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Post by Daniel on May 23, 2015 8:51:17 GMT -5
by Craig Cable
5/22/2015
People are leaving church, but not necessarily leaving their faith.
A recent Pew Research Center survey showing a significant drop in the Christian population in America left unanswered why the exodus from the church is underway.
A study just released by sociologists Dr. Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope answers that question.
In their new book, Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People Are DONE With Church but Not Their Faith, the authors reveal why church members are deciding to be done with organized religion—and who these "Dones" really are.
Comparing those who leave the church to political refugees, the authors write, "Refugees are people who've been forced from their homes—for fear of persecution. That describes the dechurched. If they stayed they would risk further estrangement from their spiritual selves, from God, and from a religion they still believe in."
That many leaving the church remain passionate about their faith surprises many church-trend watchers—but it's not the only unexpected finding in the study.
Packard and Hope's research also confirms it's not simply marginal Christians or new converts who are leaving the church. Rather, Dones are frequently among an established church's most active members, generous donors and spiritually mature believers.
Among four recurring reasons Dones give for finally exiting the church is the desire to find a community that demonstrates "a shared understanding that we're all broken and in need of grace."
continue reading
www.charismanews.com/culture/49769-why-so-many-christians-are-just-done-with-church
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Post by sevenofnine on May 23, 2015 11:44:05 GMT -5
I knew few friends of mine who were Cathoic a priest put move on him/her in their childhood they done with Christniery they are hostile to max
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 7:31:19 GMT -5
I'm actually happy to see that, because churches are moving into the "new wave" Christianity and throwing out God's laws on current issues. So, converting to house churches and staying away from the mega teaching is a good thing.
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Post by Daniel on Jul 31, 2015 8:51:15 GMT -5
9 Reasons People Leave the Church When the Church Isn't to Blame
By Kevin Shrum, CP Guest Contributor
July 29, 2015
They're Leaving in Droves?
The question, "Why are people leaving the church?" raises several issues critical to the health and life of the church, especially the church in North America.
Once possessing a "favored place at the community table" along with other community leaders, with portfolio and reputation to boot, the church in North America is now hemorrhaging members at an alarming rate. Further, the indifference toward the church by non-attenders and unbelievers has been a shock to the often insulated and isolated members of an all too often recalcitrant church. To make matters worse, most people in the church are clueless as to the reasons for this indifference.
Recent studies have recognized the difficulties facing the church in reaching a new generation of unbelievers and unchurched people. In a recent summary of his new book in the Lifeway publication Facts and Trends, Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, James E. White analyzes the challenge of reaching people who are, at best, indifferent to the church and seemingly unmoved by the message of the Gospel.
White notes ten characteristic of the "nones":
1) he is a he — women tend to be more open to spiritual things, while men are more skeptical, less committal;
2) he is young;
3) he is white, although a growing number of non-white persons are showing interest in religious traditions other than Christianity;
4) he is not necessarily an atheist — God, at best, is a universal spirit, a deist theological position;
5) he is not very religious — choosing not to identify with an organized, religious body, while, at the same time he considers himself spiritual;
6) he's most likely a Democrat;
7) he thinks abortion and same-gender marriage should be legal — thereby turning traditional definitions of marriage and family upside down and inside out;
8) he considers himself morally liberal to moderate at best;
9) he is not necessarily hostile toward religious institutions — institutions, he might say, too concerned with money and power; these institutions are non-essential; and,
10) he is more than likely a Westerner — someone located west of the Mississippi River.
White's analysis of the current religious terrain reflects the research by such respected institutions as Barna Research Group, Lifeway Research, and other reputable groups that analyze such data.
In sum, White said people are leaving the church because:
1) the church is too narrow-minded and unbending on moral issues;
2) the church is more interested in propping up the institution of the church rather than fulfilling the mission of the church;
3) the church is legalistic and not gracious and merciful enough;
4) the church has isolated itself from the lives of real people and is, therefore, disconnected from the reality of life;
5) the church is anti-intellectual, rejecting the claims of science and modernity;
6) the church is antiquated in its methodologies, methodologies that were effective at one time but are no longer essential and effective;
7) the church is not very warm and loving, failing to recognize people want intimate and personal settings for relationship building in order to work out their spiritual and personal issues, not systems that are large, cumbersome, and unwieldy — and the list could go on as to why people are leaving the church.
The church in North America is in trouble.
