FINDING A COMMUNITY THAT FOLLOWS CHRIST ALONE IS IMPORTANT.
“One of the best things my wife and I did after leaving our former church was find a church where the gospel was held in high regard and freedom in Christ taught without fear.
Honestly, though, we second-guessed ourselves a lot. What if this church turns out to be just as legalistic as the last?”
Finding a church community that follows Christ and Christ alone is an extremely important step. And if within that church leadership there is someone who can smell legalism from a mile back and offer you the freedom to land, heal, and grow in their church, then that’s a very good place to be.
No church will be perfect; I trust you know that already. But a church led by transparency, by men and women who are the “chief confessors”*, who lead with love and grace and mercy . . . there is a church that can offer you an ER, triage, an ICU, and a recovery floor.
GRACE GOES BOTH WAYS.
Give yourself grace. Lots and lots of grace. For the choices you made in the past, for the way you treated other brothers and sisters in Christ, for the amount of time it may take for you to heal from all of the collateral damage.
And then turn to give grace to those who hurt you.
That’s easier said than done, no? For me, yes. We were the walking wounded, and our wounds weren’t entirely self-inflicted. We had been gossiped about, stabbed in the back during elders’ meetings, pushed out of social situations, and effectively shunned. And we helped start the church.
It was a long time before I wasn’t angry, and that’s okay, too. There was grace for my anger and the Holy Spirit was faithfully leading me out of that sinful heart-set. It took years (literally, five years), but God had taught me that because He loved me so completely, I could turn and love those who had filleted me and my family.
So now what? Now rest. And if you’ve read the end of Leaving Legalism, you know:
Breathe in, breathe out, and move on.
I’ll have more posts about taking the next steps after walking out of legalism in the weeks to come, so be sure to join the newsletter below.
*chief confessors take the command to confess sins seriously, and lead the congregation by their own confessions first