These posts will be be detailing a few different subjects:
My Former Church
Finding a New Church
In February of 2024, I left my church home of 10 years after God revealed some of my pastor’s manipulation of Scripture.
This post solely discusses my former church. If you’d like to skip ahead to how I went about finding a new church, click here for Part 2.
My former church was a multi-campus church with hundreds of thousands of in-person attendees; not including the online family. I was invited to it in 2014 when I was in search of a church home for the very first time in my adult-life.
I always say that I feel like God met me there. God already had to convince me to go to church in the first place because I truly didn’t think I needed to! Perhaps I’ll write about that time in my life one day.
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Due to the fact that, 1) I didn’t think I needed church and 2) I didn’t have any real understanding of Jesus, nor the Gospel… I didn’t know what to look for in a church home. Back then, I chose a church the same way I chose men: “I’ll just know when I know.”
And after sitting through the first sermon, I felt like I knew that I should be there.
When it came to church – and, dating – I could spot blatant danger from a mile away. But I simply did not understand manipulation at that time!
Still, while at my former church, God used my pastor in plenty of amazing ways: I learned so many stories of the Bible. I became a dedicated churchgoer. I shed (not all, but) many vices. For many years, I volunteered in and outside of church. And, though I’d always been vocal about God, my conversation greatly increased in that area.
I went from thinking that I didn’t need church, to absolutely loving it. I loved church, and I loved my church.
So, it may be hard to believe it when I tell you that: Leaving my former church wasn’t heartbreaking.
By the top of 2024, God had revealed, delivered and healed me from multiple manipulative situations. And, because of this, I was super dedicated to dropping anything that wasn’t of Him. So, realizing that my former church manipulated Scripture was eye-opening and tough to chew on… but leaving wasn’t heartbreaking.
Yes, it was sad – but if it were heartbreaking, I would have needed to carve out serious time for grieving.
If you’re in the hunt for a new church home because you realized something sketchy or traumatic about your former home… please be honest about your emotional state. Let God hold your hand and heal your soul before rushing into the next situation. Remember: God is always with you and you have direct access to Him through Jesus.
Worth mentioning: The summer before I left my church home, God convicted me that I needed to start bringing my son to church as well. And so I did. And, he fell in love with church too.
Looking back, I’m reminded of JUST HOW GOOD GOD IS. God allowed me to get comfortable with leaving my (then) three year old son in the children’s group at a place I already trusted. He allowed my son to get used to that routine. And, He placed within me a personal conviction of where He wanted us to be on Sunday mornings: in church.
So, upon exiting my church, I knew that I would eventually need to find another.
But I wasn’t going to rush into anything. I had new knowledge of Scripture, of the Gospel and of the reality of deceit within some pulpits.
Now, I just needed to understand how to go about vetting pastors and churches in the future…
Lexzie in Christ 