For those questioning their church membership, this is a good inventory to use; one I wish I had years ago when I found it hard to articulate why I left the church.

It starts as an uncomfortable feeling that won't stop growing, fed by small incidents and encounters that in isolation often don't justify leaving. But those incidents and encounters keep feeding your feeling of alienation until you're forced to admit this relationship is not working. Sometimes it's an accumulation of grievances, or it can be a single thing that is so dismaying that you are forced to face the reality of a failed relationship between you and a church.

Though this inventory will not ease the intensity of the pain you feel, it will ease the guilt that supports that pain, allowing you to work through the pain more quickly. Just as important, this inventory articulates issues you can use to help build a healing supportive community (however small) to which you can relate.