“Ten Bad Reasons for Leaving Your Church” by Dr. Chuck Betters

Dr. Betters has been the Senior Pastor of Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bear, Delaware since 1986. He has a daily radio program, airing since 1994, In His Grip, which can be accessed online at www.MARKINC.org. In his article, Dr. Betters enumerates the “potentially invalid reasons for leaving a Bible believing evangelical church". These are:

1. The Church is a Volunteer Organization. I can take it or leave it.
2. The preacher just doesn’t cut it. He is boring and drones on and on.
3. The church is not meeting my needs.
4. I don’t like the way the church is spending our money.
5. I disagree with the direction of the church.
6. We don’t need more buildings. We must focus on missions and outreach.
7. The church is too focused on numbers.
8. The church has wounded me.
9. The church is trying to be too much like the world.
10. I do not like the music. I want the old hymns.

Related articles:

[1] “Your Pastor’s Pain: Whose Fault Is It?” by Dr. Chuck Betters

[2] “A Healthy Church Member is an Expositional Listener” by Thabiti Anyabwile (Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Cayman Islands; he blogs regularly at Pure Church)

[3] How to prevent church splits

[4] Forming a theology of music; should Baptist churches sing “Majesty”?

[5] Supreme Court ruling on termination or expulsion of church members

[6] The Marian Guinn Case [2]: right of church discipline ends upon withdrawal of membership

[7] The Marian Guinn Case: Improper use of church discipline