Letters From Leavers

For 24 years my wife Linda and I were church insiders doing almost everything you can do in a church without turning “pro”.  As an Assistant Pastor, Youth Leader, licensed minister, Elder, Board member, preacher, fund raiser, altar worker, deacon, building maintenance, counselor, I was a pillar to church. Linda was for 7 years the Choir Director, a singer, Sunday School teacher, and we were both faithful attendees of almost every service and function of the church.

This occurred as the church transitioned from a denominational Pentecostal church into a non-denominational Evangelical Christian church.  Wey always worked closely with the pastors and leadership and had many friends in ministry and the church.

As the years went by, we did not give heed to the progressive decline away from the scriptures and prayer as we stayed busy with church programs, activities, and the routine of church life. For years we were among the first to arrive and were among the last to leave church services.
In 2004, and in the wake of a family crisis, Rory sought the Lord fervently and returned to regular and prayerful study of the Bible.
He began to ask uncomfortable questions which were outside the church box after noticing there was no specific Word to Christians or churches that they were to pay tithes. While diligently studying the New Testament church practices in scripture, he was astonished to find there was no substantiation for commonly accepted church doctrines such as tithing, the typical pastor-sole-head-of church, and other importantant subjects. In addition, as he studied the role models of Christian faith in the lives of the disciples in the New Testament, he realized the church he attended bore little resemblance to the church in scripture.

So on Sept. 29, 2004, after a heart rending decision, we walked away from the church we helped to found in 1993. Rory was seeing and reading things in the New Testament that simply did not square with what he and many others had accepted without question for many years as they obeyed “them that had the rule over them”.

After more than 3,500 church services, staff meetings, revivals, and related gatherings, we walked out into a spiritual wilderness. This was and is God’s design in order for us to seek Him rather than the kingdoms of men.

It meant letting go of the traditional church paradigm to Christianity which was very difficult. The Lord graciously confirmed these things in a multitude of dreams and from Scripture,  from which we had departed from while in the church.

Our website www.preparehisway.com is a ministry to those leaving, considering leaving, or trying to understand why they are not fulfilled by a church institution.  Our free book about tithing vs Biblical giving is offered for free there.