The Great Dechurching—the largest religious shift in US history—provides Christ followers reason for concern. It offers a call to action as well. We can invite the dechurched to join us again. Thom Rainer’s concise work, I Will: Nine Traits of an Outwardly Focused Christian offers numerous suggestions.

When it comes to the topics of evangelism, reaching out to the dechurched and unchurched, and anything related to being an outwardly focused Christ follower many of us have excuses. Let’s consider excuses not to share Jesus or invite others to church from Chapter Five of I Will.

Five Excuses Not To Speak

Not my gift. Our most common excuse is to spiritualize. That’s not my spiritual gift; I’m not an evangelist. Though true that not all posses the spiritual gift of evangelism, all Christ followers are commanded to go and tell the Good News.

Not my job. If we don’t spiritualize, we excuse ourselves as amateurs. We’ve hired professionals—our pastors and staff. We don’t need to do the work of ministry; that’s their job. But it is our job to be ambassadors for Christ no matter our gifts.

Not enough time. Time is always a concern. You don’t understand how busy I am. I just don’t have time to share the Gospel. If you are too busy to tell others about Jesus and invite them to church, then we must ask: What are your priorities? It’s simple—be friendly and talk to people.

Not offend. Overreactions to opposing opinions are epidemic. I don’t want to impose my beliefs on others; I wouldn’t want to offend. If the Gospel is indeed Good News, then what are we afraid of? If the local church is THE hope of the world, then why not include everyone?

Not outgoing. If giftedness or other excuses don’t fit, then a good number of people default to personality. You don’t understand. I’m an introvert. I can’t talk to people. Sure you can! You talk to plenty of people every day. Now share the hope of Jesus and his church.

May we be so full of the Holy Spirit and so enabled by his presence in our life that we speak to others like Peter and John in Acts 4:19-20, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

The lost and dying of this world need Jesus. The dechurched and unchurched need Jesus. We can share his love. We can share the Gospel. We can invite people to church. Speak.

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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.

To read the previous post, The Great Dechurching, click here.

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