The Surprising People Who Have Stopped Going to Church
My latest World Magazine column analyzes a brand new study on "de-churching."
An important new study on church attendance was just released in the form of a new book by a pastor, a writer, and a sociologist. The Great DeChurching has fascinating and surprising data. I think every church leader should read this book.
I tackle two of the largest cohorts of leavers in my World Magazine column today:
Of the 40 million leavers, 15 million have stopped attending evangelical churches, and this is where the research might both surprise and encourage pastors. The two biggest cohorts are what the authors label “cultural Christians” and “mainstream evangelicals.” The former group comprises folks who identify as Christians and live in areas around the Bible Belt but who register low scores of belief in key Christian doctrines. There are around 8 million such people in our communities. Dean Inserra, a pastor in Florida, describes this cohort well in his book, The Unsaved Christian, “Self-proclaimed Christians who worship a god that requires no self-sacrifice, no obedience, no submission, and no surrender.” This group of folks leans right politically, and over half are open to returning to church if asked. There is a vast mission field here if we are willing to engage.
The second largest group of dechurched evangelicals are those who affirm orthodox Christian beliefs but who have stopped attending. It’s not surprising that mainstream evangelicals who no longer attend church still hold mostly right-of-center political views. What is interesting is how many—78 percent—have a high view of the evangelical church, and 100 percent would consider attending again. Many claim to stay home and watch church online. Imagine if churches invited these approximately two and a half million brothers and sisters to return home.
You’ll be surprised at the reasons these two groups stopped coming to church. It’s contrary to conventional wisdom. You can read the whole column here.
As always, you can order my latest book, Agents of Grace, here.