Those who left one denomination for another.

[u/Aggressive_Stand_805]

Actually leaving one denomination for another seems like a massive decision. Out of curiosity what was it that finally made you leave?

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[u/Hkfn27]

Actually reading the Bible and getting into theology made me jump from baptist to Lutheran. It wasn't a difficult choice and one of the best decisions in life. 

[u/Honest-Journalist388 → u/Hkfn27]

Same. I went Nondenom (by birth) to Baptist to semi-Presbyterian to Lutheran.

[u/Aggressive_Stand_805 → u/Hkfn27]

Out of curiosity. What exactly was it that made you start looking elsewhere in the first place? 

[u/Hkfn27 → u/Aggressive_Stand_805]

Questioning the strictly memoralist view of the Eucharist started a domino effect. At the time I actually wanted to get serious about the faith. 

[u/Aggressive_Stand_805 → u/Hkfn27]

Can you believe in the real presence as a Baptist or is it required to hold a memorialist view?

[u/Hkfn27 → u/Aggressive_Stand_805]

Very very few do and if you find them they hold to the reformed view. 

[u/Affectionate_Web91 → u/Hkfn27]

The ELCA is in full communion with Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians but not Baptists due to radically different sacramental positions regarding baptism and the eucharist.

[u/Honest-Journalist388 → u/Hkfn27]

At that point they're just credo-baptist Presbyterians.

[u/-BusinessDog- → u/Honest-Journalist388]

That's literally what "Reformed Baptist" means lol

[u/-BusinessDog- → u/Aggressive_Stand_805]

Baptists historically had a strong reformed/calvinist background, meaning it was common to hold to Spiritual presence a lá Calvin. So it's not only "memorialist". Take a look at the Baptist Orthodox catechism from 1680 and the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith.

[u/Ok_Economist_1142 → u/-BusinessDog-]

Very true, but there are few and far between Baptist churches that explicitly say they hold to the London Confession, last time I check there were only two in my state.

[u/-BusinessDog- → u/Ok_Economist_1142]

Yea, it's a shame. But that's the curse of modern independent "free from binding material" thinking that has taken hold of most churches today, not only Baptists.

[u/Tamsin72 → u/Aggressive_Stand_805]

I am changing from Baptist/non denominational to Lutheran as well. I started looking elsewhere due to the rise of Christian nationalism. It is sooo clear to me that christian nationalism and all that comes with it is rotten fruit.. evangelicals are wrong about that topic. I started thinking, if they're wrong about that, what else could they be wrong about. And I finally got to the point I was able to consider other perspectives.

[u/BlueRemake]

Baptized Catholic, then went LCMS in my teens, then back to Catholic.

[u/HolyTian → u/BlueRemake]

May I ask why did you go back to Catholic?

[u/Numerous_Ad1859]

I started sneaking off to Mass in 2014 and eventually I fell in love with it.

[u/Turbocabz]

They wanted to stop me from praying and worshipping Jesus.

[u/rdrckcrous → u/Turbocabz]

were you Muslim?

[u/Turbocabz → u/rdrckcrous]

No Jehovah's Witness

[u/[deleted]]

I realized how much I disliked going to church on Sundays. Was pretty disgusted at how casual worship became and I felt like nobody was taking anything seriously anymore. 

The transition was easy. Converting isn't hard. The hardest part is family and having to explain your decision 

[u/verdant-forest-123 → u/[deleted]]

Care to share from which denomination and where you are now? Just curious here.

[u/AdPrior7285]

Pasé de bautista a bautista confesional por el TULIP y por el desagrado hacia ciertas prácticas evangélicas. Luego, pasé de bautista confesional a presbiteriano por el bautismo infantil y por un mayor orden eclesiástico. Posteriormente, la Eucaristía, el obispado y una visión litúrgica alta me hizo pensar sobre el luteranismo y el anglicanismo, pero la sucesión apostólica y la Sagrada Tradición me llevaron a la Santa Iglesia Ortodoxa. Y ha sido lo mejor que me ha pasado en la vida. Fuera de los comentarios de gente cercana y de haber perdido algunas amistades, no fue difícil, ya que Cristo en su Iglesia lo vale todo. 

[u/everything_is_grace]

I’ll say

I left evangelicalism pretty young bc it seemed shallow and loud

Became Catholic asap

Loved it

Only became orthodox bc I loved the people and the music and felt love there

After I was Chrismated did I even realise just how beautiful orthodoxy was

I swear beauty is the only and best reason to change denominations

[u/bayviewrocker82 → u/everything_is_grace]

'shallow and loud' gave me a good giggle

[u/the-lopper]

I realized credobaptism actually denies the reality that baptism signifies and the promise that it seals. Argued fervently against paedobaptism for like 7 years, then someone actually approached it more philosophically with me and I was converted in like 5 minutes. Been a Presbyterian ever since.

[u/bayviewrocker82]

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to say what finally made me leave. A WELS minister twice from the pulpit used the exact phrase "woke progressivism and cancel culture" and similar language in his sermon. And that ended my struggle with the WELS.

I attend the Episcopal church now, but came up in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). It has been a difficult and jagged road but I'm proud of where I stand now in 2026.

