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Thread: Why Spiritual People are leaving the Church ?

  1. #1

    Why Spiritual People are leaving the Church ?

    ONE BIG REASON SPIRITUAL PEOPLE ARE LEAVING CURCHES

    BERT FARIAS BLOG

    “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

    A solid and stable friend of mine has left three churches in the last decade. She attended all of them for a period of time and then left.

    In the first church, the pastor stopped having guest ministers in and the church began to dry up.

    In the second church, there was a small stirring of the Spirit for awhile, but then the church turned to the seeker friendly philosophy and tongues were confined to the back room.

    In the third church, again it was alright for some time, but then the leadership began to move in a different direction and incorporate modern church growth principles and Madison Avenue tactics that grieved the Holy Spirit, and everything changed. Soon greasy doctrines slid into the church. She had no choice but to leave again.

    To those really seeking to encounter God, soon the fancy stage, the bright lights, the cool bands, and the video screens, just become white noise to them. They want Spirit and fire.

    There was a season in Catherine Booth’s life, the wife of Salvation Army founder William Booth, where she visited different churches in her area “looking for burning words”.

    Smith Wigglesworth had a similar experience where the Spirit kept telling him to come out of dead works and dead churches. He continued to move with God throughout his entire life.

    One day a youth leader made an appointment with his pastor to discuss the implementation of a new program for the young people. The pastor, a deeply spiritual man, listened patiently. After the young man finished talking, the pastor responded with these words: “Mom (his wife) and I have found over the years that prayer, the Word, and moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit have always got the job done.”

    Think about these examples. The same thing is happening today. When pastors and church leaders fail to follow the plan of God some people leave because they are not being spiritually fed and fulfilled. Sometimes they cannot even articulate the reason they are leaving. They may tell you it’s because of the music, or the preaching, or the youth and children’s programs, but the underground reason may be because they are not encountering God any more.

    I’ve read articles and exit polls about the many reasons people leave their churches, but most of them are surface reasons. They make it so complex and complicated causing more pastors and church leaders to continue re-hashing over the many ideas they could implement to increase their numbers. But is that what it’s really about? The numbers? The Catholics have numbers; the Muslims have numbers; the Mormons have numbers. I would rather have 300 hungry-for-God people than 3,000 who want to be entertained.

    Think about the many revivals throughout church history. Think about the ministers God has used to pioneer some of those revivals. It was the presence and power of God in these meetings and on these ministers that drew the people. Throughout history people have always craved the supernatural. I know that the local church also caters to people’s natural lives and natural needs, and cannot be run like a revival. But the people also need continual renewals and re-fillings of the Holy Spirit.

    If the presence and power of God are in manifestation and people still leave, what of it? Do you really want those kind of people in your church? Conversely, I know many spiritual people who are exiting their churches for lack of rain. They are not leaving due to offense or pride. They are not backsliding and leaving God, but they are leaving deadness, lightness, and superficiality. There is a cry in God’s people for the waters of the Spirit and fresh new wine.

    “My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” (Ps. 63:2-3)

    It is amazing what leaders can build and do without God, especially right here in America. But that doesn’t mean that God’s stamp of approval is on what you are building or doing. Divine power can only manifest when there is an end to self-sufficiency. If you become lukewarm and stop hungering and thirsting for the Spirit you will become a disappointment to God. I don’t care how big of a building or how many people attend your church.

    I love the local church. I love pastors who truly lay down their lives for the people they serve. I believe the local church to be the hope of the world. But God wants to move. He has a plan. He has a purpose. And if we don’t line up with it He has no choice but to move where He finds His people and His leaders hungering for His presence and power.

    I have a pastor friend who is leading a thriving church. The adults, the youth, and the children are on fire there. He has several guest speakers and at least two revivals every year. There is an expression in his church of a diversity of the Holy Spirit’s ministries and manifestations that is rare today. He is a man of love and prayer and he listens to the Lord. By today’s standards he is unconventional in that he refuses to compromise prayer, the Word, and the moving of the Holy Spirit and implement the newest church growth programs or the latest fads.

    In the Spirit not too long ago my wife and I saw this church on the tipping point of even far greater things than they have seen. We stopped by recently during an extended road trip and they had a guest speaker who was still ministering to people at 2:00 in the afternoon on Sunday (they start at 10:30 am). They have constant revival because there is liberty in the Spirit for the Lord to do what He wants to do. This church is producing spiritual people and not clock watchers and time servers.

    Pentecostal meetings use to be called the gate of heaven because of all the manifestations of the Spirit and power of God they had. Testimonies of changed lives were frequent. These churches were known for tongues and power. One of the big reasons we are not seeing the power and the glory of God in many of our churches today is because we don’t pray in tongues long enough until the Holy Spirit can take hold with us and give birth to these things.

