Why I Left the Institutional Church

Sam Riviera recently wrote an article about why he left the institutional church. Following are five of those reasons:

1. Apparently Jesus had left the building.  I occasionally heard someone mention Him, but I could not find Him there.
2. I could no longer be part of an organization that did not treat women and men equally.
3. If I heard another “Christian” refer to LGBT people as abominations condemned to hell I was going to get in their face in a major way.  I came within seconds of doing exactly that in front of hundreds of people at a mega church event.
4. The church was totally about preserving itself, which included protecting the money and playing the politics needed to accomplish that.
5. The church wanted and lusted after the rich, the beautiful, those with good jobs and large incomes, those who had married well, those who lived in the best neighborhoods and those who sent their children to the best schools.  The church did not want or welcome the poor, the unlovely, minorities, LGBTs or the homeless.

You can read reasons 6-13 on Jeremy Myer’s blog.

Most of us likely know someone who has left the institutional church. Perhaps this is your story.

Can you think of additional reasons?

What can the church do to prevent this from happening?