Pilgrim Soldier

Forgive me if this is wrong, but as I read both online articles and books, it seems that the latest trend is for people to say that they are “Giving up on church, but not on God”. A lot of this is because they are fed up with the way they perceive their church or Christendom in general has gone in recent years. They decide to set off on their own to discover a ‘deeper’ faith where they can connect with Jesus on a more intimate level.

There is, to some extent, a valid point here. There is a great deal wrong with the Church as a whole and I find a lot of the expressions of Christianity that abound throughout the world to be at best frustrating and at worst bordering on false teaching. But does that mean that I can do any better by setting out on my own?

Without a doubt there are many good and encouraging signs from some of the new thinking that is coming out of the church. However, from what I can see these issues are, on the whole, being worked out in community and are being tested solidly through the experience of others.

My biggest concern though is that it seems that it is easier to find a group of like minded people and set off to build a new community, than it is to be committed to changing the old community that you are part of.

Is it right to abandon our church communities and strike out to build new ones?