When I was a teenager, the family of a very good friend of mine left our church for a similar but slightly different church. I understand the issues for their leaving were mostly doctrinal but also about personal connections. My friend’s mom had close family in the other church.

I was devastated, because I did not want to be separated from my friend. (Who I had a crush on, but that’s a different story.) Our whole church descended into intense animosity.

My friend and I decided to try to spend as much time together as we could outside church, not an easy proposition because he was a farm boy and lived a long way from town. That became really difficult, because the adults in our lives were so angry about the switching-churches thing that they were barely speaking to one another.

This family had been respected and loved. Now, because they decided to switch churches over minor doctrinal matters, they became at least in my social world Public Enemy Number One.

I don’t know why people couldn’t just respect the family’s choice. Sigh.