Transition update

These past two Sundays have been my first experience outside the institutional church. Ever. Sure, I’ve skipped a few “services” (I’m beginning to loathe that term) in our lifetime, but otherwise we’ve been active, faithful members of a Southern Baptist church since birth. On the first Sunday, my wife and I slept a little later [...]

My Last Easter Service

Yesterday, I attended the church where I have been on staff for several years. All of the church elders were out of town, so they had asked me to lead the service. When I agreed to the date a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it was Easter Sunday. A slight oversight on my part, [...]

Preparing to make the leap

The time is quickly approaching for my departure from professional ministry after devoting thirty-five years of my life inside the institutional church (IC). Several of my friends have tried leaving; in fact, a dear friend of mine broke the news today that he’s accepted a part-time pastoral position at a small Southern Baptist church. Another [...]

Feeling guilty for not going to church?

Someone asked me yesterday, “What would it look like to walk with Jesus outside the box of institutional Christianity?” This person is very connected with other Christians, meeting up for prayer, chats over coffee, a home-based Bible study, and lots of one-on-one meetings with Christians and non-Christians. I simply said, “Subtract the Sunday meetings at [...]

Leaving Organized Religion :: One Woman’s Story

Here’s a great blog series by a young woman, Heidi, of Live With Desire:
Part 1: A Child Following Hard After Father
Part 2: From Legalism to Grace
Part 3: Broken Hearts and Broken Promises
Part 4: Leaving and Coming
Part 5: Deconstructions and Constructions
While living in Germany for a brief period of time, God brought a fellow American into [...]

How do we simplify our Christian life?

A great article on “Simplifying the Journey” over at The Thin Edge of the Wedge.

A foot in both worlds

It’s Sunday morning. Not too many years ago—when we had a houseful of children—I can remember the youngest one asking, “Are we going to church today?” The oldest quickly replied, “Have we ever NOT gone to church on Sunday? Don’t be silly!” At the time, I never really thought about the significance of those six [...]

Leaving the institutional church behind

More and more Christians throughout the world are choosing to follow what one writer calls “an unstructured church lifestyle.” They no longer “go to church” on Sundays and they have withdrawn from a wide variety of organized church programs and activities: things like Sunday Schools, youth groups, mission trips, choirs, worship teams, children’s church, prayer [...]