Letters From Leavers

Right, so what is WORCC? It is my personal definition of what everyone calls church today. “Western Organized Religious Country Club” (I know the popular term right now is “Institutional Church”, but I like mine better. I also know that it is not a ‘western’ idea but one that has been with us since the 3rd or 4^th century. Just cut me some slack, it sounds cool.)

So for the past 3 years God has been calling me to a deeper understanding of His Heart & Love. The process has involved leaving ‘WORCC’. It was easy for me because for years prior I was really starting to see the façade of all the Christians at my WORCC. Everyone’s life seemed just perfect on the surface, yet hearing through the gossip vine a different story was revealed. What was most frightening, I saw this façade in myself! I found myself in a place that, well, heyrick describes perfectly in his letter “Does the IC do more harm than good?” (kudos heyrick!). It is also clear to me that WORCC Is full of people who refuse to engage. Say what? Think of it like this; I invite someone to church who is hurting because that is where they will find healing, and I don’t want to engage because I will have to help them carry that burden, and I already have enough burdens to carry. You invite someone to church who is hurting because that is where they will find healing, and you don’t want to engage because you will have to help them carry that burden, and you already have enough burdens to carry. Bob invites someone to church who is hurting because that is where they will find healing, and Bob doesn’t want to engage because Bob will have to help them carry that burden, and Bob already has enough burdens to carry. See where I am going here? What you end up with is a building full of hurting people who will not engage because they do not want to carry their brothers’ burdens. Do you see that downward spiral?!

As we (my wife and I) looked for the real Church, an organic growing community of believers that love each other, encouraged one another, and carried their burdens together, we started to go to a small group from WORCC (the same denomination that we left, not that that matters). At first we were well received and loved (in a ‘conditional’ way, as I found out). But it didn’t take long for them to learn that we did not go to WORCC on Sundays. And the attitude toward our family was soon to follow. Unfortunately my unintentional, emotional, non-verbal response to the way we were treated was a little bitter, which was misinterpreted as bitterness towards the WORCC we left. How were we treated? Like we were not growing spiritually, or serving God. I in fact got a call one day from the leader of the group and he said “I do not see you growing spiritually because you are not going to [WORCC] and putting yourself in a place of service and ministry”. It was quite a shock to me because I would share at prayer time for the ones in my life that I was (loving) reaching out to, who did not know Jesus, for the families who were facing divorce as my wife and I would (love) reach out and encourage them, for my relationship with my unsaved nephew who we (love, and) take in every other weekend because his father (my brother) disowned him 7 years ago. I was stunned and could not respond right away and simply said “well thanks for your concern”. That call was just the start of the ‘boot’ out of their small group (heyrick’s #8).

We tried on different occasions to get together for dinner, and after one canceled date, because a friend of mine’s 16 year old daughter died in a car accident, and God told me to go to her calling hours instead, we got a disturbing email the morning after. It was very judgmental and made a lot of false accusations based on one or two comments that my wife or I had made months before, as well as false perceptions. Prior to the letter, there was never any effort on their part to seek the truth and know our hearts concerning any of the accusations.

It was finally made clear to us in a letter from the pastor where they WORCC – “We consider an evidence of a person growing in Christ to be their participation in worship with the corporate body of believers (whatever that might be to a particular church). We do not encourage our people to consider the small group to their corporate worship experience.” Ouch. There it is – “You cannot grow in Christ unless you go to WORCC”. What a bunch of Bull! (Excuse my boldness, that’s just a bunch of Pharisaical (sp) crap to me. And we know what Jesus called the Pharisees of His day.)

I do take fault in the fact that I tried to find an “Organic Community of Christians who truly Love Each Other” in a small group from WORCC. That mistake will never happen again. Don’t get me wrong here, I have known both these men as long as I have been a Christian (16yrs), and I love them both! I hope they will find the Loving God I have, and soon. A God who “…loves us with passion, without regret.
He cannot love more and will not love less.” (Michael Card - Chorus of Faith) Not based on anything we do. So, am I? Growing in Christ? Well, I have a new love in my heart for the lost, hurting, unlovely people in my life. I have prayed more with my children and wife then I ever had. People are actually coming to me for spiritual encouragement. I have had non-Christian friends come to me and ask spiritual questions. The unsaved people in my life are seeing IT (God’s love for them in me). Don’t get me wrong here, I am not boasting! I am excited because I have seen real fruit to my faith in God, and as I learn to Love as He loves. Jesus says the greatest commandment, the one that sums it all up, is to “Love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself”

So where do we go from here? Well, if you haven’t noticed I have used the word organic a couple times already. I really like Frank Viola’s definition of ‘organic church “By “organic church,” I mean a non-traditional church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructing by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grass roots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (opposed to pastor-to-pew services), non-hierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering. Put another way, organic church life is the experience of the Body of Christ. In its purest form, it’s the fellowship of the Triune God brought to earth and experienced by human beings.” (http://www.ptmin.org/)

Have I already found this? Not in a traditional sense. But understanding that I AM the ‘Church’ and it is my responsibility from God to love those in my life, I can create this organism. And it has been awesome how God has brought other people into our lives that are traveling down this same road.