Much has been said about the changing religious landscape in our culture over the last several years. Society as a whole is becoming less religious. Among those who continue to practice religion, many are attending worship services less frequently. There is a rising number of “nones” – those whose religion is “nothing in particular.” This has led to the coining of a new term to refer to those who are leaving their churches. They are the “dechurched.”
In a new book – The Great Dechurching – authors Jim Davis and Michael Graham tackle this issue. In the opening paragraph of the first chapter, they highlighted this statistic: “About 40 million adults in America today used to go to church but no longer do, which accounts for around 16 percent of our adult population.” They added, “This is not a gradual shift; it is a jolting one.”
From the book’s description:
We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history.
It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined…but in the opposite direction. Yet precious little rigorous study has been done on the broad phenomenon of dechurching in America. Jim Davis and Michael Graham have commissioned the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by renowned sociologists Dr. Ryan Burge and Dr. Paul Djupe.
The Great Dechurching takes the insights gleaned from this study to drill down on how exactly people are dechurching with respect to beliefs, behavior, and belonging.
This book gives the church in America its first ever deep dive into the dechurched phenomenon. You’ll learn about the dechurched through a detailed sketch of demographics, size, core concerns, church off-ramps, historical roots, and the gravity of what is at stake. Then you’ll explore what can be done to slow the bleed, engage the pertinent issues winsomely and wisely, and hopefully re-church some of the dechurched.
In their analysis of this study, they found that there were five different types of “dechurched” individuals:
- Cultural Christians – For these individuals, “church simply isn’t a priority anymore” (p. 48). In previous generations, one needed to be part of a church to have good standing in the community. This is no longer the case. When “church” is simply a means to make connections in the community, it becomes less important when culture shifts away from Biblical principles as it has over the last several years.
- Dechurched Mainstream Evangelicals – Those in this group are “virtually identical” to the Mainstream Evangelicals who still attend (p. 57), but they have simply “gotten…out of the habit” of attending (p. 58). The pandemic likely had a lot to do with this.
- Exvangelicals – This group, due to trouble they faced in the evangelical churches they were once a part of, have “permanently, purposefully exited” (p. 68). The authors noted that “0 percent of exvangelicals in our survey are actively willing to return to an evangelical church” (p. 75).
- Dechurched BIPOC – BIPOC stands for “Black, indigenous, and people of color” (p. 84). Interestingly, the algorithm they used to sort the “dechurched” into groups was not given the ethnicity or race of the study participants. Despite that, this distinct group emerged. Statistically, they moved often and had trouble connecting with a new church in their new location. But they do not fit as neatly into a “box” as the other groups. So the authors noted, “It is important that we not regard people monolithically, especially the unchurched BIPOC” (p. 87).
- Dechurched Mainline Protestants and Catholics – Much of this book focuses on evangelical churches, yet these churches were losing people as well. Many of them left because they did not see their churches making a positive impact on the world.
While I would not consider myself an evangelical (and most of those who follow this site probably would not consider themselves that way either), there are many similarities between us and evangelicals. So much so that the reasons why people “dechurch” from evangelical churches are often the same reasons why we see people “dechurch” in our congregations. This means the book can be very helpful in identifying the possible reasons why people leave and what might be done to bring them back.
This reminder was helpful: “We would be wise not to interact with the dechurched as we might with our unchurched friends, assuming they have no faith. Likely, their primary doctrinal convictions may well align with ours. Rather, we need to show them how the convictions they already hold apply to and should affect their lives” (p. 122). When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about how to deal with a brother who was living in sin, he made it clear that they were to treat him differently than they would someone who was outside of the church (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). For those who need to return to the Lord, we need to “admonish [them] as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:15).
A theme that was continually emphasized in the book was the importance of relationships. When people did not have strong relationships with others in the church, it was easy for them to drift away. Building relationships would also be what could help bring them back. The Lord expects His people to be part of local churches where they can encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25; Ephesians 4:16) and correct one another (James 5:19-20; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11). This requires healthy relationships with one another. Unfortunately, this does not always exist. The authors said, “It’s a sad indictment on the church that so many people find a more compelling and rich community around their children’s sports teams, paddle boarding clubs, and the gym than in church” (p. 125).
This book was filled with information and statistics that help clarify the state of the religious world around us – which has an impact on our congregations as well. While I would not agree with every proposed method of addressing the challenge of reaching those who have left, I do believe this book can be useful to help us be aware of the problem and begin thinking about how to deal with it.
This book is available on Amazon – The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (affiliate link)
