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 think it’s very unusual to win these people back during the tenure of the same pastor/leadership.
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.” …Not if they typically cite any of those five un-spiritual “reasons” for leaving, no.
How about abandoning Christian teachings in favor of Secular Humanism or these other fashionable fantasies.
“The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with”
Add non-biblical and you have why some are dying.
TOP 5 REASONS PEOPLE LEAVE CHURCH:
1. You hurt my feelings
2. You hurt my feelings
3. You hurt my feelings
4. You hurt my feelings
5. You hurt my feelings
:>)
Too true
Did they hurt your feelings?
Another reason is when people high in the church administration do things to church members that aren’t exactly biblical, and that the pastor did NOT authorize or agree with.
Like us.
Yes...we found another church. We did NOT leave the faith.
“How about abandoning Christian teachings in favor of Secular Humanism or these other fashionable fantasies.”
I would suggest, “The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with” covers the secular humanism teachings.
That would appear to be number five.
Those reasons can definitely be excuses.
I can see all of them also being legitimate — especially number 4 — if we’re talking an extreme example.
Top 5 reasons why people leave church
1. I can’t sit still longer than 5 minutes because of my cellphone and video games
2. I don’t think there is a literal hell with gnashing and grinding of teeth.
3. I need to sleep in on Sunday to recover from my hangover
4. My gay lover and I prefer not to be judged.
5. All roads lead to heaven if I try to live a good life and besides the Church is full of hypocrites.
The church began ordaining homosexuals.
#5 - "The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with" - could refer to anything from the church sanctioning "gay marriages" to allowing openly gay pastors. You might think it unspiritual, but I think it's a good enough reason to leave.
lol! good reasons!
Church members hurting church members can be a real problem.
I’m amazed how often the first reaction to a volunteer’s trying to run a program is criticism and public proclamations of how the non-volunteer would have done it differently and could have done it better.
#4
Exactly. A legitimate reason.
Most Churches are afraid to teach the Word of God, and the Pastors think they are above all. I’ve been a Christian for over 40 years, and I encountered a Pastor that I disagreed with. I got over it, forgave him and moved on. 5 years later he still has anger and resentment over the disagreement. In fact he has anger and resentment towards several people. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s a Christian at all. And he leads a Calvary chapel, once considered being one of the most biblical of the churches in the US. I now belong to and help a home study of people who have been hurt by churches in our town. Helping them to learn to forgive, and to move past the judgmental and arrogance of Pastors is a ministry of it’s own. Jesus taught us to love one another, not judge and isolate others and act like Pharisees.
(1) Too vague. Did they disagree with the doctrine, or did they feel it was being taught uncharitably?
The church bureaucracy was stifling.
(2) A legitimate ground of complaint, but is it a ground for leaving?
Again, very vague.
They didn't like the lecture style of preaching.
(3) What style of preaching would they prefer? Question and answer? Panel debate? Poetry recital?
Yet again, very vague.
The church was not where they encountered God.
(4) Without a characterization of what the respondent means by "encounter" this is not informative.
The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with.
(5) This is effectively indistinguishable from the first objection.
People don't usually think churches are too judgmental about their cooking or their driving skills: it is a pet social or political issue that they mean when they say "judgmental."
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