Quitting Church: The Dumbing Down of Church

“The church is suffering from spiritual boredom. There's a ton of babbling in the church and it really creates a disdain for the preachers” - Mike Bickle, founder of the international house of prayer

Growing up I attended thousands of religious meetings (I don't believe there was any worship going on) and by the time I was in college I did not know what the greatest command of Christ was.

When I was growing up, I grew tired of listening to hollering and screaming sermons about going to Hell and as an adult I grew tired of hearing empty promises of breakthrough and “this is your season!”

I did a lot of spiritual discovery on my own. I would have really liked some sermons on New Testament history or even breakdowns of some Old Testament stories with practical life application. I even enjoy prophetic sermons. Those are always amazing and life changing but that's few and far between as churches seek to remain relevant

I don't want to pick on preachers too much because they get enough criticism. I have heard terrible preachers in my day. I used to think terrible meant boring but a terrible preacher to me is one who doesn't teach anyone anything.

He's either up there:

a) performing for the crowd; hollering, screaming, and whipping up their emotions with no substance

b) he's reading from one of the free generic  sermons from the Internet

c) or in an effort to be relevant the sermon is devoid of any substance but a recap of The Walking Dead and hey! check out these tattoos

The dumbing down of America is not just seen on television and in politics but it's with church as well. It is not enough to tell people that if you do not agree with our church or beliefs then you are going to go to Hell. In order to retain people there needs to be substantive teaching and instruction

Youth ministry is very guilty of this. There's too much focus on having fun and socializing but once the young people turn 18 or 21, you can have fun at other places with other means so you don't need church anymore. After all they're not teaching you to do life. They're teaching you how to have fun with a little Jesus mixed in.

I completely identify with former church planter Pam:

“I think the problem is when you know too much. You have nowhere to share your insights or you see through the shallowness and you don't want to deal with it” (111)

During this journey of the past year process I learned that I was enough. I could study on my own, pray, and understand that God was leading my journey. I didn't need a preacher to tell me my breakthrough was coming when I left it on the altar and let God take care of it.

It's walking by faith. That's not the sexiest topic in church because walking by faith is ugly. It can get hard and lonely. Some churches would not be willing to tell their members they have to get uncomfortable and it may hurt. There may not be a pie in the sky for a while but if you continue to believe then you will see God’s glory.

In quitting church the more spiritually mature people are deciding to exit  because they see it as more dangerous to stay in these churches where they are being stifled for wanting more substance.