Posted on 08/06/2015 11:38:36 AM PDT by xzins
New research reveals that 31 percent of the adult U.S. population, approximately 65 million people, were at one time involved in church but have since left. This is approximately equal to the number of people still regularly attending church.
The study also found that more than 10 percent of adults still attending church are on their way out the door.
The top five reasons people gave for leaving are:
The church was too judgmental.
The church bureaucracy was stifling.
They didn't like the lecture style of preaching.
The church was not where they encountered God.
The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with.
The research was conducted by Dr. Josh Packard, director of the Social Research Lab at the University of Northern Colorado, for the purpose of understanding the size, make-up and motivations of the formerly churched population in the U.S.
Packard's findings are summarized in a newly released report titled, Exodus of the Religious Dones. Packard also wrote about these trends in his book Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People Are DONE With Church but Not Their Faith (Group).
According to Packard, "The people who are leaving the church in droves are not simply marginal Christians who decided to leave on a whim. They were at one time the church's staunchest supporters and leaders. And when they leave, they take irreplaceable institutional knowledge, experience and relational connections that will be hard to replace."
Let me just include some reasons why I stayed.
1] The Church stayed constant and didn’t move with the times.
2] I believe the Church taught as Jesus would.
3] I believe the Church was the closest thing to God on earth where I could give thanks in person.
I’d say you covered almost all the bases. Lol.
I’d add:
6. They didn’t do it my way.
7. I want to be a spectator. Leave me alone.
What Church?
Being a pastor, allow me to suggest that a lot of complaints about pastors are all in the mind of the complainer.
We changed the seating in the sanctuary once. I actually lost people over that.
We held a Christmas eve service in our social room/gymasium instead of in the sanctuary because of lighting effects, seating, etc., and I lost people over that, 2 of whom stormed out of the church never to return before the service even started.
I can’t imagine they’d tell the truth about why they left.
I think quite different. I don’t choose my church for a place where my politically and social ideas are in synch, I accept the Christian teachings and embrace them for myself. When the church abandons their own teachings, what of those who still hold to them.
Most of the time it doesn’t have anything to do specifically with the church. Since I’ve been married (20 years), we have been members of 5 different churches.
1. We moved and wanted a closer church (3 years) our problem)
2. We left because we wanted something different for the kids (12 years, our problem)
3. We left because it was too fundamental for our tastes(1 year—music was too traditional says my wife, our problem)
4. We left because the youth group didn’t meet at the same time as the service. This was one of the megachurches (2 years—our problem)
5. Our current church. (2 years)
I live in the Dallas Metroplex, if you don’t like the church your currently attending, there are a half a dozen churches to choose from within a few miles radius. And one of them will/can fulfill your needs.
You can find God in all of them.
Either a particular Church or a denomination.
This is a big problem, much of the church is very confused.
One observation not covered here: the younger generation has not been taught in such a way that the gospel has been transferred in its fullness. The younger generation has not yet had its version of a renewal, rather has gravitated to other things.
That’s obviously a generalization, but it’s a big time issue, at least in the US.
What is a church?
Is it the building? the denomination? the institution? the clubhouse? or something else?
Some distinguish between the visible church and the invisible church.
Which church is this article referring to? I would suggest that as we read this, many of have different thoughts on what a church is......................
It looks like that day has arrived, and the judgment of our just God is ahead.
I’m about to get onboard with #5 if this Pope continues the rocket-sled ride towards Communism.
The problem with any hierarchy gone astray is that they start putting people they like in vacancies that occur. The corruption spreads.
One church told me to be a member I had to sign a contract that I wouldn’t watch movies, dance or drink.
The next had guardian gargoyle members that wanted to vet people coming to “their” church. Huge church, pews almost all empty.
The last I was invited to, was an all-black church. Great music, but the pastor wasn’t much of a preacher. Every sermon was about his conversion experience in Vietnam...except for the last one, where he went off on a bit of a nlack supremacy rant. Hokay, moving on. I still visit when they give away clothes and homemade bread. I like the bread.
I have a neighbor who goes to a Baptist church that has a wild game supper every year...that’s the next church I plan to attend ;)
Yes, but we can pray for the Lord to give us another chance. He was willing to forego judgment on Sodom if just 10 righteous people were found. I don’t know how big the population of that city of the plains was, but if it was 1000 people, then we’re saying God was willing to give them another chance if just 1% of the people were righteous.
Noah and his family totaled just 8 in the entire world.
I would rather see a huge revival of faith break out than see God’s judgment fall.
“The church was not where they encountered God.”
Right. Though I’m no longer a follower, the more likely spots are:
- Auto accident or near miss.
- Bad night with drugs or alcohol.
- Meeting a soulmate.
- Growing up with one’s children.
- Seeking peace, not material gain.
Wouldn’t you rather go to a church that believes the bible? What are those crucial things in the Bible you want your church to believe?
Looks like Jesus is at work in your church, isn’t division one of Jesus’ math skills?
I think you understood the meaning that was trying to convey. I do think, though, that church can be a place where God speaks to us.
Church is a service industry for women. They have become completely feminized.
How about the point of the article?
Churches have become PACs. The Pope, of all people, is now a scientist.
Apple stock is getting hammered. Why? Tim Cook is an advocate for gays, is for inclusiveness, and is willing to talk about political issues.
The problem with Tim Cook is that his job is worrying about Apple - full stop.
Churches? Gay outreach to the point of rewriting scripture, and that’s just the beginning of it. When you feel like ATTENDING YOUR HOME CHURCH IS AN ACT OF APOSTACY, then it’s time to go, and to shake the dust from your sandals as you flee.
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