Leaving Church? Why?

Two blog posts about why people are leaving church have turned up this week, and it's worth noting them here as part of an ongoing conversation about the question: Why are people leaving the church (in 'droves' as one of these writer's notes). 

The first blogger is Joshua Graves - he's the preaching and teaching minister for the Otter Creek Church in Nashville, Tennessee.  One of his points is: Church and community are very difficult. Church is a great idea until people get involved. Bonhoeffer consistently warns us in his various writings that we destroy community when we try and create it. Meaning–community, in and of itself, cannot be the goal. Rather, community is the space in which we communally seek to experience the resurrected Jesus. That being said, anyone who’s been a part of a church community knows that relationships will suffer, endure disappointment because this is true in any community...

He has more to say on the topic. but the following paragraph perhaps sums it up: I think the real cause of disillusionment with church is self-disappointment. Pain birthed anger, now solidified in cynicism and apathy (funny how those two always go together). Frustration with “the church” is first about frustration with self. We tend to, in the wisdom of Donald Miller, judge others based on actions while judging ourselves based upon our intent. We are harder on “the church” so we can be “easier” on ourselves. This is why some Christians literally demand more from their church than they do from their own family, their own personal lives (money, time, etc.).

The whole post is called Leaving Church?

The other post is from Bradley Wright, whom I've mentioned on several occasions on this blog.   In a post called, Why do Christians leave the faith? the fundamental importance of apologetics.  Wright begins his post by writing: Several colleagues and I recently finished a study of why Christians leave the faith, and we were surprised at what made a difference as well what didn’t seem to matter. 

The post begins in outlining the sociological aspects of their study (and this post is the first of several that will be appearing) but it soon gets onto looking at some of the reasons people bring forward for why they left the church.   For Wright, many of them hinge on a lack of understanding of apologetics, which of course basically goes back to a lack of understanding of the Bible and God Himself. 

Just in case you thought you were alone....

There's an endless amount of handwringing going on in the mainline denominations (not just the Presbyterians) about decreasing this and declining that and vanishing those and where the heck are the people who used to be here...

You're not alone. Terry Mattingly has just written about the way in which denominations in the States are facing these issues, but adds an interesting slant to the problem: liberal and conservative Jews are facing exactly the same issues. As he notes:

Conservative Judaism’s membership rolls are in free fall.

According to a strategic plan for renewal issued in February by the denomination’s congregational arm, the number of families served by synagogues belonging to what was once American Judaism’s leading stream has shrunk by 14% since 2001. In the denomination’s Northeast region, the number of families has dropped by 30%.

And liberal Jews are in the same boat...

Mattingly nicely sums up the issues amongst both Christians and Jews as: the post-denominational mess.

Therapy as defined by James

In chapter seven of his book, The Great Giveaway, David Fitch writes...

“Evangelicals, like all Christians, need therapy. We need a therapy as defined by the epistle of James: “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed…” We need therapy to unwind our pasts, uncover our sins, receive forgiveness, and then forgive.. We need therapy that intervenes by speaking the truth in love into our lives when we are blinded from seeing our own sinful patterns, interventions akin to the old Christian Anabaptist practices of “binding and loosing” where two or three gather to confront on truth (Matt. 18:15-20).

“To do this kind of ‘therapy’ we need safe and confidential places in our churches to confess, discern, receive scriptural admonition and wisdom, and support and edify one another…

You can read more from this chapter here. One of Fitch's concerns is that we've replaced true pastoral counsel (which knows what sin is) with therapeutic models from a variety of sources.

Congratulations

Christianity Today has published its annual Book Awards for books that in their judges' opinions best offer insights into the people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission.

I'm especially pleased to see Bradley Wright's Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites … and Other Lies You've Been Told: a Sociologist Shatters Myths from the Secular and Christian Media on the list, and not just because the author sent me a copy for free!

As someone who works with [religion-focused] stats a good deal, it's heartening to see an author get to grips with what the stats have actually said rather than what someone thinks they've said, or wants them to say. He's not alone in this, of course, (Ed Setzer seems to do a bit in this regard), but his book is the first to focus on the issue - at least as far as I know.

