tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post1093479623949171291..comments2024-03-21T05:10:57.134+00:00Comments on Mustard Seed Shavings: Leaving ChurchSteve Tilleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17400505989949096631noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post-14974064174499910732010-01-11T18:13:41.745+00:002010-01-11T18:13:41.745+00:00Agree with St excellent thoughts from Tim Stevens....Agree with St excellent thoughts from Tim Stevens. Thanks for the link.Dennisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post-27173450246440731292010-01-09T17:50:05.383+00:002010-01-09T17:50:05.383+00:00I'd never thought of those situations being an...I'd never thought of those situations being an issue, to be honest. I had no idea it was a big deal for ministers (or congregation, for that matter) when people simply moved because they wanted a change. <br /><br />Maybe it's a symptom of our fluid attitude to "communities" that moving from church to church can be seen to be as easy as moving from house to house, rather than as life-changing as moving from job to job, for example...<br /><br />Hmm...there's a sermon in that, somewhere! Is church somewhere you go, or something you do?... Actually, I've probably heard that sermon, so it's unlikely to be an original thought!Marcellanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post-44673160326544755052010-01-09T14:13:32.886+00:002010-01-09T14:13:32.886+00:00I guess that's the problem of the catch-all po...I guess that's the problem of the catch-all post. I had in mind not those who end up with a pastoral disagreement with the minister (people I have the fullest concern for) but those who 'just want a change.' From time to time people come to me from other churches seeking to join mine and I always say 'Have you told your current minister.' I am concerned that other ministers are equally slow to accept transfer growth without first checking it is for the best reasons.Steve Tilleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17400505989949096631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post-77410306015142575492010-01-08T21:05:29.073+00:002010-01-08T21:05:29.073+00:00Absolutely agree with Caroline. I left a previous ...Absolutely agree with Caroline. I left a previous church in the sure knowledge that meeting with the minister to discuss it would probably result in blood on the carpet. I figured at the time that if I couldn't keep my temper in check when merely thinking about it, I was unlikely to restrain myself from unladylike behaviour when dealing with him in person.<br /><br />I think maybe the trick is to enable people to leave A church without leaving THE church at the same time.<br /><br />Some 15 years later, the anger is still as red-hot as it was, but I've finally managed to direct it at the person, not at the God he claimed to represent. Is that progress?Marcellanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5581050.post-74205207173038448002010-01-08T19:03:29.642+00:002010-01-08T19:03:29.642+00:00I can see the point of talking with people (minist...I can see the point of talking with people (minister) before/as you leave a church...<br /><br />but on the one occasion that I left a church (for a reason other than moving town), the rest of Stevens' post would have been nonsense...<br /><br />I had felt betrayed, left high and dry by the vicar of that church, I had watched people who rejected me take a leading part in communion services, I had spent a year walking a road that few have had to walk, and the vicar and the leadership of the church had frozen me out...<br /><br />maybe, as they frequently told me, I was difficult....<br /><br />maybe,<br /><br />but I suspect that, for different reasons, many people who leave a church community do so with a sense of isolation, rejection and abjectness that would make a meeting with a minister quite impossible...<br /><br />I notice that there was no place in Mr Stevens' world for such people...<br /><br />he fools himself methinks.Caroline Toohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04751846730467721675noreply@blogger.com