Saint James AME Church, Compton

Saint James AME Church, Compton Christ-Centered! Spirtully-Led!Biblically Based preaching and teaching in the City of Compton

Resurrection Sunday at Saint James AME Church, Compton
04/06/2026

Resurrection Sunday at Saint James AME Church, Compton

03/23/2026

Raising them up!

Youth Sunday at Saint James AME Church, Compton! Meet our Little Drummer Boy taught by Candis Monroe!
03/23/2026

Youth Sunday at Saint James AME Church, Compton! Meet our Little Drummer Boy taught by Candis Monroe!

03/17/2026

⚠️ WHY FAITHFUL MEMBERS WALK AWAY FROM THE CHURCH

(Biblical Reasons Believers Leave Unhealthy Churches)

📖 2 Timothy 4:3
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…”

📖 INTRODUCTION

Many people assume that when believers leave a church it must mean:
• they are weak
• they are offended
• they are backsliding

But Scripture shows another reality.
Sometimes faithful believers walk away because truth is being abandoned.

In the Dispensation of Grace, the church is called to stand on:
📖 2 Timothy 2:15
“Rightly dividing the word of truth.”
When churches drift from the truth, spiritually discerning believers often separate to remain faithful to Christ.

Let us examine nine biblical reasons faithful members sometimes walk away.

1️⃣ DOCTRINAL COMPROMISE
(Truth is diluted or distorted)
📖 Galatians 1:6–7
Explanation:
When the Gospel or doctrine is compromised, faithful believers cannot remain silent.

Sub-points
• Corrupted Gospel preached
📖 Galatians 1:6
• Confusing doctrines promoted
📖 1 Timothy 1:3
• Compromised biblical authority
📖 2 Timothy 4:3

2️⃣ SPIRITUAL CARNALITY
(Leadership becomes worldly)
📖 1 Corinthians 3:3
Explanation:
Carnal leadership creates a toxic spiritual environment.

Sub-points
• Selfish ambition displayed
📖 James 3:16
• Strife among believers
📖 1 Corinthians 3:3
• Scandalous behavior tolerated
📖 1 Corinthians 5:1

3️⃣ SCRIPTURAL NEGLECT
(The Word of God is no longer central)
📖 Amos 8:11
Explanation:
Some churches replace Scripture with entertainment or philosophy.

Sub-points
• Shallow preaching delivered
📖 2 Timothy 4:2
• Scriptures rarely studied
📖 Acts 17:11
• Sound doctrine ignored
📖 Titus 2:1

4️⃣ FALSE TEACHERS
(Deceptive voices infiltrate the church)
📖 2 Peter 2:1
Explanation:
False teachers introduce destructive ideas.

Sub-points
• Subtle deception introduced
📖 2 Corinthians 11:13
• Strange doctrines promoted
📖 Hebrews 13:9
• Spiritual truth distorted
📖 2 Timothy 3:13

5️⃣ RELIGIOUS RITUALISM
(Tradition replaces true faith)
📖 Colossians 2:8
Explanation:
Legalism and tradition can suffocate spiritual growth.

Sub-points
• Man-made rules enforced
📖 Mark 7:8
• Meaningless rituals practiced
📖 Colossians 2:20–22
• Misplaced focus on religion
📖 Galatians 5:1

6️⃣ SPIRITUAL STAGNATION
(No growth or discipleship)
📖 Hebrews 5:12
Explanation:
Healthy churches encourage spiritual growth.

Sub-points
• Believers remain immature
📖 1 Corinthians 3:1
• Biblical training neglected
📖 2 Timothy 2:2
• Maturity never developed
📖 Ephesians 4:13

7️⃣ HYPOCRITICAL LEADERSHIP
(Leaders preach one thing but live another)
📖 Matthew 23:3
Explanation:
Hypocrisy damages the testimony of the church.

Sub-points
• Double standards practiced
📖 Romans 2:21
• Dishonest leadership exposed
📖 2 Corinthians 4:2
• Disgraceful conduct revealed
📖 1 Timothy 3:2

8️⃣ SPIRITUAL PERSECUTION
(Truth-loving believers are rejected)
📖 John 15:20
Explanation:
Sometimes faithful believers are pushed out because they stand for truth.