Interestingly enough, just this week on Facebook, a very regular participant on that site (the pastor of a large youth-focused church in Australia who I will leave unnamed) posted one of his typical updates, and quoted stats - without any source. As he's now deleted the original post and its many comments, I can't quote directly, but he claimed something along the lines that in the States 3500 churches close their doors every year (?) but 4000 other churches are planted each year. He was saying it was a cause for rejoicing that the net profit was 500 new churches.

When I asked for a source for the stats, he ignored me, but when another writer got rather shirty about the issue, a considerable argument (as opposed to a debate) ensued. Helpfully a third writer actually posted a reasonable source for the original stats, although not one that really confirmed anything. Some insults passed by, both from the original poster, who lost his temper at length (and later came back more apologetically) and from one particular other person. As I say, the whole discussion was deleted - perhaps after the original poster realised that some of his remarks sadly didn't do much for his image.

I tell this story just to prove that the world of statistics isn't all bland and boring....

Dealing with Sin

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog for the past few days due in part to my being out of the office last Friday, and having a full-on day yesterday. Not that I've been ignoring the screed of stuff that passes by me; I just haven't had time to blog anything.

So here's a quick note about an article on Sin from the Leadership Journal. It's written by John Ortberg, and asks whether, as Christians, we care enough about sin in our lives these days, or whether we merely tolerate our 'foibles, ' 'quirks' and other euphemisms that we use in preference for the word, sin.

A brief quote from the article:
The problem with what might be called the "victorious Christian living" mindset is not that it takes sin too seriously. The problem is it inevitably becomes selective about which sins God hates the most, and they always end up being somebody else's sins. It misses the deeper layers of sin: sin not just as concrete acts of lying or cheating, but the sin of narcissism that infects my preaching and image-management that corrupts my conversations; the sin in my motives and emotions that is real but that I cannot simply turn off.

So you thought you just bought and sold on TradeMe?

TradeMe isn't just a place to buy and sell - it turns out that the message board area has a life of its own, quite unrelated to retail therapy. Stuff.co.nz tells us:

* Between 5000 and 20,000 messages are posted on the message board every day.
* The average age of someone who posts a message is 35-plus.
* The boards are largely self-censored, with 98 per cent of threads monitored by the online community and every member able to ''vote'' to remove a thread if they believe it is not suitable.
* Message topics are most active on personal or social issues, be they grief or happiness.
* There are 20 different categories for messages, from books to parenting. General and Opinion tend to be the most frequented.

Greer McDonald, in an article entitled, Web of support for the grieving, writes about the way in which Julie Adams happened on the TradeMe message board almost by chance, and discovered a world of fellow New Zealanders who were prepared to go the extra mile, offer support and encouragement, and even try and discover what had happened to Julie's missing husband. (His overturned car was eventually found on its roof in dense bush 50 metres down a steep bank just below the summit of Rimutaka Hill, Upper Hutt.)

It may not be 'church' as we know it, and it may not be 'community' as we know it, but it's certainly a place for Christians to be keeping tabs on.

Christians under persecution

The following comes from an article in which the top ten countries persecuting Christians are listed:

For the seventh year in a row, North Korea ranked number one on Open Doors annual World Watch List for 2009. Following North Korea in the top ten spots are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Maldives, Yemen, Laos, Eritrea and Uzbekistan, respectively.

The border between China and North Korea is almost closed; everything and everyone going in and out of North Korea are monitored closely. Executions are held in secret. The number of people sentenced to a labor camp or in prison has increased compared to last year. North Korea is closing its doors and Christians are persecuted constantly. Genuine religious freedom doesn’t exist at all; and no one is allowed to be a Christian in North Korea. The constitution is firmly based on Juche ideology.

Read the rest of the article here - and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jamie Oliver as John Wesley

While I was on retreat last year, one of the other men attending mentioned Jamie Oliver on TV teaching young mothers how to give their children decent meals. My friend said he felt Oliver was like a young John Wesley feeding the young Christians.

It's an interesting concept to see Oliver as a Godly figure in the New Creation mode – reviving life in people, renewing the creation. Certainly he's set himself some major tasks in terms of trying to change the way people think about food in Britain (and presumably wherever else the programme is shown). He's come a long way from the days of his early cooking series.

