The Great De-Churching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham
I read this book over the summer after reading about it in a New York Times articles. I was excited to get some answers to the questions that form the subtitle of the book, “Who’s leaving, why are they going, and what will it take to bring them back?”
The authors lay out the scope of the problem in their Introduction, “Before now, the largest religious shift in church attendance in the US occurred during the twenty-five year period after the Civil War. From 1870 to 1895, church attendance more than doubled as people resumed their postwar lives. That religious shift pales in comparison to what we are seeing today, only instead of going back to church, people today are leaving church. About 15 percent of American adults living today, (around 40 million people) have effectively stopped going to church, and most of this dechurching has happened in the past twenty-five years.”
I pointed out in a sermon that twenty-five years exactly corresponds to my career in the ministry. When I preached it, someone in the congregation shouted out, “So it’s your fault!”
Who’s leaving? Well everybody. The trend cuts across all denominations. The book only looks at Christian churches, but de-churching is happening in evangelical, Catholic and mainline Protestant churches.
Why are they going? The bulk of the book is summaries of research the authors did by commissioning a survey. The conclude that people leave for a variety of reasons, not surprisingly. Not being raised in a religious home is one factor. So is being raised in a religious home with parents who have an unbending attitude toward the social changes going on in the country. Churches being too involved in politics, either right or left, is a problem. They also mention the American attitude that meaning in life is tied to producing, so folks looking for meaning seek extra work on the weekends, or “productive” activities like team sports, rather than wasting time with the kind of meaning that churches offer.
But the largest factor seems to be simply a thin connection to church, with church attendance no longer supported or normalized by the rest of the culture. Folks often de-church casually, slipping away rather than making a firm break. Perhaps a geographic move cuts off connection to one church and then they never get around to re-connecting to a new church in the new location. Once falling out of the church habit (the COVID church closures precipitated this also) folks made new Sunday habits and church no longer fits in their new lifestyle.
What will it take to bring them back? The authors proffer the good news that a lot of folks who didn’t decisively leave the church could be enticed back; all they need is an invitation, maybe a little assistance, or a little insistence. Folks still need what church offers, and they often haven’t found substitutes elsewhere; they’re just suffering. Church might still be the answer they, and our larger, lonely, disconnected country, needs.
Because of the evangelical focus the book is only somewhat relevant or helpful to me and my church. Mostly it confirmed what I suspected. And it’s not part of my pastor’s job to solve the cultural problem, only on growing my own congregation. I’m happy to say we welcomed ten new members last month.