What led you to convert, and what made you feel that the new religion was right for you, and that the old one wasn’t a good fit? Did you always have issues with your former religion, or did you believe wholeheartedly until something (what?) changed? How active where you in your former religion, vs. your current one? Feel free to share anything else.
People who only switched denominations are also welcome to participate.
I’m a denomination switcher here, lifelong Christian currently on my third denomination.
I was born and raised Lutheran. As with many Christian denominations, Lutherans come in a variety of flavors. I was raised Missouri Synod, a very conservative group. Women can’t hold leadership positions in the local congregations, much less be ordained. They aren’t even voting members of the congregation. My mom has been a member of the church I was raised at all her life and she’s never been to a voter’s meeting. Communion is closed, which means only LC_MS members can partake. They’re pretty much Scriptural literalists as well.
While in the military I attended a LC-MS church in California. It’s where I got married. The pastor was a cool guy, and the congregation more laid back than others. My husband was Presbyterian and his father a minister. The church rules said he wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the service, as assisting minister, but Rev. ******** said that their place would let him. I got to thinking and reading about why our rules were so strict, and decided I couldn’t agree with them.
What split me from the LC-MS finally was something the pastor of the church my husband and I were at said. See, we were having marital problems. I went to the minister to talk, and the first thing he said was to lay down the law, about how the church accepted divorce for only one reason(adultery) No “can we pray about this?” or “I know a marriage counselor you can speak to.” Just the law
Eventually I switched to a different Lutheran denomination, what’s now call the ELCA(Evangelical Luthern Church in America) Women are completely equal to men. I remember the first time I visited the ELCA congregation I joined. I was a little early for the service and a meeting was going on. The president of the congregation was down front speaking and it was a woman! Yay! I spent some years there. We had a couple of great pastors.
Then, in the early nineties the Phelps family started their picketing. This is significant because I live in Topeka, where the Phelps family has their (in)famous Westboro Baptist Church. They picketed our congregation one Sunday and ended up attacking physically our minister. Much hoo-rah ensued, and they began to picket us regularly. I was one who advocated counterpicketing and a pro-active response, but most folks in the congregation just seemed to hope it would all go away. They just wanted to be left alone, and not address the issues being raised. This surprised and disappointed me deeply. Then we got a new pastor whom I didn’t like (long story). I began to visit the two other ELCA congregations in town, but nothing clicked.
Then I got a card in the mail, a neighborhood invitation from an Episcopal church. They were having a “Get acquainted with us” reception, free, no obligation, etc. I went for two reasons. First, I was curious. Second, I’d had several contacts with the Episcopal church before. While overseas one of the Protestant chaplains on our Army base was Episcopal and in addition to his regular Protestant service duties held an Episcopal service. I ended up attending that because in style(formal and liturgical) it was much more to my taste than a plain Protestant service. Later, when the picketing issues arose, there was another Episcopal church in town who got hit a lot by the Phelps Klan, and I helped with their counter-picketing. One Sunday I decided to attend there and Father Page told me, in case I didn’t know, that I was welcome to attend Communion with them. I liked that, since I still feel sad about being shut out at the church where I was raised.
I started attending church at the congregation the mailing came from, and attended their information classes. I liked something the priest said “being Episcopalian means you don’t have to check your brains at the door.” And I really liked the people in the congregation, they’re very open and friendly. Heck, the first Sunday I attended the guy in front of me tried to get me to join the choir, because he’d heard me singing behind him and liked my voice. I’ve been there nine years now, and have been more involved in activities than I ever was.
What I’ve learned is that the sign out front is not the most important thing. Ritual and heirarchy are expendables, more matters of taste. A wide open Pentecostal service is just as valid as a “high church” liturgical service(or, as we Episcopal say “bells and smells”) Whatever gets you in the mindset to worship God is “right”
Whew! I didn’t realize how much I’ve written!
Thanks, Baker. Interesting read.
I guess everyone else here just left religion altogether?
I converted away from Catholocism in junior high, when I realized that I didn’t believe all the stuff that I’d been trained to recite at mass. Nothing against it, mind you. I just simply didn’t believe it, and was a little resentful that I’d been reciting like a trained monkey, when I was obviously too young to contemplate such things.