Unhappy people in empty churches

The last decade lots of people have turned their back to their church. 10% of those having left church have left the faith completely, but that means the others did not give up faith totally. Many because of the many questions and of seeing contradictions in their church, left the institution, but wanted to stay spiritual.
When the big institutional churches may still count on 20% who are still in churches and are happy, their members may not see major problems within their congregations or problems resulting from their institutional practice of faith. To them, church attendance is a practical and enjoyable expression of faith.

Though of the 30% who are in churches can not say they are happy, but indicate they are unhappy. They see major problems but continue with church attendance for a variety of reasons. The important thing for this group is that, despite all it’s flaws churches are still worth supporting through attendance and possibly finances.

We may wonder why they do not dare to question their pastors or ministers more and go not look for the real happiness in their Scriptures. For many a real confrontation with what is written in the Book of books seems to dangerous and to much bringing them in confusion, and that is something they do not like; They want a certain certainty? When reading the Bible they encounter too many things which seem so muddling or confusing with the many church doctrines and to leave church doctrines aside looks for them as treason to the community. They forget they are better to do treason to the world of man than to the world of God. That is what Jesus and the other prophets are all about when they talk not to be of this world but to belong to God.

40%of those who abandoned their church see the institutional churches of our era as more damaging than helpful to the Kingdom, and have walked out on the institutions their parents and grandparents built, to practice faith in a far more personal way, a far more tight-knit community.

It becomes time that those who left the institution churches come to see there are other ways to come to God and to please God, but that we still have to come together to unite as brothers and sisters in Christ.

The "Unchurching" is a growing movement of Christians who are leaving churches and the allegiance to trappings churches demand in order to find God, experience him more personally, and enjoy smaller, tight-knit communities that don’t put institutional concerns in front of godliness.

We can only hope they shall be able to find like minded people who find it more important to come to Biblical truth and to worship God in the way that God wants to be worshipped.

For those who left their big institutional church they, when they look for an other community of believers, should know

It isn’t about moving the same old church practices to a smaller venue. It’s about reassessing every one of those practices to see if they meet the needs of the Kingdom, advance the message of the Gospel, and draw closer to God.

Old people thrown out of churches

The last few weeks we do receive more messages of elderly people not liked any-more to be partakers of the service in certain churches.

On Aug. 2, 2015 Genora Hamm Biggs, a 103-year-old woman who has been a member of the Union Grove Baptist Church since she was 11 years old received a letter on Aug. 2, 2015, which was signed by Pastor Tim Mattox, Deacon Glen Jackson and nine other church officials. It stated that she could not attend the church and

 “any membership or associations that you have had with this church are now officially revoked.”

 Further, she may not attend the church “for any reason what so ever.”

You may wonder how it can be that a community which calls itself Christian does not want somebody to come to their service or mass. But in the United States many churches only like those people who are willing to contribute enough money to their association.

Unbelievable it is when somebody calls for the police when the lady turned up to pray. The responding officer did not arrest Biggs or take any other action, deeming the issue a civil matter. When the police refused to remove Biggs, Mattox decided to take matters in his own hands. This so called man of God stopped church service, dismissed the congregation and turned off the lights in the sanctuary, leaving the elderly woman sitting alone in the dark sanctuary.

In addition to banning Biggs, the church also banned her grandson Eliott Dye, a 30-year member of the church and ordained minister, and church member Kevin Hamm. Hamm stated,

 “To disrespect a pillar and a mother of the church… How can we sit back and watch something like this go forward?”

Genora Hamm Bigg is a retired schoolteacher and has taught many of the residents of Elberton. The news of her removal from the church upset many in the town including police chief Mark Welsh who called Biggs a “well-revered person” and stated,

 “We’re not going over there and throwing a 103-year-old lady out of her church.” Church officials have refused to comment on the matter.

Related articles

• Two faith communities share worship space, combine into one congregation
• Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Bill Maher: Why? Because "God Hates Maher"
• Nollywood: Pastor tasks FG on piracy
• Elberton church bans woman, 103
• Sunday Dishes and Old Church Pews: A Story
• What being a summer camp counselor is really like
• 103-year-old Elberton woman told to stay out of church after 92 years of attendance
• 103-year-old Georgia woman banned from church after 92 years of attendance
• Presidency denies closure of Aso Villa Chapel
• They Will Know Us by Our Love

Being religious has benefits even in this life

Kenneth Gilmore 27 augustus 14:37 We've heard the claim 'religion poisons everything' ad nauseum. Turns out that being religious has benefits even in this life. Via David Bailey at Science Meets Religion: A 1999 study, which involved a nine-year follow-up analysis of 21,000 American adults, found that religious attendance of at least once per week resulted in seven additional years of life expectancy. What’s more, this effect mostly remained in place even after adjusting for various social factors and health behaviors [Hummer1999]. A 1997 study of 5286 weekly church attendees in Alameda County, California found that these persons were 25% less likely to die than infrequent church attendees. These results were attributed in part to better health practices, expanded social involvement, exercising more, and remaining married longer [Strawbridge1997]. In a 1998 study of 1931 elderly adults (55 years and older), weekly church attendees experienced the lowest rates of mortality in the study group, while non-attendees experienced the highest rates. This study also showed that volunteer work in addition to church attendance contributed to even longer life expectancy [Oman1998]. A 1999 study of 4000 seniors (64 years and older) found that the death hazard was 46% lower for frequent church attendees, compared with infrequent church attendees. As noted in other studies, frequent church attendees were physically healthier, had better social support, and displayed a set of healthier lifestyle behaviors [Koenig1999]. Ogden Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Photo credit: Wikipedia) A 2004 study comparing Utah residents who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) with those who are not LDS confirmed, not surprisingly, that the LDS members had much lower rates of tobacco, alcohol and drug usage than the non-LDS group, since these substances are strongly discouraged by the Church. The study found that life expectancy was 77.3 years for LDS males versus 70.0 years for non-LDS males, and 82.2 years for LDS females versus 76.4 for non-LDS females. Interestingly, however, the study noted that differences in rates of tobacco use explains only about 1.5 years of the 7.3 year gap for males, and only 1.2 years of the 5.8 year gap for females. The author suggests that this additional gap may be due to better overall physical health, better social support and other lifestyle practices [Merrill2004]. In an April 2013 New York Times column, Stanford scholar Tanya M. Luhrmann summarized some of these results, and then added her own observations. In evangelical churches she has studied as an anthropologist, she found that people really do look out for one another, showing up with dinner when friends are sick, or simply talking with them when they are unhappy. They are relatively more generous, often in private contributions, when others are in need. She mentioned that when one member of an evangelical group cried at needing a $1500 dental procedure, yet had no money, her friends, many of whom were students with very limited funds, covered the cost by anonymous donations [Luhrmann2013]. Source: http://www.sciencemeetsreligion.org/blog/2013/04/are-there-benefits-to-religious-belief-and-participation/ +++

Related articles

• LDS missionary killed in accident while serving in Malaysia
• Our Friends the Mormons
• Rabbi calls Mormons friends, notes similarities
• Early LDS settlements in Arizona Territory
• The British Pageant And A Rather Optimistic Prediction.
• LDS missionary dies in Malaysia
• LDS Church launches social media profiles for First Presidency, apostles
• "Why can't you just leave it alone?"