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."
I never like to see people leave, but a wise pastor once said that we should encourage some people to leave our churches; that it will actually make them happier. So you’re right.
Really? You don’t think sanctioning gay “marriage” and ordaining practicing homosexual and “transgender” priests is NOT a good reason to leave a church?
This one is pretty vague and subject to a lot of interpretation, but I have no objection to an honest, principled Christian leaving a church over this one (and by leaving a "church" I mean leaving a specific congregation, not abandoning one's faith).
From my experience the core of the issue isn't that a church takes a disagreeable social or political stance. It's that in doing so, the church does one or both of the following: (1) takes a position that is directly at odds with its own religious and moral teachings; and/or (2) it maintains cooperative relationships with people because of their accommodation with this social/political position, even if those people also openly support positions that would be considered intrinsically wrong -- even diabolical -- by any objective measure.
Christianity has always had great appeal to women. It’s the only religion that didn’t treat them like a burden, an afterthought, a sex object, or an employee.
But pretending that church is all about making the gals feel ‘happy’ is a lie.
OK, but that alone is not necessarily a problem. Now, if we’re talking progressive, leftists, that’s a problem.
I think this is bee-ess. People leave church because they don’t want to get up early on Sunday mornings, they don’t want to feel obligated to put money in the box, and they don’t feel an obligation or even connection to church.
These reasons given are excuses for laziness. And the researchers are lazy if they don’t recognize that.
I would have no problem adding your reasons to the list.
I left my church (member of the vestry) in 1991.
I would also prefer to see repentance instead of judgment, but we will see. The point of my reference to II Timothy 4:3-4 was to illustrate the reason that so many are rejecting church altogether. When we are our own gods, we do not see any need to worship the true God or to put up with anything that we ourselves have not created or approved. Our pride has led us into a very dangerous spot.
True that.
True that.
Add to your list
6. The pastor preaches too long and we don’t get a seat at our favorite restaurant after church.
In my humble opinion, the reason most people are leaving is because the Holy Spirit is absent in the church and or in them.
Some day the truth that feelings are simply reactions to knowledge will be understood by all. The heart has brain cells and communicates behind the conscious level.
Interesting study with machine reading brain signals found that it could predict a choice before the person realized his mind had already chosen. Neuroscience is so much fun.
That is why Paul put so much emphasis on our controlling what goes into our mind and what we think about instead of just having our ears tickled.
It’s a serious problem. Churches have nothing to offer real men.
6. I like golfing
Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat.
Luke 9:23
And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
That’s really all it is. The modern church offers nothing to males. The music sucks, too much singing and hand holding, even their Jesus is effeminate. Men only go to church because they haven’t figured out other ways to get sex from their wives.
That occured after leaving the LCMS after losing a battle with a pastor for his numerous breaches of office confidentiality.
6. The younger generations are learning in our schools and colleges that Christianity has caused so much oppression in the world.
Remember how Obola used the Crusades as an excuse to bash Christians? Well, many college students believe the same thing.
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