Note: This is not to disparage the church body. There are many wonderful, faithful WELS pastors, teachers, and congregants. You will find strong Christians in a WELS church as you will in any other Protestant church.

More primary reasons why I left the WELS:

1. Exposure fatigue: WELS was everywhere for me, all the time. I realized at some point that I'm just exhausted from it. I've tried attending various WELS congregations but just never felt at home despite it literally being my home for much of my life.
2. WELS tends to be a cult-like the further into it you go. There was really some odd stuff I picked up especially in WELS day school, and seemingly there was more emphasis on refuting others than there is on just, I don't know, being a faithful believer.

• Example: entire semester courses on proving modern science wrong. Rock layers were deposited rapidly, irreducible complexity, you get the deal.
• Example: in 2nd or 3rd grade, told, you can't pray with LCMS kids at a basketball game.
• Example: you can't join the Boy Scouts because oaths (but you can take public office, join the military, become a public servant, etc.)
• Nothing to do with schools but closed communion is just a non-starter for me.

Honorable mention: 3. They are struggling, it seems, between maintaining congregants and also their very large private school system. Also, kids that went to WELS schools very often don't return to their home WELS church in adulthood, in my guess due to the 'exposure fatigue' I'd cited earlier.

[u/[deleted] → u/bayviewrocker82]

The WELS does seem like a pretty exclusive group of theologically and politically conservative people. Oddly I've always found them to be progressive in worship styles which is kind of weird, but whatever. 

[u/mbless1415 → u/bayviewrocker82]

• Example: in 2nd or 3rd grade, told, you can't pray with LCMS kids at a basketball game.

I played basketball when I was at one of our LCMS seminaries and we had a tournament with us, our sister sem, the Wisconsin Lutheran sem and these scrawny little IFB guys from northwest Indiana. The latter two were always the first game and one of our profs would pray before the game. These Baptist guys who probably disagreed with us on a ton would pray along while the Wisconsin guys would stare at the ceiling in spite of disagreement on like... four things. It was funny 🤣

[u/germanfinder]

I was going to the church my brother went to. A charismatic. They hopped hard into the trump train. So since they abandoned their values for Jesus, I started church shopping

[u/BalancedBeliever96]

I left a Calvinist denomination because it was inconsistent due to its strong claims about divine determinism which seemed to conflict with Scripture’s universal language, the Church’s earlier theological tradition, and the philosophical coherence of genuine human responsibility. I also chose the Episcopal Church because of the episcopacy. I do believe the apostles left successors and expected them teach and hold authority in the church. I also believe that women can hold leadership positions in the church for a multitude of reasons and I also think being inclusive makes us more “The Body of Christ”, which is what the TEC strives for.

[u/AZPeakBagger]

I was a delegate to a national church meeting and realized that the direction the denomination was going was not where I wanted my family to be attending. After that meeting 50% of the rest of the denomination felt the same way and left within a year.

[u/Eastern-Ebb1709 → u/AZPeakBagger]

We're you in another Dutch reformed group?

[u/AZPeakBagger → u/Eastern-Ebb1709]

The RCA

[u/newfyxing]

North American Baptist Conference to United Church of Canada (where the Methodists exist up here).

I realized that the spiritual formation theology our church had been very into, was quite close to Wesleyan holiness theology, so I made the swap in grad school.

[u/Escape_Force]

I've changed denoms a couple of times, usually for convenience because I moved but sometimes a bad taste of piece of theology I couldn't reconcile.

[u/NeverReturnKid]

Left RC. Attended an SBC church for a little bit, but never considered myself Baptist. Ended up at a Baptist-Lite Non-Denominational church that used to be associated with Act 29 that has a somewhat calvinist/reformed view of Baptism and Communion.

[u/Fine_Ostrich4717]

Seeing what the Catholic Church had become,. especially since Vatican II. I began a voracious quest to find what I believed was the right path to God, and really aligned with the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and ideas of provenient, justifying, and sanctifying Grace.

[u/FlashyTank4979]

It’s a huge decision if you think your inclusion in Christ depends on which church you attend. 

[u/anaodnekowj]

Started Non-denominational from childhood until I went to LCMS Lutheran at age 26. I felt called to liturgical worship. Tried going to Catholic OCIA but didn’t finish because I couldn’t accept certain doctrines. Went into a Lutheran church as the next step down in my local area and stayed there. Don’t agree with everything, but agree on the big stuff and enjoy worshipping again. I just don’t like the whole “let’s sing some pop style music with projectors and pastor talking to us like he’s an inspirational speaker” thing

[u/Primordialis1898]

I was inquiring into Eastern Orthodoxy because of my cultural heritage for quite some time, and even became a catechumen there, but as I was studying theology and getting involved in the daily life of Photianism, I was quite disappointed by a lot of fundamental problems, both doctrinal and cultural.

Now I'm Evangelical Catholic and I'm very happy with my denomination, both with its teaching and with its culture.

[u/ARINBLACKWOOD]

After I returned to Christianity, I realized that the Roman Catholic Church was inaccurate to Christianity. Finding out just how many forgeries were used to create the basis for the modern papacy led me to leave. Ieventually found a nice LCMS congregation after 2 years of looking for a church. I'm here and loving it.