Religion on the move
February 28th, 2008 by Stuart
A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that over a fourth of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join a different one or stop affiliating with a church. If you count the people that change denominations within Protestantism, the number jumps to 44% of adults. While all faith groups are both losing and gaining members, most churches are losing more. So why is that?
The group with the largest increase in numbers is the “unaffiliated.” That doesn’t necessarily mean non-religious, just not connected to an organized religion; they describe themselves as being “nothing in particular” (they win the Least Inspiring Faith Group prize). Here’s an interesting statistic: with 16% of adult Americans, unaffiliated people are the fourth largest religious “group” in the country.
I suppose for years the church attendance trend among most people has been to go when you’re young and your parents make you, then stop going as a young adult because you don’t feel like it, then start going again when you have kids because you think it’s good for them. And the cycle repeats itself. These days, I suppose people just aren’t convinced that church really is that good for you after all. Here’s what throws people off I think: people realize they are different from what they were as kids and don’t feel like their church fits them anymore, so they just stop going.
I can empathize with that a little bit. I don’t think the churches that I grew up attending would really do much for me now, and it’s been hard finding one that does. Sure they’d be nice places to socialize if I didn’t have anything else to do, but my faith is different than what it used to be.
In an interview, the study’s director explained the results by saying, “Americans seem to be very comfortable being on the move, not only with respect to their jobs and places of residents, but also evidently with respect to their religious affiliation.” Now, that may be true of most people, but not me. Although my faith and church preferences are different than what they were as a kid, it’s not like I move around religiously for fun, it’s because I’ve grown in my faith. I feel like I’ve spiritually matured more in the last 5 years than the first 20 years of my life combined. So it’s only natural that I would seek out something different than what I grew up with. Sure I enjoyed being in the youth group as a teenager, but I wouldn’t want to stay there forever.
It’s tempting to read the earlier statistics as shocking, but I don’t think so. I think they’re just a sign that people’s faith changes as it develops, and that’s a good thing. After all, when I was a child I thought like a child, but when I became an adult I put childish ways behind me (1 Co 13:11). That’s not to say that those childish ways aren’t good. You have to crawl before you can walk. It’s important. You just don’t want to crawl forever. The problem is trying to find a place to walk when everyone else just wants to crawl. Sometimes you just gotta walk somewhere else, which is a big reason for the study’s findings. But maybe I’m just pretentious, what do you think?
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I find none of the statistics you cite surprising. In fact, I think they might be wrong in the sense that they under-report the phenomena discussed.
I certainly fit right in. I have been away from organized religion for more than a year and have never felt better about my faith, spirituality and where that aspect of my life is headed. Church was an impediment to my own spiritual growth, not an aid. The politics, social nonsense and focus on nonspiritual matters detracted from my ability to grow and expand my faith.
People like me simply aren’t satisfied with our parents’ religion/church. It doesn’t work for us because it is too limiting and not relevant to our lives.
Great article. Just the tip of the iceberg, though.
Hop. Sp.,
I know what you mean. I’ve only been partially involved with church-going the past few years (we can’t find any good ones!), and I think my faith has matured more since then than it ever did. Still, I wouldn’t call all churches an impediment to spiritual growth. Granted, lots of them are, but some are good, they’re just hard to find. Sadly though, like you said, the social nonsense and (for us) the completely shallow spirituality is just too much. The challenge for us is trying to find a faith community that is relevant, not limiting, and spiritually mature. Finding one that really does engage us spiritually at our level could be both challenging and supportive, providing more opportunities for growth. They’re just hard to come by, and, unlike other churches, don’t have a desperate need to market and promote themselves all the time.
I, too have spent most of my time “outside of the organized church” for the last year or so. I find that I am able to grow spiritually much faster when I am not forced back into the broken model that we call the church. Having studied Messianic
Judaism and a Jewish approach to the Bible I find most churches to be very worldly and scripturally ignorant. Most of the problems are the same statistically in the world and in the church because of the model that the churches keep going back to, which is basic Catholicism, which is basic Mithraism (sun god worship) with rituals and doctrines that are unbiblical at best, and very much devoted to maintaining the status quo.
I am sure that the “church” is still a good way to make a living, at least if the army won’t have you, but it doesn’t grow disciples of Jesus, and it doesn’t walk in the power and holiness of the 1st century church. I believe that the people who are “dropping out” are actually looking for a real connection with a living God, and realize that they are more likely to get it on their own than with a group of people who are mostly not interested in pursuing that.
Jon,
I feel your pain. And I agree that most churches aren’t about developing mature, thoughtful Christians as they are about helping people feel comfortable or sustaining their own view of orthodoxy. Some churches, however, are very authentic and seek to connect with God’s Spirit, they’re just hard to find. I wish there was a Quaker congregation where I live.
I think you’re statement, “Most of the problems are the same statistically in the world and in church” is a thought-provoking one. I don’t know about the model of worship, but I do know that most churches and most Christians are basically the same as the rest of society. That makes me ask the question, “Well what’s so special about you?” They might say, “Oh we’re really nice and we care about people,” but so do folks who don’t go to church. It’s something about the way we live that I can’t put my finger on. We say we follow God, but we basically live like people of the world instead of people of God. Jesus was radically different from the people in his culture, and he practiced radical love. Are most Christians today radical different, and do we show radical love? I don’t know.
We are the Laodicean church. We worship a gentilized version of the authentic Christ, and we don’t (as a group) seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We have a church model that is top down leadership (like a business) and consists of professional clergy on the one hand, and “layity” on the other, neither of which is very Biblical. I agree that the early Quaker congregations had a better approach with the ordinary people speaking as the Spirit moved them, but even they were constrained by doctrinal errors compounded by translation errors that stemmed from the 3rd century church, with the sun god worshiping Constantine at its head. The first century church did not celebrate “Christmas” or “Easter” or even meet on “Sun” day morning, they were very much aware of Gods view of those that worship Him in the manner of the pagan nations instead of how he clearly delineates in His Word
that he should be worshiped. Spirit and Truth are what’s needed today. Spirit and Truth. If we can sort out the truth from the lies, and separate the Holy from the Profane (or rather listen and obey as God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit does it) then we will experience the walk of faith as God intended it to be. Walking in His perfect Will instead of His permissive Will.
I don’t see the model in a church today, but I see it in the
Bible and in the Spirit. That’s what believers are looking for.