My kids wanted to assert their independence, be their own person, and so they left the church. I prayed, and they came back in time, to Jesus, but sadly, not to our church. Our job situation demanded we move to find work a few times while they were growing up. Thus, they had a hard time identifying with kids their own age. Sadly, they were rejected by the regulars of their own age, not being one of the old friends network, so to speak. Weeds in the congregation is a good term for this situation. Had these youth in the churches they attended been more loving as a true believer, they would not have experienced such rejection. Also, without a youth group, more mature adults would have accepted them in the fold, but this did not happen. One time my late wife went to a lady’s group meeting. It was in Oregon. One lady asked that if any one came from California, would they please raise their hand. My late wife did so, and no one talked to her for the rest of the meeting. Our membership to this church subsequently ended, and we held home fellowships on our own.
Weeds in the congregation, it is a major reason people do not attend churches. If the fruit of the Spirit was there, people would be welcomed, but we were not. I have experienced the same rejection personally by some of the churches also. My new wife and I went to one church in which we were engaged in conversation with major leadership lay persons, and when we mentioned we lived in a mobile hope park, we were ignored for the rest of the conversation, as if we did not exist. Weeds, an ample term that is the scourge of churches, a major cause of failing membership, and they look just like the real thing, until the harvest of the fruit of the Spirit shows their true nature.