i was very fortunate to grow up in a church that encouraged study.. as a teenager i remember my pastor saying - dont take my word for it, study it for yourself.

This should be a life-long process as we grown in the faith. I dont think we ever "get there" this side of heaven.

There are many issues that are not essential.

and you can change your mind on things too...even go back and forth :) . i go back and forth on free will daily :)

I think a problem in a lot of churches is that people are not "born again." They dont have the indwelling christ living inside them. That means they are doing it through human effort, which is going to end up in frustration and failure.

Churches need to take discipleship a lot more seriously, but then its hard to get people interested in study.