Sub-points
• Truth tellers rejected
📖 Galatians 4:16
• Biblical conviction opposed
📖 2 Timothy 3:12
• Sound doctrine resisted
📖 2 Timothy 4:3

9️⃣ PERSONAL CONVICTION
(God leads believers elsewhere)
📖 Romans 14:5
Explanation:
Sometimes God leads believers to seek healthier fellowship.

Sub-points
• Spiritual discernment exercised
📖 Philippians 1:9
• Seeking sound doctrine
📖 2 Timothy 1:13
• Submitting to God's leading
📖 Proverbs 3:5–6

🏁 CONCLUSION

Not everyone who leaves a church is unfaithful.
Sometimes believers leave because:
• truth is compromised
• doctrine is corrupted
• Christ is no longer central
Faithful believers must remain loyal first to Christ and His Word.
📖 Acts 5:29
“We ought to obey God rather than men.”

📣 CALL TO ACTION

Ask yourself today:
• Is your church faithful to the Word of God?
• Are you growing spiritually where you are?
• Are you standing for sound doctrine?

📖 2 Timothy 2:15
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God…”
👉 Stand for truth.
👉 Seek sound doctrine.
👉 Stay faithful to Christ.
📖🔥

💡 FINAL THOUGHTS

1️⃣ Faithful believers hunger for truth 📖
2️⃣ Sound doctrine protects the church 🛡️
3️⃣ False teaching destroys spiritual health ⚠️
4️⃣ Christ must remain the center of the church ✝️
5️⃣ Faithfulness to God matters more than popularity 👑

Need Food? This Saturday! Fresh Fruits, Vegetables, and Meat.
03/03/2026

Need Food? This Saturday! Fresh Fruits, Vegetables, and Meat.

02/28/2026

Lenten Devotional for February 27, 2026

FRIDAY ALLY SPOTLIGHT

– Yuri Kochiyama (1921–2014) –

“Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” – Esther 4:14, NRSVue

Yuri Kochiyama’s courage was forged through suffering. As a young woman, she and her family were forced from their home and imprisoned in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. That experience taught her what it meant to be targeted as “other.”

Rather than turn inward, Yuri devoted her life to solidarity. In Harlem, her small apartment became a gathering place for organizers and young people searching for justice. She worked for reparations for Japanese Americans, fought for Puerto Rican independence and stood with Black freedom struggles.

Her bond with Malcolm X was especially profound. She admired his vision of human rights and stood with him in his final years. When he was assassinated in 1965, Yuri was in the Audubon Ballroom. In the chaos, she rushed forward, briefly kneeling beside him, a moment that etched the cost of justice into her heart forever.

Like Esther, Yuri reminds us that courage is not abstract. It is opening our homes, linking our struggles and standing present in the hardest moments

Take a moment to consider:

– Which part of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. is God inviting you to live out with courage right now?

– How are you led to join the struggle, use your voice, stand with the marginalized, tell the truth, invest in relationships, choose courage or embody love in action?

Prayer: God of every nation and people, we thank You for the witness of Yuri Kochiyama, who turned her own suffering into compassion and her home into a refuge for many. Give us courage like hers, to link our lives with the oppressed, to risk comfort for the sake of justice and to be present where love is costly. May we, like Esther and Yuri, answer Your call with courage, “If I perish, I perish,” Amen.

02/27/2026

Lenten Devotional for 02.26.2026

The Algorithm of Deliverance

“Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. Now Esther had not revealed her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.” – Esther 2:10, 20, NRSVue

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:14, NIV

Maya Angelou is accredited with the adage, “You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.” This truth echoed in my heart when I contemplated the reasons Esther did not reveal her ethnicity and kindred, especially since she was related to Mordecai who was favored by the king. Esther and her people were facing death! Her fatherly cousin sent her a message that her kindred and her people were to be massacred because of who they were. But the canonical narrative says that Esther did not reveal her people or kindred even after the diadem was placed on her head. Did the king not know who he was so in love with?

I offer this thought during this Lenten season—Esther walked in silent assurance that the opportune time had not yet presented itself, her cultural identity and the God of Jewish people exiled in the provinces. Had she told who she before the anticipation of the forming weaponry of genocide, how would the king have responded? Had she revealed that she came from Jewish descent, how would the kingdom dynamics have been influenced?

