Find Another Church If...

Over the last few days, a firestorm has erupted on Christian social media. Influencers and leaders have declared things like: “If your pastor didn’t address Charlie Kirk’s murder on Sunday, your pastor is a coward who needs to resign, and you should find a new church.” Or, “Being politically neutral is cowardly.”

This isn’t new.  

The same was said about whether churches did or didn't discuss George Floyd, did or didn’t endorse Trump, stayed open or closed during the pandemic, required or rejected masks, and so on. 

Now, it’s certainly possible that a pastor’s silence (or comments) on these issues could reflect cowardly capitulation to worldly ideologies. 

But isn’t it also possible that your pastor has addressed these matters in different ways, or that he deliberately sought to keep the focus on the unchanging Word of God amid the chaos of our moment? 

To be clear, I do believe pastors should help their people think biblically about current events. Scripture always speaks to the times, because it speaks to the human heart in every time. (And yes, I did pray for Kirk's family and discuss Kirk’s heinous murder in Sunday’s message.) 

But nowhere does Scripture prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach to how a pastor should address every breaking news event.

What troubles me is how quickly manmade, non-biblical criteria have become the litmus tests for fidelity. Increasingly, believers elevate political Shibboleths—questions of whether a church is “pure” enough in their politics—above the much weightier matter of whether a church is faithful to the Word of God. 

We seem more concerned with whether a church meets our preferred political expectations than whether it proclaims God’s truth. And yes, I understand that proclaiming God's truth does mean, at times, speaking to political issues.

So the real question is this: when should you find another church? Let's consider five weighty reason you should consider another church. 

As a quick reminder, if you leave a church, seek clarification before reaching conclusions. If something is unclear, don't assume; ask. We pastors can and do misspeak, and sometimes we listeners don't hear what was intended. Leave only after prayer and counsel. If you do leave, let your pastor know why, and then leave quietly without causing division. 

1. Find Another Church if Your Church Does Not Preach the Word

Paul charges Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1–4 to “preach the Word” with all faithfulness. He warns of a time when people will no longer endure sound teaching but will gather teachers to suit their own passions. Notice Paul’s point: false teachers thrive because people support them. In other words, if your pastor is not faithfully preaching the Bible, week after week, that church is unworthy of your presence.

That means if the pulpit is more consumed with Trump than with Jesus, that’s a problem. 

If political punditry outweighs biblical exposition, consider finding another church. 

If the sermons are strung together with stories, jokes, and gimmicks but are empty of theology, application, and exposition, leave. 

If your church is doing a “Summer at the Movies” series where Hollywood, rather than the canon of Scripture, sets the agenda, that’s a red flag. 

If the Sunday message sounds like a motivational TED Talk instead of the authoritative proclamation of God’s Word, you probably need another church.

2. Find Another Church if Your Church Does Not Believe the Whole Bible

Just a few verses earlier, in 2 Timothy 3:16–17, Paul declares: “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.” 

This “all Scripture” is what Timothy must herald—Old and New Testament alike. 

Both the culturally popular parts about love and forgiveness and the culturally unpopular parts about sin and judgment. 

Both the practical teaching on relationships and the deep teaching on doctrine. 

Both the call to love our neighbors and the command to repent of sin.

Some churches claim to believe the Bible but functionally deny it. They say, “Yes, the Bible teaches church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18, but we want to be about grace, not judgment.” Or, “Times have changed. Paul’s prohibition on women pastors in 1 Timothy 2:11–12 doesn’t apply anymore.” Or, “When it comes to cultural battles, kindness doesn’t apply—fighting fire with fire does.” Or, “Romans 1’s teaching on homosexuality was for another time.” Same logic. 

Churches deny Scripture by relegating it to the past, by never addressing it, or by reinterpreting it beyond recognition. Churches undermine Scripture by promoting, platforming, and praising false teachers, often in the name of uniting on cultural causes. 

Today there’s immense pressure to downplay or reject biblical teaching on sexuality, repentance, sin, and even God’s judgment. Other churches overcorrect, harping on cultural issues while neglecting the weightier matters of the gospel and grace. Both errors functionally deny that all Scripture is God’s Word.

3. Find Another Church if the Gospel is Not Clear and Central

In 1 Corinthians 15:1–5, Paul reminds the church of the gospel he preached and says it is “of first importance.” That doesn’t mean nothing else matters—it means that if you get this wrong, nothing else you get right can make up for it.

The gospel is this: Christ, the sinless and virgin-born Son of God, died for our sins as our substitute, bearing the wrath of God because sin is serious. He was buried, and on the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures. The resurrection is no metaphor—it is a genuine miracle. Deny miracles, and you deny the gospel. Deny the authority of Scripture, and you deny the gospel.

Churches obscure or deny the gospel in many ways. Some preach the so-called prosperity gospel. Others peddle easy-believism, reducing saving faith to a casual acknowledgment of Jesus, while neglecting sin, judgment, repentance, and the necessity of a changed life. Still others emphasize good works or political causes as though they are the gospel.

If a church gets the gospel wrong, it doesn’t matter what else they get right. Eternity is at stake. But getting the gospel right means not only confessing it as doctrine but making it the blazing center of the church’s passion and practice. The gospel not only saves us but sustains and grows us. It is the soil of our life in Christ and the nourishment for all spiritual fruit. The Christian life begins, continues, and ends with the good news.

4. Find Another Church if Jesus is Not the Center

In 1 John 4:2–3, John gives the test of true teaching: “Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” Simply put: if the message doesn’t exalt the person and work of Jesus Christ—His deity, His humanity, His glory, His cross, His resurrection—it is false.

But here’s the subtle danger: many churches affirm orthodox statements of faith on paper while sidelining Jesus in practice. Worship becomes a performance where musicians take the spotlight and songs fixate on me and my struggles rather than on Christ. Sermons offer moral advice, life hacks, or inspirational stories with little reference to Christ crucified. The Bible gets treated as a book of disconnected moral tales instead of the epic of redemption climaxing in Jesus.

Other churches recast Jesus as a political mascot, conveniently endorsing their chosen party and agenda. But in Scripture, Jesus did not come to establish an earthly political kingdom. He came to redeem sinners, call for repentance, and proclaim the kingdom of God.

If your church has pushed Jesus aside—whether in worship, in preaching, or in mission—it is not a faithful church. Find one where Christ is at the center of everything.

5. Find Another Church if God is Not Worshiped

It should go without saying, but the point of the church is to know and worship the living God. That’s why He has given us His Word and His Son. Week after week we gather to grow in the knowledge of God (Phil. 3:10), to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24), to stir one another up in love and good works (Heb. 10:24–25), and to rightly celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. 

Yet many Christians demand that their churches address every headline, while shrugging when their churches fail to teach them more about God Himself. I would rather hear a thousand sermons on the character, attributes, and works of God than one more sermon dictated by the news cycle. The more we know God, the better we will live wisely and faithfully in the confusion of our world. After all, the conclusion of the matter, Solomon wrote, is this: “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Eccl. 12:13).

If your church is helping you do that, you are in a healthy place. If not, find one that will.

Conclusion

So whether or not your church spoke about the issue on your mind last Sunday, ask the deeper question: did they speak to the issues that matter most? Did they exalt God, proclaim His Word, center on the gospel, and magnify Christ?

If your pastor did faithfully preach Christ, Scripture, and the gospel—then stay, encourage him, and thank God. He needs your support. If you think he overlooked something, don’t immediately leave—ask him why. He may have had good and wise reasons.

But if your church consistently neglects the Word, denies parts of the Bible, clouds the gospel, sidelines Jesus, or refuses to worship God, then yes—find a new church.