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Laurie
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Username: Laurie

Post Number: 111
Registered: 6-2007
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 1:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Speaking from experience, I know that finding a church to attend after leaving adventism is scary, intimidating, and was for me the most difficult part of leaving adventism. I didn't even know where to start, where to look, who to trust. I just want to share some encouragement for anyone reading this forum who may be experiencing that same fear.

We left the SDA church 18 months ago. I knew it would not be good for us to not be attending any church. I asked God to lead us and we started attending a Methodist church. Very contemporary, great music, very non-threatening. It was exactly what we needed at that exact moment. I was angry, resentful, hurt... you name it, I felt it towards church in general. We were very happy attending this Methodist church... until about 6 months ago. I started feeling it was time to find something deeper. This methodist church calls itself a "seeker" church. There is very little Bible teaching, the sermons are like watching the Dr Phil show. Sermon titles: "How to adapt to change in your workplace", "How to get in the game of life", "How to have a great 2nd half in your game of life". etc. Very little scripture. We were the only ones to ever bring a Bible to church. But, God put us there to heal and recover from adventism. We needed a place to go and worship God and that is what we did there. We didn't learn a single thing, but we did worship God completely and freely for the first time in our lives.

Like I said, in the last 6 months it has been nagging at me to move on. We went to the pastor and expressed our concerns and he said "we are a seeker church, we don't exist for religious people. You need to join one of our small groups". So we did join a group. It was a joke. We were reading a book on how to form relationships. More Dr Phil stuff. Nobody showed up, nobody read the material, so we dropped out of the class. We were longing for a Bible study. A true Bible study without the SDA slant.

Yesterday we were getting ready for church and I told my husband that I just could not go to the methodist church anymore. He agreed. We have both been praying for God's guidance to lead us to the right place. So we decided to attend a church yesterday that another former SDA family attends. It was wonderful! They were in the middle of a study on Acts. I got more Bible teaching yesterday than I have in the last 18 months. And the best part, the pastor announced a bible study was starting that evening that would last 1 year going through the old testament and an additional year going through the new testament. I got his e-mail from the bulletin and send him a message asking for info. He called me and home and invited us to come that night. We went.

Now you have to understand. Change does not come easy for me. Quite the opposite. It is not in my nature to just pop in on a church service and then join a bible study that night. I firmly believe God led us to that church yesterday.

I have nothing against the church we have been attending for the last 18 months. It was there that my heart and spirit healed from the damage of adventism. I had a place to go and worship God, free from pressure, free from people, free from everything.

My point here is to trust God. Ask for his guidance, open your heart to hear the response, trust Him and follow. Don't try to figure out if it is right, what if it's wrong... trust and follow His leading.

I have no idea how long I will stay in the church we visited yesterday. I don't really care. Membership in and of itself means very little to me. I need a Bible teaching church in which I agree with the core doctrines. I really hope I have found it now.

To anyone scared to leave adventism... don't be. Trust God, He will lead you to the right place.

Laurie
Jorgfe
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Username: Jorgfe

Post Number: 815
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 4:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Laurie, what a beautiful story. You are exactly right. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

While each church that I went to had opportunites for deep Bible study, it is both exciting and unnerving to be "shopping around". It is so "un-Adventist"! But the Holy Spirit will lead us as we ready. I think the most important thing is to start attending a Christian fellowship. The next step is to quit attending the Seventh-day Adventist church to reduce the cognitive dissonance. Once the "tie is cut" it is so refreshing! It reminds me of the Newsboy's song, I am Free (I am free to live for You). Praise God.

I get goosebumps just thinking about how exciting each Sunday's worship service is. Wow! I can't think of a better way to start the week. When I was a Seventh-day Adventist I dreaded the Sabbath. And even the worship service was so dead, and full of denominational self-flattery. Now that I am a Christian I just can't wait until next Sunday! It is so different.

You know, I think part of the difference is that in Adventism we were constantly supposed to work to better ourselves so we would be prepared for the Universal Sunday Law and the Time of Trouble when the Catholics would be out to kill us. Seventh-day Adventism is rooted in hope and dispair. It is a false gospel produced by modern-day Galatians. Just read Ellen White's Testimonies to the Church. Do you know of any books that are so critical and negative?

As Christians, we know that all of that is baloney. We are totally unworthy, and sing from a heart filled with assurance and thankfulness to God that he cares enough to tell us, Don't worry. You are a child of mine. You are saved. I already paid the price." What a difference!

Thank you so much for your story, Laurie.

Gilbert Jorgensen

It has been 162 Years, 10 Months, and 26 Days since October 22, 1844
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 6809
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 5:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Laurie, thank you for your story. You have described reality for so many of us. Many of us leave Adventism, and we are all fired up to find a church that teaches correct doctrine. The reality is that right after we leave Adventism, we are in a recovery phase. Learning correct doctrine will take time as we study the Bible.

The most important thing, as Laurie said, is to put yourself in a place where you can worship Jesus. It takes two to five years to recover from Adventism after one leaves. At the beginning of the process, we aren't even able to completely understand what "correct" doctrine is. It takes time, Bible study, and ongoing worship and submission to God to begin to see how all the doctrines fit together.

This fact of the paradigm shift that occurs is one reason why we urge people not to get caught up in any theological "isms". Truly, when we leave Adventism, we're still being nurtured on the milk of the word, and it takes a few months or so to begin to realize it's time to begin eating meat. You really can't rush these things, and the reality is that God Himself feeds and nourishes us and nudges us toward feasting on the meat of the Word.

The key is to continue to pray to know the truth and to praise God for what He is doing and has done for you. Stay reading the Word and asking God to teach you.

It's really important to resist the powerful urge to adopt an "ism". We are accustomed to having our beliefs all systematically packaged and tied with string, so to speak. Truth, however, is alive because the Holy Spirit in us is alive. He is faithful to teach us the truth, but we have to be content to allow Him to teach us in an ongoing way. If we're too urgent about findg the "correct" belief "system", we're vulnerable to falling into yet another "system" instead of becoming rooted in Christ alone.

He is faithful. His word is faithful. He teaches us and reveals Himself and His will for us through His word, and He also helps us know, as Laurie described, where to worship and when to move.

Allow Him to heal you, and be very wary of adopting any "ism". "Isms" contain truth, but they cannot articulate complete truth because Christ alone IS the truth!

Colleen
Patriar
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Username: Patriar

Post Number: 409
Registered: 3-2005
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 8:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Colleen:

Well said! Excellent! Christ alone, Christ alone, Christ alone.

Who posted the song "In Christ Alone" recently? I LOVE that song. I just blast it out when we sing it and end up in a big bawling mess. It's GREAT!

Patria
Martinc
Registered user
Username: Martinc

Post Number: 14
Registered: 9-2006
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 9:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That is the song that about says it all, and it gets me every time, even if I just start humming it.

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