Over the next two Sundays, I will be leading a class to introduce newcomers to our church. As I have served as a pastor for the last four years or so, I have seen a lot of people come and go from the church. And a lot of the people who come are people who have recently left other churches and are looking for a new church home.
While I believe there are good, wise and legitimate reasons to leave a church, I also believe that all Bible-believing churches together compose Christ's universal Body, and therefore each local should have some responsibility to other churches in how they welcome and receive new folks who come from another church.
For this reason I was really grateful for the wisdom I received from Kevin DeYoung in these two blog posts. The first one addresses how to start at your new church, and the second one addresses how to leave your old church. I plan on giving a copy of these two articles to everyone in attendance at the class this Sunday, and to future newcomers in the months and years to come.
Something I am really learning over the past few months is the seriousness and importance of membership in the local church. So I am glad for resources like these, which put practical advise on how to walk out such important matters.
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