'Ain't Gonna Go to Church No More,' Says Minister

I'm rewriting the old African-American spiritual "Down By the Riverside." (Don't worry. It's Okay. I'm a minister). My new version goes something like this:

Gonna lay down my robe and stole
Down by the Riverside
Down by the Riverside
Down by the Riverside
Gonna lay down my robe and stole
Down by the Riverside
Ain't goin' to church no more.

Yep! That's it. This minister is walking away from church -- well, for three months.

I've gone to church my whole life. Haven't missed more than two Sundays in a row in..., um, I actually don't think I've even missed more than two Sundays in a row -- ever. Not even in college. As a matter of fact, while a lot of my High School youth group friends were spreading the wings of their new found freedom in college by not going to church, I was part of a traveling worship team that helped lead worship at churches all over the state. (I know, I'm a geek. Okay, a church geek. OKAY! A church nerd -- of course, back then with the popularity of dc Talk, I just thought of myself as a Jesus Freak. In a lot of ways I still am -- the more things change...).

A few years ago I started a blog. It began as a way for me to say things that sometimes didn't feel safe or pastoral (or wise?) to say in church. (How sad is that, ministers not feeling like it's alright to say things that they actually believe in church? And I say "ministers" because there's a whole lot of them that feel that way. If you go to church, yours probably feels that way at least a little bit).

From the very beginning of thegodarticle.com, I've written about the many challenges the church is facing (and frequently ignoring): Can the Church Catch Up?, Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Set Adrift on a Myth, Growing Church Organically, At the Speed of Grace, and a few others. I've come to see that, for all the good the church does for others, it is turning a blind eye to itself. Clearly, this isn't true of all churches but the Church as a whole is predominantly being eaten up by a variety of cancerous issues. At this point, it seems to me, those issues are not only built into the system, but are so central to the system that those who are a part of it find it very difficult to either acknowledge the issues or do anything about them if they do manage to acknowledge them.

Me? I'm a preacher. I'm all wrapped up in the system. From the inside, it is truly difficult to gain perspective. Conceptually, I get why an increasing number of younger generations are flocking away from -- well, the "flock," but frankly, just seeing and acknowledging the "hypocrisy" (among the other issues to which they correctly point as the problem with church) isn't enough; I need to do something about it. So, it's time to get some "perspective."

That's why I ain't goin' to church no more -- for three months, that is. A week ago I started a three month long sabbatical. I decided from the very beginning that I would not darken the door of a church (with the one exception of a building mission trip to the Dominican Republic with my wife's church).

Frankly, it feels weird/odd/relaxing/disjointed/freeing/wrong/good.

Why am I not going to church? Because a great deal of the people with whom I'd like to figure out how to be in ministry don't. They're not heathen. They're not un-spiritual. They're -- well, just like me, except they have Sundays off.

This is my hope for the next three months: I want to understand what it is that the "spiritual but not religious" like about not being in church AND I want to understand what I, a life long churchgoer, miss about not being in church. I'm also hoping that YOU will be in dialogue with me about this.

I'll be blogging my experience in a series called "Church No More" and I hope you'll follow along, make comments below each post and interact with me on the blog's Facebook page. You can even start right now by leaving a comment about why your either do or don't go to church (and please don't judge other people's story, just leave your own). Together we can begin to understand this religious/spiritual gap a little better and figure out how the people of God may once again come together for the good of the world and not for its detriment.

I suspect this journey will open my eyes to the new thing God is constantly doing. I hope you'll walk along with me and broaden my adventure.

This article was originally posted on The God Article.

