The Great Dechurching

I remember once watching an episode of Married with Children where Kelly Bundy said, “I thought it was Sunday today.” When asked why she thought that, she replied, “Because when I drove past church there was nobody there!”

Many churches are emptying, more so in some places than others.

I was in Texas recently and someone told me the shocking news that Texas Baptist churches had declined in attendance between 30-40%.

Let me say that again, 30-40% decline, in Texas, the buckle of the Bible belt.

The obvious questions are “Why?” and “Can it be turned around?”

Now I have my own theory on this decline which I think is partly due to:

• The invention of iPhones and the proliferation of social media where we replace social interaction and community with staring into our devices.

• COVID disrupted people’s rhythm of life and they simply found new rhythms either with online church or with no church at all.

This is where I stumbled into The Great Dechurching by Davis, Graham, and Burge, and it makes for a fascinating albeit sobering read. Colin Hansen’s forward sums up the striking claim of the book, “We’re living amidst the largest and fastest transformation of religion in American history” because 40 million Americans have left the church in the last twenty-five years (xv)! In fact, “More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined” (5). The danger is, they point out, that in one generation the “dechurched” will become the “unchurched” and change the spiritual landscape of America. As such, “The American church today is at a crossroads. While the kingdom of God will go on, it’s future in this country is not certain” (236).

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See my previous posts on this: Will Christianity Die Out by the End of this Century? and Losing our Religion: The Religious Decline of the West? and The Great Unchurching.

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This means that in some places in America right now find more people doing Meth than attending a Methodist church.

The reasons for the decline they point out are mixed and varied. But in general there is the end of the need for a nominal Christianity, Christianity being associated with right-wing politics, the influence of the internet, and people experiencing spiritual or physical abuse. For others, it was nothing negative just new circumstances like having a baby, moving to a new city, or getting divorced were the factors that kept them away from church. Baby boomers are the biggest leavers, but it effects all age groups and ethnicities.

It’s not all bleak, they point out that many people will come (back) to church if they make new friends, if they are invited, if they have a good pastor, or if they find a good community. Thus: “The Great Dechurching is reversible and doesn’t have to have the final word for faith communities in our country” (29). In fact, they point out, “The Great Dechurching could well be the American church’s most crucial moment and greatest opportunity. As church leaders, we consider it the privilege of a lifetime to serve in this moment” (239).

I have to say that this book is a must-read for every pastor in the English-speaking world as it does, partly, translate into other contexts.

We have to ask, what is to be done about this de-churching? Is there a solution or a way to turn it around?

First, I have to read this book with a grain of salt because it is very, very American. It is about America and for American church leaders. As such, it assumes a highly Christianized context like America and it thinks in American categories and in light of American history. If anything, America is becoming more the way Australia is now, highly secularized, with a small footprint of faith communities. So I feel like saying, “Welcome to the rest of post-Christian West!”

Second, for me, what is needed is for churches to invest heavily in their children’s and youth ministry. Between 70-80% of teenagers are leaving church and are not coming back. The churches are bleeding their kids and the solution most commonly used to address this problem is to find a 22-year-old engineering student who we employ for 12 hours a week to mentor our kids in the faith. If your kids had a mental health condition, a chronic illness, or learning difficulties, would you this 22-year be the solution? Well, neither is it the solution for curing our kids of spiritual apathy when their iPhone and TikTok is a notorious alternative and seduction.

Third, we will need more relational evangelism. Dechurched people simply need some church friends to invite them to attend a church. Unchurched people need to learn that not all Christians are right-wing fanatics who abuse children. The best advertisement for the Christian life is people to meet good Christians they want to hang out with. In which case, many people will only become Christians if they think they can belong among Christians.

Fourth, as Davis and Graham point out, we need to do better listening to and loving people who are hurt, esp. those who have been hurt by churches.

Fifth, for America, politics is great, the gospel has political implications, but the purpose of your religion is not to provide religious capital for your political beliefs.

Sixth, gospelize your people, make sure the gospel is proclaimed, the gospel is revered, the gospel is sung, and people strive to live lives worthy of the gospel. People need to learn, have it drive into them, the beauty of the gospel because of the magnificence of the Saviour. Yes, pastors and churches let you down, but Jesus never will, because his love is like a beetroot stain, it never goes away.