Did any of your friendships survive leaving?

[senda wales]

It probably would have helped if I'd had some coffee first..

[paul]

When we left, we lost most of our friends. The church we were in at the time was not IFB, but a step beyond that into Gothardism and Vision Forum. The Saturday before what was to be our last day, one of the elders called me to ask that we not mention that we were leaving to anyone. I told him the only reason we were coming one last Sunday was so that we could say goodbye to our friends, so we wouldn't be there. The following Monday, they had a conference call and discussed with the men why (from the elder's perspective) we left. During that call one of the elders called us dangerous and referred to me as a wolf. I know all of this because my best friend was still in the church and stayed for about another month or two after we left.

Before we left, I met with the elders and explained the issues we had. The main two were the difference between grace and law and the improper use of scripture. Went over like a lead balloon, of course. But, about 6-8 months after we left, the elder who had called me on Saturday left with his family for much the same reasons. We've had a restoration of that friendship. Several other families have left, and we communicate with them periodically, but mostly on facebook.

From our church before that one, we have some friends still. Most of them just don't understand the entire concept of grace and gospel. They don't get that Christianity isn't a focus on rules and standards from the late 1800's as much as it is about the gospel of Jesus Christ being the power that changes me into what God wants me to be.