Your Tipping Point

[Bill Huffhine]

Without mentioning names of churches or pastors, what would you say was the tipping point in prompting you to leave the church system?

[Bill Huffhine]

My tipping point came after years of a slowly building wave of dissonance between what I was reading in the scripture about "the church" and what I was experiencing in real life with "the church."

I tipped in the spring of 2005 while pastoring a church that my wife and I had begun in 2002. Our new church got off to a great start. It was well-funded by our denomination and I was encouraged to do it full-time, not working on the side. My passion had always been to create safe environments for those who were marginalized to come and explore the person and way of Jesus. We focused much of our energy on reaching out to the poor and hurting. In the first couple of years we saw good growth in a city where nearly all churches were in decline. We went from 4 to about 60 and the majority were college students, high school students, and folks in poverty.

After about two months the funding began to run out. The pressure began to build. Many in my denomination and some "Christians" who left other churches to join us began telling me that we needed to become more of a Saddleback/Willow Creek kind of church, that we needed to stop focusing so much on the poor and marginalized, and that we needed to begin doing what we could to reach doctors, lawyers, and other professionals with deep pockets. I was also encouraged to preach frequently about "tithing" and "stewardship" to bring more money in.

All of this repelled me and I became convinced that to abandon the marginalized for the sake of treasure would be to abandon the way of Jesus.

I resigned in August of that year, accepted a job at a newspaper, and moved to another city. For three years now I've been trying to relearn what it means to pursue Christ and participate in His redemptive mission to the world free from the trappings of Americanized Christianity.

[Michael Ehret]

Yegads, did you get it wrong! Leaving the church to go to the newspaper! LOL! You know I'm kidding. I left the newspaper to go to a church-oriented agency. But you know that.

I'm curious, Bill. If it so repelled you, and I believe you, it repels me to read about it. But why didn't you stand up for what you believed in instead of leaving? Who's helping those marginalized folks now? I'm not meaning to dig at you, but why leave? There was more, I suspect.

Bill Huffhine said:

All of this repelled me and I became convinced that to abandon the marginalized for the sake of treasure would be to abandon the way of Jesus.

I resigned in August of that year, accepted a job at a newspaper, and moved to another city.

[Bill Huffhine]

Hey Mike!

I left because I knew I could do more for the Kingdom out in the world rather than from within the institution. That simple.

Michael Ehret said:

Yegads, did you get it wrong! Leaving the church to go to the newspaper! LOL! You know I'm kidding. I left the newspaper to go to a church-oriented agency. But you know that.

I'm curious, Bill. If it so repelled you, and I believe you, it repels me to read about it. But why didn't you stand up for what you believed in instead of leaving? Who's helping those marginalized folks now? I'm not meaning to dig at you, but why leave? There was more, I suspect.

Bill Huffhine said:

All of this repelled me and I became convinced that to abandon the marginalized for the sake of treasure would be to abandon the way of Jesus.

I resigned in August of that year, accepted a job at a newspaper, and moved to another city.

[Ellen Laisy]

Bill Huffhine said:

My tipping point came after years of a slowly building wave of dissonance between what I was reading in the scripture about "the church" and what I was experiencing in real life with "the church."

I tipped in the spring of 2005 while pastoring a church that my wife and I had begun in 2002. Our new church got off to a great start. It was well-funded by our denomination and I was encouraged to do it full-time, not working on the side. My passion had always been to create safe environments for those who were marginalized to come and explore the person and way of Jesus. We focused much of our energy on reaching out to the poor and hurting. In the first couple of years we saw good growth in a city where nearly all churches were in decline. We went from 4 to about 60 and the majority were college students, high school students, and folks in poverty.

After about two months the funding began to run out. The pressure began to build. Many in my denomination and some "Christians" who left other churches to join us began telling me that we needed to become more of a Saddleback/Willow Creek kind of church, that we needed to stop focusing so much on the poor and marginalized, and that we needed to begin doing what we could to reach doctors, lawyers, and other professionals with deep pockets. I was also encouraged to preach frequently about "tithing" and "stewardship" to bring more money in.

All of this repelled me and I became convinced that to abandon the marginalized for the sake of treasure would be to abandon the way of Jesus.

I resigned in August of that year, accepted a job at a newspaper, and moved to another city. For three years now I've been trying to relearn what it means to pursue Christ and participate in His redemptive mission to the world free from the trappings of Americanized Christianity.

[Ellen Laisy]

Oh, man, I don't even know where to begin! My husband and I were in all sorts of leadership positions at our last church while he was attending ministry school. Our pastor was his mentor all through Bible school. He held a carrot out to my husband saying that he was going to appoint elders once we moved into our new building. My husband was the first and only graduate of the Bible school that our pastor had started with a handful of other pastors in our city. Our pastor seemed to love it that my husband was the first graduate, but he TOTALLY IGNORED US FOR THE NEXT 3 YEARS!!! I've come to realize that my husband was a threat to this pastor. And not only my husband, but every other man desiring to be a leader in his church. The control is sickening. Anyways, he knew we were unhappy so he "commissioned" us out to help at a church plant on the other side of town. About a year later we felt convicted in our hearts that we had never addressed issues we had with the church, so we wrote him a letter lovingly telling him what we disagreed with. Well, he shot back an email to us and slimed us big-time. Told us all the reasons why we weren't qualified to be leaders! We were both devastated. During the whole 8 years we were at this church we NEVER ONCE disagreed with anything. We served everywhere we could, gave tons of money, etc. But the truth is that this man's church is a one-man show. I could go on and on. The Lord has been gradually detoxing us for the last few years, but I know we still need alot more of it!!! I really can't believe how happy I am not being in a church!!! My whole life used to revolve around church activities!

[Bill Huffhine]

Hmm...just noticed a typo in my story about the tipping point. I said in the article that the funding began to run out after two months. Mean to say, after two years.

[Sandy Iredale]

I found out that the Vatican condoned the church's investment in drug companies that make birth control pills. I'm not against family planning, I just couldn't tolerate one more hypocrisy. This was in 1986. I've struggled to find a spiritual community since then. Most people want to be seen as "Christian", and are content with living Christian in appearance only. I'm not perfect either, but shouldn't we be challenging each other to live up to
Christ's example? I don't know, maybe I've got it all wrong.