God had and still has a step-by-step plan to bring about our deliverance. The algorithm for deliverance for Esther can be captured but not limited to:

1. Knowing who she was

2. Being confident in knowing who she was and where she was —past and future

3. Being who she was appointed to be, Queen Esther of Persia

Contemplation: Lord, I am who I am because You are Creator. Help me to live confidently in understanding who I am, and who my “people” are. Thank you for my being.

—Kim R. Wright, M.Div., M.Ed.

02/26/2026

Lenten Devotional for 02.25.2026

Allyship: Queen Esther’s “Gambit”

“For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” – Esther 4:14, NRSV

During the 2025 a group was sponsored a trip to the renowned St. Louis Chess Club to facilitate reflection on church strategy. While there, they discussed a familiar chess move called, “The Queen’s Gambit.” It is an opening move for white that temporarily sacrifices a pawn to gain a better grip on the center leading to a rich strategic game with many possible defensive responses from Black. The conversation caused us to consider whether this was a true gambit. This is debatable because white’s primary goal is to regain the offered pawn rather than permanently sacrificing it. The ultimate goal remains the same—“positional weakness of the opponent.” That is where we find Esther in the text. In a place where her positioning seems to be weak. But was this the case?

In Queen Esther’s context, she offers herself as a kind of “pseudo-gambit” after her adoptive father, Mordecai, urges her to leverage her royal privilege in an act of allyship. The Jews had been placed at risk of genocide, due to an unjust executive order that Haman, chief official and Mordecai’s enemy, obtained from King Ahasuerus. But, as any good chess player knows, Esther had another move. She was faced with a defining moment to take a risk and speak up; and she did.

With God, doing justice work is never the true gambit. It is not a risk we take in vain. “For if you keep silent at such a time as this,” you risk missing out on God’s will to ultimately accomplish justice.

Questions/Reflection: What aspects of our privilege might be used as a gambit to serve a God of justice and show the love of God to the oppressed, the widow, the fatherless, the immigrant? How might we call others to allyship, like Mordecai?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us take up our cross and follow Your Son, who— although equal with You—emptied himself because of Your love for us.

—Vincent Lui

Coordinating Council Member, Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Baltimore, MD

02/25/2026

Lenten Devotional for 02.24.2026

Even though…
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” – Esther 4:16, NIV

The fight for justice and equality can feel never-ending. Despite progress, racism and injustice still plague our society. If we are not careful, the weight of it all can lead us to believe that the possibility of change is hopeless. We can even be tempted to stop trying. This is where we find Esther in our text.

Upon learning of the plan to destroy her people, Esther initially wants to remain silent. What could she possibly do? She feels outmatched and outdone (Esther 4:10). We have all been there. The constant stream of tragedy can leave even the strongest among us feeling defeated. But like Esther, we are called to resilience—a resilience rooted in faith.

Esther’s story teaches us the power of an even though mindset. She did not wait until her circumstances changed; she acted based on conviction, not comfort. Her decision to risk everything became the catalyst for her people’s salvation.

Our convictions must outweigh our fears. As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” Real change requires action. Esther knew the law forbade her from approaching the king uninvited, yet she moved forward—guided not by fear, but by Holy Spirit.

May we, too, have the faith to stand up for what is right—even though the outcome is uncertain—knowing that when we stand for justice, we never stand alone.

Prayer: God, who is Emmanuel, thank You for empowering us to overcome evil. Help us trust You more as we do acts of justice each day.

—Rev. Danielle L. Bridgeforth, Senior Pastor, The Church at Clarendon Arlington, VA

02/22/2026

Good Evening Saints!

If you are joining us on our Lenten Journey, please use Saturday's to do some reflection, especially in this season of unrest.

Take a moment to consider:
– What faithful risk might God be nudging you to take, even if it feels small
or you feel unprepared?
– How can you join with others so your action is sustained and not just a
passing intention?
– Write a prayer asking God to show you one step toward justice this week.

Pastor Adriene Goodrich

Address

601 West Roscrans Avenue
Compton, CA
90222

Telephone

+13109338557

Website

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