Compare him to Gordon Ramsay. It's hard to get away from the impression that Ramsay, even when he's helping other restauranteurs to repair the havoc they've created in their businesses, still seems to be all about himself. He's constantly competitive; even when he’s helping people get their restaurants up and running the attitude seems to be: if you don’t do it my way you’ll fail. It's not surprising he gets quite a lot of resistance even when he's right!

Or when he invites someone in to cook their favourite meal. It seems that he's only doing it so he can show how much better his version will be.

Incidentally, the link to an article above takes you to the Socialist Worker online. It's quite perceptive about Oliver's role in changing thinking.

BIBLE SOCIETY SURVEY MARCH 2008

A survey done by the Bible Society of New Zealand in March (results published around June this year) has only just come to my attention. The survey was aimed at research attitudes and behaviour regarding the Bible in New Zealand. The following is a list of some of the major stats from the survey.

Note that some stats apply to New Zealanders as a whole, and some to Christians as a sub-group.

Just under 3,400 people responded.

46% described themselves as Christian. (NZ Stats reports just under half of population describe themselves as Christian, that is, just under 2 million)

74% of people 65 and over described themselves as Christian.

68.4% of Pacific Islanders. (Europeans: 40.6%)

15% of New Zealanders attend church at least once a week.

20% say they go at least once a month.

80% of the population has attended a church service at some time. This includes weddings and funerals.

30% of Christians attend church at least weekly.

56% of Christians say they attend church less than five times a year, or only on special occasions.

Estimated monthly attendance: 760,000 (around 17%)

68% of all New Zealanders own a Bible.

86% of people over 65 own one.

59% of 15-24-year-olds own one.

5% of New Zealanders read the Bible daily.

23% read it at least monthly.

11% of Christians read it daily.

24% read it at least once a week.

25% of respondents say the Bible influences their lives.

18% of 15-24-year olds agree.

41% of 65 and over agree.

47% of Christians say the Bible influences their lives.

39% of Christians say it sometimes influences their lives.

Of those who read it daily, 94.6% said it influenced their lives.

77% of New Zealanders never or rarely discuss the Bible with others.

Only 14% discuss the Bible’s teachings weekly or more frequently.

26% of Christians regularly discuss the teachings of the Bible (at least weekly).

60% of Christians rarely or never discuss the teachings of the Bible with others.

Mother Teresa

Today, the same Christ is in people who are unwanted, unemployed, uncared for, hungry, naked, and homeless. They seem useless to the state and to society; nobody has time for them. It is you and I as Christians, worthy of the love of Christ if our love is true, who must find them, and help them; they are there for the finding.

- Mother Teresa

Evangelicals: a dying or changing breed?

An extract from an article by Christine Wicker, formerly a religion writer for The Dallas Morning News , and author of The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church .
The article is entitled: American evangelicals, once considered monolithic, are fragmenting.

Evangelicals almost never convert a native-born American who wasn’t raised in a church. That most evangelical growth comes from stealing the sheep from other denominations. And that they’ve stolen about all they can.

They’re also admitting that most evangelicals won’t evangelize. And if they did, it wouldn’t get them anywhere because the usual methods don’t work. They don’t work first because they usually rest on the idea that Christians are the only ones saved. In today’s religiously equalitarian culture, that assertion causes evangelicals to seem distastefully holier-than-thou.

Conversion tactics also focus on telling people the Good News as though no one else knows it. But most everyone has heard it. Again and again. The trouble is that they aren’t convinced. They aren’t scared of hell. They aren’t hoping for heaven. And Christians haven’t been good at giving anyone better reasons than that for following Jesus.

Wicker makes a number of other important points; you may agree with them or not. For New Zealanders, the article is of value because it looks at a society that's not too dissimilar to our own.

Mking a point

These two quotes arrived in different emails this morning. Seems to be a bit of a point being made here!

Our Lord asks but two things of us; Love for [God] and for our neighbor. We cannot know whether we love God…but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbour or not.
- Teresa of Avila
Interior Castle

More than a few Christians might be surprised to learn that the call to be involved in creating justice for the poor is just as essential and nonnegotiable within the spiritual life as is Jesus' commandment to pray and keep our private lives in order.

Ronald Rolheiser
The Holy Longing

To confront or not to confront?