But Is That the Whole Story?..
continue reading
www.christianpost.com/news/9-reasons-people-leave-the-church-when-the-church-isnt-to-blame-141969/
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Post by Cindy on Aug 5, 2015 10:33:02 GMT -5
I also left my church. It was because I was physically unable to attend, but my church had also begun to move more and more toward false teaching as well. However, I always wanted to go to church. Sunday had always been my favorite day of the week and I looked forward to it, so not being able to go was really hard on me. As I heard more and more of people teaching false things there though, I became more disenchanted with it. I checked out many other churches in my area too and they too were involved in false teaching. I was beginning to think I'd never find one I could go to if I ever had a "good day" and could go. A few months ago, the Lord revealed something to me that now allows me to wake up without the excruciating pain that I'd woke up in for the last 15 years. I realized that now I just might be able to go to church again if I could find one fairly close to me, so I've been searching again.
I've heard many sad tales of how the church has hurt many people since I had to stop going, as well as many tales of how people's churches have begun teaching false things to their congregations. It was very disheartening. The Lord revealed something to me though that I'd like to share with you. The Lord had been showing me in His Word how He wants us to live in such a way that others can tell what we believe from our actions and not just from our words. He showed me in His Word what the early church was like in the beginning. He showed me that they were quite literally like a family - a close, loving family. He had me study the history of the early church, and by "early", I mean the very first Christians. At first it just made me condemn our churches today even more, but then the Lord asked me what I'd done to show others I was different. That really threw me for a loop!
I asked Him to help me search my heart for the answer, and of course He did. I thought back to my days in church and saw how I would stand back and watch others, always wishing someone would talk to me and always feeling left out. Oh, the people were friendly enough, always greeted me and often even hugged me, but then they'd continue on to talk to others. I could tell you of all kinds of ways they let me down over the years, but this time the Lord showed me how I'd let Him down and how I'd let the other people down as well! I'm basically a very shy and private person, so it's hard for me to get to know others. Other people have always had to take the initiative as I was too shy to do so. When I complained about how I'd been treated, like when no one called to see how I was doing, much less came over to visit, the Lord asked me if I'd ever called anyone else that hadn't come to church for a week or more. Sadly, I had to say I hadn't. He showed me something my mother used to tell me all the time. She always said, "If you want to have a friend, you have to BE a friend." I didn't really understand what she meant until the Lord clarified it. He showed me that if I wanted to be closer to the other people at church, then I needed to go to them and start talking to them. That I needed to take the talk beyond the weather to personal things and really get to know that person intimately, so that I could be their friend. And when I knew one person that way, I needed to go to another person and repeat the process and keep doing that until I knew everyone.
He showed me that if I wanted my church to be like the early church, one big loving family that prayed for each other, held each other accountable, helped each other, and enjoyed each others company, that I needed to take the steps myself to make it happen - one person at a time. He showed me that I could have walked into a church that was just like the early church and still felt like an outsider until I lived His Word and allowed others to get to know me by actively inviting them to know me by doing what He'd shown me. he also showed me that one person could help change a church and make it into a loving family by doing what He said.
Then came what really blew me away. He showed me how people in a loving church like that, were much more open to realizing it when someone showed them that some teaching was false and were much more likely to repent of it then people in a church that was just full of acquaintances and strangers. I had to admit the truth of that as well. He also showed me the way His Word tells us to deal with false teaching of course and it's not to run away from it. He tells us to go to the person privately and show them the Truth. (and of course we're to be praying before and during this as well as afterward) If that doesn't work, then we're to take others and try again, privately. We aren't to do this to prove we're right and they're wrong though. We're to do it because we love them and of course, if we don't already have a close loving relationship with them, that's going to be impossible. We aren't to go with the idea of confronting them, or knowing better then that do; we're to go humbly, considering them as more important then ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
I saw how I was just as culpable for the church not being a loving family, and for it falling into false teaching as those teaching it because I'd failed to live the way the Lord tells us to. I'd failed to treat fellow believers as family, and love them as family. Instead I "loved them from afar", so to speak. Ever since then, I've been eager to find a church that I could try this out on. It won't be easy for me since I am shy, but with God's help, I know I can do it, and I can't wait to be able to see the difference in myself and others.
I wanted to share this though, because it's very easy for us to relate to each other about how terribly we've been treated by other church members, or how badly our churches have fallen into false teaching, but not easy to take responsibility for our churches and do all we can with God's help to make it the kind of Church He would be proud of. What the Lord showed me reminded me too of what my pastor told me one. God doesn't show us problems so we can complain about them to the pastor or others, but shows us because He wants us to be part of the solution.
I'm not suggesting that we should never leave a church. There comes a point when that may have to happen. I would also like to encourage any one who's not going to any church to keep looking and keep asking the Lord to guide you to a church you can attend. We really need each other, especially now during these last days! When we're not attending a church, we're really cutting off our noses to spite our faces and doing without much of the help the Lord wants us to have.
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