Thinking of Leaving the Church of Christ?

Sewell Hall

Among the gentle, sincere and relatively happy Christians with whom I am normally associated, I occasionally find some who are bitter and disillusioned. Often they complain about what they see as Phariseeism, traditionalism, legalism, or prudish moral standards among brethren. Sometimes they feel so strong about these things that they say, “I think I just may have to leave the church.”

Which Church?

Just which church are they leaving? If it is a local church, they may be wise to leave. The Lord threatened to sever relations with some churches (Revelation 2:5; 3:16) and His saints may have to do the same.

To many, however, “leaving the church” means leaving something larger than the local church. They think of the church of Christ as a fellowship of congregations bound by a common historical heritage, accepting an unwritten, but very binding, creed, recognizing certain papers and schools as official Church of Christ institutions and being dominated by an elite group of influential preachers. They think that to remain in the Church of Christ they must accept all of these; and that if they are not in perfect agreement with them, their only alternative is to get out. This is denominationalism, pure and simple.

There may, indeed, be such a de facto denomination. And anyone who has become a part of it by submission to its human creed or by loyalty to its institutions should leave it immediately. But let him not say that he is “leaving the church of Christ.” A friend of mine once wrote a book entitled “Why I Left the Church of God.” I hope that was not what he did. Anyone who truly understands what the church of Christ (or the church of God) is, will never want to leave it. It is not a denomination, but all of those whom He purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28).

How Did You Enter It?

If you trace your membership in “the church of Christ” to the conscious adoption of such an unwritten creed or to the choice of fellowship with a certain group of people, perhaps you did join a denomination, at least in your own mind. But those who are in the true church of Christ are in it because they are saved. That’s what the church is—those called out of the world by the gospel, saved by the blood of Christ and sanctified by the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13–14). All who are saved are in it, because the infallible Lord has, from the beginning, “added to the church daily those … being saved” (Acts 2:47).

How Would You Leave It?

One can only leave the true church of Christ by being severed from Christ. Paul warned the Galatians of this possibility: “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). If they were estranged from Christ, they were no longer saved and, therefore, no longer in the church.

Some today propose to leave the church of Christ by joining some “other denomination.” Their use of the term, “other denomination,” proves that they conceive of themselves as being in “the Church of Christ denomination.” They are wrong in being in that, but joining another one will not correct it. To join any denomination, one must go beyond the doctrine of Christ and 2 John 9 warns that one who does this “does not have God.” This is one way to leave the church.

Some “leave the church” by becoming involved in immorality which brethren will not tolerate. A young man said, “I am going to marry this woman, even if it means I have to leave the church.” Whether brethren reject him or not, if he practices sin he does leave the church. He does so by leaving the Lord. “One who practices sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8, NAS). “And what concord has Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:15).

Still others who are discouraged or disillusioned “leave the church” simply by becoming inactive. They may not intend to leave (some claim to “hold membership” even over many years of inactivity) and brethren may overlook their absence, but God will not. Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away” (John 15:2).

If you have been thinking of leaving the church in any of these ways, think again. By doing so, you are not simply leaving the church, you are leaving the Lord.

What Can We Do?

Just remember that even in New Testament days, the church included some who were not what they should be. Saints then were encouraged to cling to the Lord and do their best to be personally what they ought to be. Their responsibility to others was to: “Warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Beyond this, the Lord laid upon them no other burden (Revelation 2:24).

He lays upon us no other burden. He certainly does not intend that we, like the Pharisee, should thank God that we are not like other men, wrap a robe of self-righteousness about us and “leave the church of Christ.”

Hall, S. (1989). Hallmarks: Thinking of Leaving the Church of Christ? Christianity Magazine, 6(9), 5.