Goodbye

 People are leaving.  Children are leaving home for college or new jobs.  Husbands are leaving wives for younger women.  Employees are leaving jobs for better situations.  Friends are leaving the area, moving to new places.  And people are leaving church to go and join another worshipping community, or none at all. 

 Leaving is hard, often more so for the one who is left behind.  The suddenly single spouse who has been tossed aside must feel used and worthless.  The questions that arise out of that situation are not unlike those that are asked by the people that remain behind when someone leaves a church.  It is similar to a divorce.  A relationship is ending.  No matter that everyone involved lives in the same area.  The relationship will change because as part of a local community of worship, the main focus and deep friendships should be within that community. 
 We are called to be built up, as a building for the Lord’s purposes.  If we are connected as building blocks we cannot have divided interests and foci.  That division of focus would only weaken each community; the new one and the previous one. 

 We are also told that as the builder, God places each believer where that person is needed and can use the gifts God has given.  God directs each of His followers to the body where He wants them.  And He places them there for as long as He determines.  Often, though, we followers become independent agents deciding when to leave a church, and often we leave for reasons which are not directed by God.   When we do that, we go AWOL.  We leave a hole in the wall God was building.  We leave the church lacking our gift and service for the Kingdom. 

  Those left behind must pick up the slack we leave behind.  They also suffer from the relationship which has been changed.   

So pray and listen before deciding to leave the body where God has placed you.  It is God’s call, not our own.  He is the Head of the Body.  We need to listen and obey.