text, email, etc. it will help. Guilt.
You can feel guilt in the process of leaving a church and grieving it too is painful. So make sure you seek godly counsel and pray, pray pray. However, don't allow the enemy to make you feel guilty because you left. You know why you left and most of all God knows why you left. Here is a quote I read some time ago and I will paraphrase it. Refuse to reconnect with your pain. When you are loosed, stay loosed. Don't allow yourself to go back into bondage. Once you are Free stay Free indeed!