I serve as the director of the regional branch of my religious denomination. Part of that role includes overseeing the efforts of 37 churches in my region. Because of my position, people often ask me how they can know if it is time for them to change churches. This is always an awkward moment for me. I know that my response will impact not only that family but two churches as well. I know that if I tell them to go to a different church, then the church they have been in may be losing one great family. I know that if I tell them to stay in their current church, I may well be hindering their spiritual growth because a different church may indeed be exactly what they need to pull them out of a spiritual rut and take them to the next level in their spiritual development.

I still do not have a perfect answer worked out to that question. But I have been working through some processes that families can explore when they come to that place in their life where they are considering changing churches.

Here are some wrong reasons to change churches:

1. We want a church that is more “fun.”
   While the church should be fun, that is not its primary purpose. The primary purpose of the church is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to a community that does not know Him. Will changing churches help either church more effectively accomplish its task of proclaiming the Gospel?
2. We want a worship service that has more “zip.”
   While younger people tend to like more “zip” in their worship than older generations, what is more, important is that worship honors Christ and helps the worshippers be more in tune with what the Spirit is speaking into their lives. Regardless of worship style or music preference, one must ask which church will help the person focus on God and be more connected to Him. Which service has more “zip” may not be the correct question nor the right answer.
3. We are tired of having to teach all the classes and lead all the programs for young people. It will be much easier to go to a church where there are other people with children the same age as ours who can help share the burden. News flash! Every church, regardless of its age or size has trouble recruiting youth and children’s workers. If we change churches just because we think it will be “easier” we will most likely be disappointed a few months later when we find ourselves taking more than our share of turns in the nursery.
4. The pastor (or deacon, or Sunday School teacher, or youth group leader, etc.) made us mad.
   We should never leave a church in anger. When we do, we simply take the anger with us to the next church. It may lay dormant for a few months, but eventually, our anger will come out at the new church. This is not fair to the new church. If someone at our current church said something to us or our child that makes us upset, we should speak to the person directly and get the issue resolved. Running from an issue does not count as “resolving” it. Gossipping about the issue to others does not count as “resolving” it. Only by going directly to the individual involved can we resolve such issues.

Here are some valid reasons to change churches:

1. Our child does not want to go to church at all because nothing at the church relates to his or her life.
   While every child goes through the occasional “I don’t feel like going to church” phase, when the phase becomes a clear pattern, our child’s spiritual well-being is in trouble. It is time to find a church that will relate to our child for his or her spiritual health.
2. Our child is faithful to attend church but there is nothing for them to do at church but sit and listen.
   If our church offers nothing at all for young people, even though they are faithfully there, then something is wrong with the church as a whole. While some churches offer more or less in the way of programming, every church ought to offer something. If there is a faithful group of young people coming to church and the church simply ignores them, it is time to find a new church!
3. Our children would like to serve the Lord in some way, but the church has no avenue for them to do so.
   While very young children may be limited in what they can do for the Lord, as children approach adulthood, they will want to do something to serve. Perhaps it might be to help collect the offering, offer a prayer, sing a song, help in a class for younger children, or pass out bulletins, etc. A church should be using its young people and training them to take over when the adults are gone. If a church is not willing to use the young people that God has already given them, those churches should not be surprised when the young people find a new place where they can serve the Lord. Youth are not the “church of tomorrow,” they are the church of today.

If we find that our family is considering changing churches, we should proceed slowly. We must pray through the situation thoroughly. We should think through the comments above objectively. We should discuss the subject with the entire family openly. If our family does decide to change churches, we owe it to our current pastor to sit down and have an open, honest, and loving discussion of why we are going elsewhere. If we have made commitments to help lead a program, we should remain in that position until our current term ends so that we do not leave our current church hanging. When we leave, it should always be on good terms, who knows, we may find ourselves back one day!