Does changing churches spur spiritual growth?

Patricia Singini left the CCAP Church early this year to join Illumination Assembly, a Pentecostal church currently meeting at the Comesa Hall in Blantyre.

Singini said her spiritual life was not growing to the level she wanted; hence, the decision to change churches in search of spiritual rebirth.

She blamed her spiritual stagnation on what she describes as “uninspiring and repetitive interpretation of the scripture in most conservative churches.”

“Let me emphasise that we don’t go to church just for the sake of it. We have needs whose answers only God can meet,” said Singini.

She said more believers may leave traditional churches if those serving in the churches do not adjust and incorporate the needs of members in their sermons.

Singini believes that some conservative churches have been drifting away from the biblical truth.

“I feel new churches are all we needed for our spiritual growth. And I don’t regret joining a Pentecostal church,” she said with a smile.

Singini is one of many believers who have left their churches in search of unmet social, economic and spiritual needs.

Across the world, believers of all ages, races and cultures are leaving faiths passed on from their ancestors to join new religious groups.

But is changing churches the way to achieving spiritual growth?

Responding to a question posed on Facebook, a Lilongwe-based Pentecostal Christian Yvonnie Diamond said: “Yes, and I am a witness to that! I have been to a lot of churches but I couldn’t feel the change nor feel at home until I joined a particular church, which I finally settled in!”

Another Pentecostal believer, Mundy Nchessie, agreed that changing churches impacts greatly on one’s spiritual growth.

Nchessie said the church she has just joined has changed the way she used to view religion as it emphasises more on the gospel than material wealth.

“This has helped me realise that entry to heaven isn’t about giving to the poor or having more materials, but fulfilling the will of God,” she said.

But Father Henry Saindi of the Catholic Church said there is more to spiritual growth than just changing churches.

“There’s a tendency among many Pentecostal believers to say since they joined a new church, then they are born again Christians. This is wrong because every believer goes through spiritual rebirth after being baptised.

“Therefore, mere change of churches may not result in spiritual growth. One has to commit himself or herself to Christ to gain spiritual growth, not mere showy talk,” said the priest.

Reverend Jimmy Banda of St Andrew’s CCAP Church in Chikhwawa said it is wrong for believers to think they become grown-ups spiritually by merely switching churches.

“Those believers could be cheating themselves. After all, the Bible says: ‘Not all that say Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of God’.

Therefore, we don’t have to qualify ourselves as spiritual grown-ups just because we’ve changed a church,” said Banda.