As part of my Extended Professional Development Leave (EPDL) I wanted to do some reading on trends in the church. One of those is the trend that people seem to be leaving mainline churches. Young Adults seem to be doing it a lot, but others are too. I picked up a book, aptly entitled, "
Julia Duin notes all sorts of reasons that people are leaving the church. She begins with general stuff like, "plenty of people in this country [
There is another problem of Pastors being out of touch with the reality of the day and with "new fads and programs com[ing] and go[ing], but [the] mediocrity and lack of God just seem to go on forever" (19). It seems that "many people …were also disappointed or perplexed in some way with God" (22). Another reason people seem to be leaving is that "what's preached and taught is irrelevant to the questions on the ground" (28 -29). There is the matter that people today are much better educated and they don't have time to waste on churches that seem to operate in the 19th century. These people think "in business terms – long term planning, strategies, vision, bottom-line performance and progress – concepts that don't exist in church systems run by volunteers and headed by and overworked pastor" (31).
Further, she makes the statement that "the people who are not in church [today] are often traditional Bible-believing Christians" (39). They "know there's more to Christianity than just believing.. . . [and want] . . . a way of living rather than just a way of believing" (43).
Duin then goes on to list several issues that are keeping people away from church. Here's a summary, as best as can be done, chapter by chapter….I've tried to keep it short, to key quotes only.
A. The Search for community. People are looking for it today. "Community undergirds people emotionally, and the emotions are where today's spiritual battles are being fought" (49). Many churches have become "depersonalized using ….staged 'passing of the peace' (I've experienced that). . . [or] . . . not contacting the formally churched after they left" (52). Here's a good quote, "For centuries, our churches have been sermon and audience focused, where people can go to church and leave with no opportunity for meaningful human contact" (52).
As a reaction to this, many people have moved to something we now call "House Churches." If you don't come, people notice and find out where you've been. The appeal is that house churches don't "demand a tenth of one's salary and take up a chunk of one's Sunday," and when it comes to church, if the worship isn't great, then people conclude there's no real reason to go (61).
The problem is that house churches can also grow, and some even become organized, or join a denomination, and this seems to drive the purists away once again.
B. In adjusting to the 21st century the church has its work cut out for it. Some people want to go back to the ancient forms of worship, while others want cutting edge ministry (like the church I attended on May 17th – see blog entry). Morality is a moving target today where "divorce, crime, single-parent households, and suicide are much more prevalent than thirty years ago" (72). An interesting point in this chapter is that the church seems to have sidelined young adults when it comes to leadership. The truth is that "they actually want to grow and learn …[through] . . . hands-on meaningful opportunities" (74 – 75).
C. The issue of singles: I liked this chapter. I have known about the implications of the feelings of singles as I've done ministry, but chapter was a good reminder for me to be sensitive to their needs, and it also shocked me a bit too. Duin suggests that the church should "expend some energy matching them up" (88). The church should also not think of singles as just a great volunteer reservoir. "We are not the church's easy free labor pool to do the undesirable jobs no one else wants to do in the name of 'servant hood,' 'contentment,' and 'humility.' We are anointed individuals like our married counterparts with unique spiritual gifting and callings that others need in their lives" (94). Too often singles have been demeaned through the glorification of marriage and been told to be content with their singleness. Some, maybe many, are not content being single, and the church should be a place where matchmaking is encouraged. Very interesting.
D. Teaching, or maybe not: This chapter might be a hard one for preaching Pastor's to read, but since I'm not one of them, I read it. : ) Duin makes some good points in this chapter. She quotes a survey done that found "that while only 44 percent of congregations polled rated the preaching they got as excellent, 81 percent of the pastors did so" (102). Another point to ponder is that "the masses are better educated and no longer so naïve to think this one person [Pastor] has all the knowledge and wants to feed it into us. We want to interact with the information" (106).
There was the idea that unanswered prayer was not taught about in the church today, and authentic relationships are lacking.
E. Is the Pastor the Problem: Duin is getting at the issue of Pastors having to be either inhuman or superhuman, when in reality all they need to be is human. It's not easy Pastoring today, with all the demands that even this book has brought to the surface. I think the core of the chapter comes in this quote: "churches must be led, not managed . . . just having vision is not enough . . . [and Pastors need to ] . . . have the will or spiritual fortitude to implement [the consequences of their actions]" (128). As Duin so aptly states, time alone spent with God is the key for Pastors to lead, and produce better sermons.
F. Women in General are leaving: The age old issues of gender inequality comes out in this chapter. Duin suggests that "men are afraid they will lose their male authority" (140). She also suggests that men view women in the church as objects of temptation. "Women are considered dangerous, so they are shunned" (147).
G. The Issue of Spirituality: This chapter focuses on the charismatic movement and how many churches aren't comfortable with it. There are pockets of it around, but the church doesn't really know what to do about unanswered prayer, healing, and supernatural giftings.
