Six Issues of and Six Messages for the Dechurched

Casualties of the church. You read that right. Though many have casually dechurched—most often simply due to moving—there are some who have actively dechurched. They left the church by choice. The church hurt them. And we must seek to respond with lovingkindness.

Research reported inChapter 11 of The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why They Are Leaving, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? considers six issues of the dechurched along with six messages for the dechurched.

The Political Issue: The Gospel Comes with an Ethic

“We know that many Americans have left the church because of political disagreements. They haven’t just left a church; they’ve left the church.” (166-167) 18% left for political disagreements with their church; 16% left for political disagreements with their pastor. Listening first. Seeking to understand. We must graciously ask if a secondary issue became primary? Or it may have been that their pastor was out of step with the Gospel ethic; that leads to our second consideration.

The Hurt Issue: You Don’t Have to Return to What You Left

14% of dechurched left because they felt unloved by their church. 22% left because they didn’t feel as if they fit in. Everyone deserves to be loved. Everyone wants to belong. It hurts when you are left out. When in dialogue with someone hurt by the church, we can grieve their loss as we demonstrate our love. We can ask them to consider that not all churches are the same; they can return to a different church or a different type of church.

The Streaming Issue: “Online Worship” is Not the Gathering

At 2022 Pew Research study shows 22% of Christians worship only online. The Great Dechurching research shows that number closer to 30%. Though we are thankful for the technology—most of us experienced it during COVID-19—it does not replace the gathering together of the Saints. We gather together as individuals; we need one another to function as and worship as a church. A corporate worship service is an experience of family, community, unity. We belong to one another.

The Abuse Issue: Blessed Are the Little Ones

The Catholic Church has faced thousands of priests who have abused thousands of children. A 2022 report in my own Southern Baptist Convention brought to light hundreds of cases of sexual abuse that were mishandled, covered up, and ignored. The safety of our children and the most vulnerable along with the abuse of office by pastors should be a concern for every church member. 7% of all dechurched and 12% of dechurched evangelicals left over their concerns with clergy sexual abuse. We must seek to make our churches the safest places for children and the vulnerable. We must seek to make them safe places for the abused and concerned as well.

The Isolation Issue: You Need the Church (and the Church Needs You)

11% of the dechurched left because church attendance was no longer convenient. That rose to 17% among dechurched evangelicals. As we consider such dechurched people our approach is simple: love them and invite them. When people feel welcome and included, they want to belong. We need genuine relationships. We need one another. We need to make the time and spend the effort that others belong.

The Belief Issue: The Gospel is Good News

A change in belief is the single largest reason people left the church. 23% of dechurched did so because they no longer believe as they did before. Maybe their theology changed, maybe they no longer match the biblical morality of the church, or maybe their abuse by others led to a change of belief. No matter what happened, we all do well to remember that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus, our Savior, died to forgive our sins and restore our brokenness. No matter what it is. God loves you. No matter what.

Practicing the six types of awareness from our last post, Reasons for Hope Amidst the Great Dechurching, would be most helpful in addressing the six concerns above. If you are just joining us, you may want to read our introductory post, The Great Dechurching, and the second post in this series, Who are the Dechurched?, that looks more deeply into the statistics.

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Reasons for Hope Amidst The Great Dechurching

Engaging the Dechurched

We continue our examination of The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why They Are Leaving, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? by Jim Davis and Michael Graham with Ryan Burge. What looks like defeat, really has hope. Some things are out of our control, but other things are not. There are effective ways we can respond to The Great Dechurching. Let’s consider some reasons for hope.

Reasons for Hope

First, 51% of dechurched evangelicals said they will return to the church one day. And why or when will they return? When a friend, family member, or coworker invites them. You can do that. Invite people into a personal relationship with you—extend friendship and be welcoming. Invite people to consider a personal relationship with Jesus—share his love and the Gospel. Invite people to attend a church activity or worship service with you—ask them to be included.

Second, research shows belief, belonging, and behavior are connected. When we consider the behavior of church attendance we can be encouraged that behavior follows belief and belonging. Most dechurched people have stopped the behavior of church attendance, but their beliefs are still very much in line. “They left their religious label behind but not their belief” (121). They still belief, we just need to invite them to belong once more.

Third, the relational incompetence of both the churched and their churches is a major problem in dechurching. Those wanting to reverse The Great Dechurching would do well to improve their relational wisdom. We need some critical competencies to increase our relational wisdom. The six competencies of relational wisdom are as follows.

• God-Awareness—God loves the dechurched and desires an rich, love relationship with them; such awareness can empower us.

• Self-Awareness—Healthy within our own personal relationship with God, self-awareness enables us to more wisely relate to others.

• Others-Awareness—Our growing relationship with God and right understanding of self allows us to best engage others in gracious, respectful, and loving manner.

• Emotional Awareness—Of self and others informs how we invite others to consider the Gospel.

