Apostates

The Cost Of Leaving Homestead

Homestead stated in an article from the Waco Tribune-Herald called "Homestead Heritage fights back, disputing claims of deception, abuse:"

Certainly, Homestead Heritage takes it seriously when someone leaves. Such people are generally shunned, at least partially, because they’re breaking a commitment to God to live out their Christian walk in the context of that specific body, members say.

But Homestead Heritage also believes there are other Christians every bit as sincere as they are. They also believe people have an obligation to leave Homestead Heritage if they fail to keep walking in “greater light” — meaning greater revelation from God — or if they feel called to leave by God.

All Homestead Heritage asks of such people is that if they join a church with “greater light,” then tell Homestead Heritage leadership where it is, leaders say. So far, they haven’t learned of any group with a greater amount of revelation in all areas, they say.

But it’s possible, even probable, such a church exists, members stress. They just haven’t found it yet.

 This concept of finding a place of "greater light" is also spelled out in Confession for Baptism and Communion by Blair Adams on p. 126:

So, to reiterate, when a member joins Homestead Heritage they are making a lifetime commitment to them that can only be justifiably broken by moving to a church with "greater light." Homestead knows of no such churches. 

Homestead does not believe in Eternal Security. Fair enough. They believe that salvation is an unfolding walk, "shining ever brighter till the full light of day." Because ". . . if we walk in the light, as He is in the light. we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 

This is also spelled out in Confession for Baptism and Communion, pp. 58-63: 

Hopefully you can begin to see how essential to salvation this "greater light" is to Homestead Heritage. This presents a problem for people who leave if Homestead knows of no church with "greater light" than they posses. 

What about former members who speak up about their negative experiences at Homestead? In Blair Adams' book, Questions Visitors Ask, he answers the following question on p. 41:

d. Why, though, would someone vehemently attack a church, or even religion in general, unless he really had been taken advantage of or abused spiritually in some way? Doesn't bitterness indicate that the individual must have been hurt in some way by abusive authority?

--(B.A.) Not necessarily or, in this day and age, even probably. Rather, Hitchcock writes, the hatred and resentment against moral authority arise because "on a conscious and rational level the apostate declares his former beliefs to be false and pernicious. However, if this were the whole of the story such beliefs would simply be thrust out of mind and never recalled. The bitterness of the apostate, his obsession with his rejected faith, is due precisely to his rooted suspicion that his former beliefs are indeed true. He continues to hate his old creed, and often the hatred increases with  the years, because it continues to stand in judgement over him. . ."

. . .With increasing frequency, many who leave churches, not with just misunderstandings, but with a resentful and bitter attitude against the authority of their church, express just such a spirit of apostasy -- a spirit of rejection, not mere ignorance, of truth. . .  

That's right. Those who speak about their negative experiences with Homestead are apostates. That's pretty harsh from a church that recently claimed to "feel no personal animus towards the former members who accuse" them.  

Quoted material from: 

Adams, Blair. Confession for Baptism and Communion. Elm Mott: Colloquium Press, 2005.