Apologist/evangelist Jay Smith confronts Muslims with the same kind of fanatical fervour they use in getting their own message across.
In public, that is, at Hyde Park's famous Speaker's Corner. And sometimes he's been beaten for it.
Some critics of his approach feel he deserves what he gets, because he's so confrontational with Muslim speakers. However, Smith believes that a strong apologetic is required to break through to Muslim speakers, and even more so, to their listeners. Passionate presentation is one key to reaching Muslims, he says. Many will not be convinced, he believes, "unless we look like we believe what we're saying."

Western seminaries teach "friendship evangelism" as the primary way to share Christ with Muslims. Nothing should offend, they say. Never point out contradictions, inconsistencies, or historical inaccuracies in another person's religious beliefs. Everything aims to convert. Judge results by the number of conversions.

Smith, however, has decided to take an alternate approach:

• To defend historic, orthodox Christianity.
• To answer untruths that Islam proclaims about the Bible, Jesus, and Christians.
• To hold Islam itself accountable for the actions of its followers.

The full article, Unapologetic Apologist, can be found on the Christianity Today site. It makes for fascinating reading in terms of deciding which approach works best with Muslim people. Note that Smith also meets Muslims face to face over coffee, for long and deep discussions about faith.

Other kinds of news

Often Christians live in an isolated ghetto kind of world, where understanding of the other kinds of 'revolution' that are going on pass them by completely. (I include myself in this, pretty much.)

For that reason, I'm mentioning a site that I came across via the aforementioned (aforementioned as in the previous post) MorePraxis. Indymedia aims to be a place where news that doesn't tend to get into the newspapers and other media can have a voice. It's certainly more into revolution than many Christians are (whether that's a different kind of revolution or not, is another matter), and there are no doubt things there that will upset some readers, but it's worth a look, if only to get an idea of what else is being thought in this country.

And there's a very good April 1st post....

The Revolution Misses You

Tim Keel, in a Christianity Today online article, An Efficient Gospel?, writes:

A socially progressive journalist named Zack Exley has been documenting a massive cultural shift that is happening among young, theologically conservative evangelicals. Writing for the left-leaning, semi-socialist magazine In These Times, Exley has chronicled his journey into the surprising world of socially conscious, justice-oriented evangelicals who are living out their faith in increasingly radical and sacrificial ways. In his article "Preaching Revolution" (complete with a Che Guevara-ized portrait of Jesus on the red magazine cover), Exley wrote:

"Recently, I blogged a series of essays titled 'The Revolution Misses You' in which I called for progressives to revive the forgotten dream of practical yet radical change. Friends and colleagues immediately scolded me for using 'extreme' terms such as 'revolution' and 'radical.' 'You'll only alienate people,' they said. 'This will come back to haunt you.' At first I was surprised by what felt like a dramatic overreaction. But I soon realized why I had fallen out of sync with the progressive mainstream on the use of the R-words: I had been spending time listening to and reading evangelical Christians who are preaching revolution."

Exley's blog, "Revolution in Jesusland," has followed his pilgrimage across America to communities that embody this spirit of demonstrating the kingdom of God—not just for themselves in the transcendent then and there, but also for others in the immanent here and now. He is one of many people who would otherwise have written off Christianity who are ready to give the gospel another hearing (or perhaps better, viewing). They are realizing that salvation is more than what had previously been advertised.

Exley's essay has been removed from his blog and is now available in book form. You can read a 'draft' version
of it online, or buy the finished version for US$6.95.

Trivial

Many Christians place great legalistic, spiritual importance on abstinence from relatively trivial things (from dancing to movies to swearing to card playing to mowing the lawn on Sundays). This is because Christians aren’t much different from others in relation to important things (basic values and behavior concerning wealth, power, prestige, justice, security, peace, work, time). Christians know they should be different from the world in some way — otherwise, what would Christianity mean? So, in an effort to establish some kind of Christian distinctiveness, they focus on the trivial. And the trivial is that which does not require us to make difficult changes in our lives… Like the Pharisee, we “strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.”

From Christian Smith's book: Going to the Root: Nine Proposals for Radical Church Renewal (published 1992, so probably a bit hard to get. Let me know by email if you'd be interested in a copy and I'll see what I can do.)