• Awareness of How Others Perceive Us—Am I awkward or cringy? Or do I come across naturally, transparent, and, in the right circumstances, more deeply vulnerable as a real person.

• Cultural Awareness—Growing from awareness of others, we must consider our cultural biases and differences when sharing with the dechurched.

In short, all of us would do well to practice calm, quiet, curiosity in relating to others, particularly the dechurched. These points lead us to consider: What awareness do I struggle with and for what reasons? Specifically, how can I improve my awareness?

God So Loved

God so loved the world—churched, unchurched, and dechurched—that he gave his one and only son that whoever—no matter their story, their labels, their background, or their sins—believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. That is still the Gospel. Let us share it winsomely.

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To read the previous posts, The Great Dechurching, click here, and Who Are The Dechurched?, click here.

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Who Are The Dechurched?

In our previous post we began to examine The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham. In this post, we’ll consider findings about the dechurched.

Who are the Dechurched?

The dechurched are near equally divided in gender: 52% men; 48% women. As to the major traditions of Christianity—Catholicism, Protestantism, and all other Christians—each has dechurched equally at about 32%. Denominationally, Presbyterians have lost 45%, Methodists 37%, Baptists 29%, and Pentecostals 26% amidst the Great Dechurching of the last 25 years. Racially, dechurching among those who previously attended church regularly is 26% Black, 27% White, 14% Hispanic, and 34% of Asian Americans. One surprising insight: The economically disadvantaged are more likely to dechurch. The authors observe that America is largely built for those who follow the “success sequence”: graduate high school; work full time; have children after marriage. The church in America, especially the evangelical church, is built for that formula. How can we think about church for those who are not yet here and those who are no longer here?

How Much is America Dechurching?

40 million Americans have left the church in the last 25 years. The General Social Survey (GSS) provides greater insight into that number. Administered annually since 1972, the GSS is a benchmark for US social research. In 1972, 9% of Americans said they never attend a religious service; by 2021 that had risen dramatically to 31%. In 1972, 41% of Americans attended church at least once a week; in 2021 that was down to 24%. These statistics lead to another bracing realization: 35 million children raised in families now identifying as Christian will no longer identify as Christian or attend church by 2050. Each of these staggering numbers represents a person Jesus died for; what is your reaction to these numbers?

Five Major Types of Dechurched

• Cultural Christians are those who identify as Christians but have little connection to the church. They have casually dechurched—a passive dechurching due to friends no longer attending or simply moving and never finding a new church.

• Dechurched Mainstream Evangelicals are younger on average than their still church friends. They stopped attending because the moved or attendance was inconvenient. Friendships and invitations from churched people can bring them back.

• Exvangelicals are those who have actively left the Christian faith. They are casualties of Christianity; no longer fitting in or having a negative experience that led to their departure.

• Dechurched BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Peoples of Color), was a surprise to researchers who did not consider race in their initial surveys but saw such uniquenesses they looked deeper. This group is too diverse for a one sentence summary other than pointing readers to the book to look deeper.

• Dechurched Mainline Protestants and Catholics. They were another surprise to the researchers as theologically and socially these two groups were so similar.

The greatest insight to apply from all five groups: the most common reason they stopped going to church—they moved. That’s it. If that’s the biggest reason they left, how can we get them back?

How Can We Respond?

Though we’ll consider this question in our next post, I’m guessing that you have some ideas already. Remember, our primary response: Invite. Invite people to friendship. Invite people to consider Jesus. Invite people to attend church. Dechurched or unchurched alike are created in God’s image and he desires a personal love relationship with each of them. And you can introduce them.

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The Great Dechurching

The greatest religious movement in the history of the United States has happened. And we didn't even notice. At least not until Covid.

40 million Americans who were previously active church attenders have stopped attending in the last 25 years. That’s 15% of our adult population. No denomination or segment of our population is untouched by this change. That’s a negative movement totaling more than every revival in US history.

Pastors Jim Davis and Michael Graham noticed the change in their area and commissioned a nationwide study. What they found is astounding.

“We’re living amid the largest and fastest transformation of religion in American history. ”

— Collin Hansen, p.XV

For the first time in the eight decades the Gallup organization has tracked church attendance, more Americans do not attend church than do attend church. A change began in the early 1990’s with the religious nones—those with no religious preference—growing precipitously each year. Since 1990 the Evangelical Lutheran Church has seen its attendance drop 41%, the Presbyterian Church (USA) dropped 58%, and the United Methodist Church fell 31%. The Southern Baptist Convention has seen a decline of 16% in the last 15 years.

We’ll consider more of these surprising survey results in subsequent posts. We’ll also consider what to do about it.

First, pray. Confess and repent for yourself and your church. Second, invite people to church. One of the most surprising results of the study: 51% of dechurched adults say they will return to church some day. There is hope. God is still sovereign. Jesus still saves all who come.