 

Follow Mark Sandlin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/marksandlin

Comments

[EyezWideOpenTx]

08:46 AM on 08/11/2012

After many years, and many disappointments with the power plays of those in quasi-leadership positions, I have grown weary of Church politics and have walked away--not from God, but from the institutional narcissistic hypocrisy and the lies all in the name of God. The Church has made many an atheist. The Church and its leadership are sick. There is a sense of entitlement that has overshadowed its primary calling--to preach the gospel and to serve mankind. They have forgotten their purpose. Instead of being a light to the world, they have become more like the world--and savagely so. Church leadership has prostituted the Gospel of Jesus Christ.. It may not specifically be pastors as much as those who serve in quasi-leadership positions and seeking status. Church leaders have selfishly abused congregations for personal gain and have turned a blind eye to people's most basic needs (e.g., lack of food, sickness, financial destitution). Jesus' example showed that when basic needs are addressed, an open door is available for the Gospel to be preached. Unfortunately, we scorn and ostracize those who may take a more liberal view of what Christian service means. The Church should lose its tax exemption status because it no longer operates with the same purpose under which it was incorporated. It has become political monster and THE very thing that we abhor than a house of worship. I fault the pastors for allowing this atmosphere to flourish within their congregations.

[dawc1113]

08:08 AM on 08/09/2012

To tell you the truth about NOT GOING TO CHURCH!! The church no longer and hasn't for over a 100 years been teaching the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Why do I want to go hear someone teach me lies or part lies and part truth giving their part lies some validity. It's UTTERLY DISGUSTING to me and I REFUSE to be a part of BABYLON (The Confusion). THERE SHALL COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED. I believe the FALLING AWAY is here and SHE (The Church) shall be filled with EVERY UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD. This is CERTAINLY TRUE as the Southern Baptist Churches that I have encountered ARE CERTAINLY FILLED WITH HATEFUL BIRDS. My own mother is one of those HATEFUL BIRDS. The one and ONLY Church I've ever participated with that seems to express TRUE LOVE is the TRUE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH. They've got the TRUTH and unfortunately, they are also straying because of the Roman Catholic Jesuits and what they are doing and have been doing for quite some time in the Protestant churches around the world.

[wittyprof]

09:34 PM on 08/10/2012

hateful birds? oh dear.

[mstrong610]

03:17 PM on 08/04/2012

A most wonderfull idea indeed, and as one commentator said , you just might need a year or even two. I do not recommend a total abandonment, but you do need as much time as possible to sit back and re-consider your calling. The Bible says 2 Peter 1:10. " Wherefore the rather give deligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, ye shall never fall " Most ministers make the horrible mistake of trying to win the world, while loosing their own souls, and oftentimes that of their wives and children also.

The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Church said "Every man that striveth for the mastery is TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: Less that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Even Jesus himself took time to withdraw from the disciples and the multitude to re-connect with the father.

Let me therefore, be the first to say WELCOME BACK !

[mteston1]

10:15 AM on 08/02/2012

I too, have stepped out of the pulpit away from "church" as of July 2012 after 26 years. I can no longer tolerate something at the "core." I know the word used is hypocrisy. But we've got to find another word. Hypocrisy doesn't do justice to what is rotting at the core and what "church" has become for too many, a bubble, an insulated bubble where the paid master of ceremonies tells people they're alright, gonna be alright, and will forever be alright despite the reality that they spend most of their days letting others know they aren't alright, all in the name of god. Uggggg

[funnyface500]

04:44 AM on 07/16/2012

I should admit I don't go anymore for a long, long time. I used to feel empty, people looking down at me, I feel a bit lost. But Jesus is still in my heart, hope it won't go away too.

[jebsmom86]

10:01 PM on 07/07/2012

I haven't been to church in several weeks. I'd like to say that it's because I attend a healing group at my church on Wednesday nights but that's not true. I mean I do attend the healing group and it's wonderful. But I don't attend church because my priorities are messed up and I spend too much time watching TV, shopping, etc rather than making time for something that is truly good for me. And these other things make me happy for only a very few minutes at a time and then I'm looking for something else again. Distractions that make it possible for me to avoid intimacy and to avoid searching my soul for character defects that I need to change.

[rutroGeorge]

02:18 PM on 08/05/2012

Your self insight and honesty are refreshing. I wish you peace. Just know you are not alone, there are other like- minded folk out there. Maybe a home Bible Study Would be a good start. Or in another liberating self-awakening vein, read the book "Dance of the Dissident Daughter" and there's a book study group section in back. Trust me.