    Oh, people of God! Oh, ministers of the Lord! May we come to the end of our own wisdom, strength, and sufficiency!

    “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

    The apostle Paul was careful to place the focus of the people he ministered to on the power of God and not on the wisdom of men. He did not want to bring attention to his own persuasive words or enticing speech. He did not want people to place their confidence on man’s ability, or charisma and personality. There was nothing in his ministry that was natural. With fear and trembling he sought to make Christ manifest everywhere he went.

    Too many of you live too much in the natural, and you’ve lost the glory. Get back in the Spirit. May we fall on our face and pray, and let the Spirit of God have His way.

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  3. #2
    I preached in my home church a few years back as I was on the board. I prophetically pointed my finger at the crowd and rebuked them saying, "you need to stop using the f-bomb!" Later on, I had heard the Pastor himself was using this in the heat of anger. I also sadly heard him myself drop it casually without even one ounce of remorse. We left there 3 years ago.

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  5. #3
    I've been feeling frustrated for a number of years now, because the POWER has been s.l.o.w.l.y allowed to leave the church (local and national ) The culture has changed from true PENTECOST to pablum.

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    curly sue (08-22-2015), FresnoJoe (08-22-2015), Pentecali (08-28-2015), Romans828 (08-29-2015)

  7. #4
    My wife and I left the institutional system about many years ago after the Lord called us out.
    Since then we have met in homes with like minded people seeking the Lord. That was until the Lord told us to move house last November.We are now in a tiny rural community in the north of England knowing nobody but seeking like minded believers.

    We have visited the two local churches to test the waters, and will not be doing so again.

    I strongly believe that the Lord is preparing to do a new thing. I believe he is assembling people who no longer look to a church leadership for a theatre presentation. That is what he said to us before we left the church, unfortunately getting the church out of christians is sometimes a long process as we have found in our home groups over the years..

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  9. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by LionHeart View Post
    ONE BIG REASON SPIRITUAL PEOPLE ARE LEAVING CURCHES

    BERT FARIAS BLOG

    “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

    ...Oh, people of God! Oh, ministers of the Lord! May we come to the end of our own wisdom, strength, and sufficiency!

    “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

    The apostle Paul was careful to place the focus of the people he ministered to on the power of God and not on the wisdom of men. He did not want to bring attention to his own persuasive words or enticing speech. He did not want people to place their confidence on man’s ability, or charisma and personality. There was nothing in his ministry that was natural. With fear and trembling he sought to make Christ manifest everywhere he went.

    Too many of you live too much in the natural, and you’ve lost the glory. Get back in the Spirit. May we fall on our face and pray, and let the Spirit of God have His way.
    Amen...good article. I've been praying and believing for greater manifestations and demonstrations of Holy Spirit.

    Hey LionHeart, you can friend Bert Farias on facebook like I did and then you can get quicker updates on his new articles.

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  11. #6
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Bert is a personal friend of mine. I just thought I'd name drop.

    By the way, he and his wife are Rhema grads.

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  13. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    ...Hey LionHeart, you can friend Bert Farias on facebook like I did and then you can get quicker updates on his new articles.
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    Bert is a personal friend of mine. I just thought I'd name drop...
    Actually it was Fuego who gave me the heads up on Bert and a few others a while back, he knows some truly amazing Christians including the guy who carries that big cross thru the streets of Atlanta.

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  15. #8
    Frozen Chosen A.J.'s Avatar
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    During the years of our pastor who we had for almost 11 years, I wanted to leave so badly. SO badly, but I felt God get right in my face and look me in the eye. He said, pointing to the pastor, "HE will be gone!" and pointing at me, "and YOU will still be here!!" I said, "ok!" Several months later he resigned.

    Looking back now, he's been gone a year and a half, I believe he was trying to make me so uncomfortable that we would leave. I found out this summer that he had told people that those of us who went to the Lakeland Revival came back operating in a "wrong spirit." I can't tell you how angry that made me, but it sure explains an awful lot. AND it's still gossip in the church community in our city of 38,000. That's a small city and I'm surprised I hadn't heard it before, and actually the person who told me was surprised that I didn't know it was out there.... wow.

    I sure wanted to leave, I felt so suffocated, but I'm still there and he is gone.

    So God is calling some of us who are pressing in and on fire to stay.

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  17. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    Amen...good article. I've been praying and believing for greater manifestations and demonstrations of Holy Spirit.

    Hey LionHeart, you can friend Bert Farias on facebook like I did and then you can get quicker updates on his new articles.
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    Bert is a personal friend of mine. I just thought I'd name drop.

    By the way, he and his wife are Rhema grads.
    Bert is going to be on Sid Roth:

    https://www.facebook.com/bert.farias...04218698539280

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  19. #10
    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    I have felt for several years God is preparing us to be scattered....

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