Religious Vs. Spirituality, what is the difference?

As evidenced by WizardofOwls' home church.

Concerning Wizardofowls situation, I went through a similar thing back in the 1980s. It basically came down to the folks who were long time members of the church, showing us young whippersnappers the door. Of course it did not happen that way. It is way too long of a story for that explanation.
But essentially, I have experienced the breakdown in communication and trust that one expects within a community, such as your local congregation. Its tough, and heartbreaking.
We pray all works out for the best Wiz.

I have personally been through a church split twice. It was the most painful and disappointing thing I had ever been through. Sadly, I still haven't gotten over it and have a hard time fully trusting people in the church. I go, but I try not to get involved like I used to. I have several friends from my current church who are constantly asking me when are me and my hubby actually joining the church (we have been attending there 5 years) and I am still very hesitant to do so. I am also always asked to join someone's home Bible study, but I never do anymore and prefer to study on my own.

A long time ago, our church had a group of people within its membership that became dissatisfied with our pastor at the time... they became very active at trying to stir up dissent within the congregation and succeeded in turning some people against the pastor.
What followed was the most unpleasant, disappointing thing I have ever witnessed in a church. So many people turned against the pastor that he felt he was no longer able to steer the church towards any long-term goals, and he resigned... there was such a large number of folks who supported him that the resignation was actually refused in a business meeting, and we all hoped that things would settle down.
They did not, and a few weeks later he resigned for good and left. About a fourth of the membership left too. As much as all that hurt our church, and as many sour feelings were left in the wake of the departure, we eventually found another pastor with a different style of preaching and leading that put us on another path to the future.

It is incredibly disappointing to see people do such horrendous things when they don't like a pastor or there is some other issue at stake... I've continued to attend this same church and altho my faith in my fellow church members has been damaged I still go there and find a lot of benefits in the current pastor's teachings and the other activities that are going on now.

SB