[DaveRIndy]

04:57 AM on 07/02/2012

May I suggest Sunday morning "Coffee and Conversation" at a Center for Inquiry near you? A gathering of secular humanists, atheists, agnostics and non-religious. You might consider the group of ministers who no longer believe in religion, too.

[rtgmath]

01:23 PM on 07/01/2012

Here's an exercise. Dress down, a bit shabby, then go to a fundamentalist church where you aren't known. Go armed with questions. You know, the kind that people who don't believe but are looking have. Who is this Jesus dude? Why are there so many different kind of churches? What about all these religious people who have been abusing kids and stealing money? Why doesn't God answer prayer? Why are religious people always mad about something? This week you are going to your gay cousin's wedding. Anyone else want to come?

You might get your eyes opened. You might get your ears burned.

And here is another exercise. Find people who never go to church. Hang out with them. Find out what their concerns are. What are their thoughts about life? If they are religious, why did they stop going to church? How did church people hurt them? Again, get to know people who don't know you and don't know your church connections.

What you will find is that there is a world out there you don't know much about. There are good people out of church and there are bad people in the church. And somehow, someway you have got to get a perspective from the eyes and mouths of others.

Three months is a good start. You might need to take a year.

Learn the world, man. There are lots of people out there you need to meet.

[JohnDewey]

06:30 PM on 08/04/2012

Don't forget attending services outside of both your denomination and your particular religion.

Go to services for Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahá'í, a Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Santeria, African Syncretism, the Unification Church, Quakers, Christian Scientists, Seventh Day Adventists, Mennonites, Wiccans, non-aligned pagans, etc.

Take note of how you're treated, especially whether & how you're welcomed and/or included in services.

Then, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAtheistExperience

I know who I've found to be the most welcoming and inclusive, but if your mind is truly open I suspect you'll have a similar experience without the need for me to proselytize.

[Len Langevin]

08:17 AM on 07/01/2012

I only go to church when people close to me are either getting married or buried....and even that's too much for me.

[realitytrumpsbull]

12:02 AM on 07/01/2012

I never miss church, they never miss me. It's a beautiful relationship.

[Indigo1941]

08:19 PM on 06/30/2012

The next three months? And then what? You're going to write books titled "Those Empty Three Months"? That's not not-going-to-church, that's research for your next book. When you're ready to not go to church for real, don't go! Period. Just stop.

[TASK 541]

10:16 PM on 06/29/2012

This author says it best,"I'm all wrapped up in the system". Not Jesus, but the system. They are not the same either. Unfortunately many of us have been unknowingly indoctrinated into a ideology rather than into a relationship with Jesus. This is why people are leaving the church (tradition) in large numbers. They, as many on this comment board, have realized that they have been in a Christless Christianity. Walking down some isle, or reciting some prayer, does not mean anything. To have Jesus, that is everything. Without Him, you could memorize the Bible in every language, go to church till the day you die, food the poor, go to Bible study etc., and it would be for nothing. I'm encouraged by this article, because it reveals the truth of the matter, "No Jesus, no peace, Know Jesus, know peace"!

[Karl Wilder]

01:52 PM on 06/30/2012

Do you also have a personal relationship with Scarlett O'Hara and other fictional characters?

Just because something is in a book does not make it real.

[TASK 541]

10:08 PM on 07/01/2012

My point was that Jesus is exactly what you just said. He is not in the book, He is real!

[Debra Martinez]

09:45 PM on 06/29/2012

The Kingdom Of God is in the making. .

[Emily Endres]

07:03 PM on 06/29/2012

I go to church because my friends are there and they are like family. They have done much for me and I enjoy working for or with them for someone else. Some are liberals like me and some are conservative but we try not to talk politics because their friendship and love is more important. I like the way the Pastor and the liturgy take us on tours of the Bible and different views are expressed. I get recharged from church so I can handle the week.

[Summer77]

03:08 PM on 06/29/2012

Attention Church the minute you turned your pulpits over to the Politicians you lost all credibility Period! More people will not be attending any Church if this keeps up right now I have had scores of friends who have had it with the Churches and Religion over stepping their bounds!!!