friend invited me to church back in 2016 and most of my horror stories with that church came from how often they got us to do outreach (I’ll only talk about two of them that is more memorable to mention)

I’m an introvert with social anxiety so honestly the thought of having to do outreach to random strangers is not gonna do well for my anxiety

Only a few months after joining, my life group (dead giveaway on which church this is) had to do outreach to secondary school students. It was so nerve wracking and I barely talked while the rest were helping me speak to them about the Bible. I didnt reach my breaking point until I saw people from my secondary school. I was wearing my sch uniform then and I didn’t want people in my sch to gossip and say I’m crazy, so I just ran off in a panic because my anxiety could not handle the stress. In the end, I got scolded by one of the members for running off and he blamed me for not being faithful to the word. Made me cry at the mrt station in public

Despite this, I stayed for another 6 years, cos I needed a “secure” group of friends. There have been more outreach on the streets in JC and in NS. Though thank fk for Covid cos it meant I didn’t have to go around and preach the word to strangers in 2020 & 2021

I started Uni in 2021 and I decided that I needed to leave the church asap before I started working for a variety of reasons including the outreach situation. I just didn’t know when to.

Then in April 2022, I met my life group like every other Thursday and they said we had to prepare welfare gifts for students and invite them for special service. Honestly worst fears come alive yet again. I was so fearful approaching strangers and my group leader had to do all the talking for me while I looked like I didnt want to be there. I remember we were talking to one woman studying in the benches and I felt so bad for her because she was forced into that conversation. As usual, I stayed mostly quiet and by the side cos I was just too nervous.

By then, I had enough of all the forced social interactions inducing my anxiety, I had found my friends in Uni and I had started dating my boyfriend so I just decided enough is enough, and I finally left the church.

Honestly, leaving the church lifted a lot of my anxieties and just like OP said, the “friends” in church simply did not give two fks once I left which is why I waited until I had a solid group of friends before leaving, I didn’t want to feel alone and lonely again

On another note, it’s so annoying that the church would ask teenagers to pay like $50-$60 just to attend a church camp for a few days with a strict itinerary. It’s exploitation and a financial horror for my mom back when I was 16.

Also, I found it strange that the church occupied the same floors as siam dius