H.The final chapter tying it all together. Duin summarizes her findings of the previous pages:
"It's mature Christians who have opted out of church" (170). "A lot of young Christians …may go [to church] occasionally, but they don't get much out of it. . . [and] . . . they are getting their spiritual experiences off the Internet [or in house churches]. (171- 172).
People who have been to church for some time have become bored, or have felt controlled to death. "To keep such people you have to release into ministry …equipping, networking, resourcing, launching, supporting and cheering when its best 'fish' go out and change the world" (174).
Here's an interesting quote: "When asked the formerly churched what would get them back, they said the number one thing was an invite from a friend or family members . . . the friendliness and welcoming aspect is crucial" (175).
Some say that their "faith is undergoing a huge transformation and [they] have questions that were never addressed" (176).
Conclusion:
So, that's all the information on/in the book. Are you still with me? Now I'd like to interact with it for just a moment, and maybe you want to as well.
I think Duin brings up many good points. She's pretty thick on what's wrong with the church, but her final chapter is pretty thin on suggested solutions. Sadly, the ones that are given just don't seem to have any teeth to them. After pondering the book for some time now, I've come to see that there's probably a reason why Duin spends nine chapters offering reasons why people are leaving the church, and only one short chapter on how to fix the problem.
The reason she's thin on solutions is because there is no easy solution to this problem. I agree with Duin that church can seem irrelevant in its teaching, singles have more than likely been neglected, women have often been marginalized, and the Spirit's power has been quenched. I know that those who are disillusioned have tried other avenues of church like House churches and postmodern or emergent churches. It seems that in all of her writing no one seems to have found the smoking gun that will solve all their Utopian ideals of what church should be. That's a huge statement to the effort it takes to make church work, no matter what it's size might be.
To all of this I gently suggest three other lines of thought that some might not agree with, but I think warrant closer scrutiny.
First, throughout Duins book one theme that seems to ring out loud and clear is the whole notion that I have to get something out of this whole church experience. That worship is solely my experience and it better be value packed each time I go. If it isn't, or if I don't like something, I'll just leave and journey on until I find the church that suits my needs.
Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't be fed by your church community, but what ever happened to that wonderful word we call "sacrifice"? We are living in a "me" generation, and that has bred a self centred society. People used to go to church out of duty or guilt, and that is not healthy, but it seems today that we've swung the pendulum to the other side and commitment only lasts as long as I stay satisfied.
If that were true in Jesus' day the disciples would have left Jesus. What did Jesus teach? He taught us how to serve one another, not be selfish about me - and no other.
Second, what is this whole church searching all about anyway? It's a desire to enhance, improve, deepen our relationship between God and myself, or yourself. That's what it boils down to really. Now some churches may struggle with how to do that well, but I can't see that so many do, and even if they do, why aren't these "quitters" trying to change things rather than move on. I think of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others who so desperately wanted to change "their" church because their relationship with God was deep, renewing, alive. Eventually the church ended up kicking them out, but they never wanted to leave it. The crux of the matter is that it's our relationship with God that causes us to behave the way we do - in all that we do - , and that includes church life. Duin didn't talk much about that.
Finally, and interestingly enough a theme that I've been talking about in other blog entries, Duin names the best solution of all through her own life experience. "Visitors as a custom were invited to people's homes on Sundays after the service. As a college student . . . I was invited to an elder's home one Sunday after visiting his church . . . [and] . . . the encounter changed my life, and I became best friends with that elder and his wife, plus joined their church" (179 – 180). Relationships, Relationships, Relationships. Do I sound like a broken record? Good! : )
The church is far from perfect; our church is far from perfect, but we strive to get the message out that people are at the centre of what we are about. We are a busy church, but not for the sake of just being busy, at least I hope not. The reason for all we do centres on growth in God and with each other. We grapple with, yet value, the supernatural gifting in the context of our denominational history and are doing pretty good at ministering to all ages of the church. We are active in missions both local and abroad.
Can we do better in the area of singles,women in ministry, and single parents? I think we could say yes to that, but we have not ignored these issues either. Calvin is a church that I'm honored to be able to serve as a co-pastor, but it still has areas it needs to work on. We've lost good people because they've not felt a strong connection point. We need to continually work on that.
Again, we are not a perfect church, but if, as Duin states, Christians " decided to share things in common, be willing to suffer together [not bolt when suffering occurs], and be part of a supernatural church . . . if enough believers are willing to pay the price . . . then people will begin craving church instead of quitting church. . ." (180). If everyone decided that, due to the imperfections of the church (our church), they were going to leave [and it seems many have], who would be left to challenge and subsequently change the church? I think the "quitters" have done the church its own greatest disservice, as well as themselves. I'd rather be part of the solution [and the crazy ride that it often takes to find them], not just a complainer about the problems of the church. How about you?
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