Letters From Leavers

I was raised a Christian.  I attended a Methodist church until I was in seventh grade.  That is when my parents decided that there was nothing for me and my sisters at that church, so we switched to a church with a very large youth program.  My sisters and I were accepted right away.  I fell in love with the people, the atmosphere, the worship, the program, everything.  I brought my friends there and I loved it in every way.  I even brought my husband there when we were on our second date.  We were married there and a couple of years ago, baptised our children there.  Although many people left that church for various reasons I stayed.  It was home to me.  It is where I learned to grow in Christ and live my life as a Christian person.  Although many people blamed the pastor for the decline in the attendance at church, I supported his efforts.  But when it came to my children I needed to make a decision for their best interests.  When I took them to the nursery, there weren’t any children there.  Or if children were there it was only one or two.  I couldn’t stand bringing them to the nursery only to hear them cry uncontrollably and be called out of the service.  I tried bringing them into the service, but ended up in the Bride’s room every Sunday.  Sometimes the TV in the bridesroom was on - sometimes it wasn’t.  So I came to a point where I just gave up going at all.  The only hope I had was that my children would grow up a little bit and then there would be more to offer to them.  But then I started thinking about my own childhood and the Methodist church I had attended as a child.  My sisters and I were a large part of the youth group, and we hated it.  We would lie very quietly in bed on Sunday morning, hoping my parents wouldn’t wake up in time to go to church.  It wasn’t until we had changed to the church with the larger youth group that I grew in my love for Lord.  I didn’t want my children to have that same experience.  I wanted them to love going to church as much as I did.  So my husband and I decided that the time to leave had come.  We began going to a church with a very large youth group.  My two year old twin boys love going to the nursery and tell me several times during the week that they want to go to church.  It makes it so much easier on my husband and I.  We know that they are happy which makes it easier for us to concentrate on the worship in the service.  I fought the idea of leaving the church I loved so much.  I have wonderful memories and made wonderful friends.  But my desire for my children to love the Lord was greater than my devotion to that church.