by Alan Jaimieson

Despite the almost mantra-like status of the statement “people are leaving the church” there still appears to be little understanding about who is leaving, when they leave, why they leave, and what happens to them and their faith after they leave. Of course everyone has their own view on these issues but few, especially our church leaders, have taken the time to sit down and talk with an actual leaver or two.

It is much easier dealing with stereotypes than actual people, even if the stereotypes don’t help us understand what is really going on. For those interested in moving beyond the stereotypes and asking: “Who are these people who are leaving our churches?” an examination of some myths about church leavers may prove helpful.

… Myth two

The people who leave are young adults, people on the fringe of our churches, and people who have not been in the church for very long.

Obviously some leavers are in these categories, but they are not the only ones to leave. In the research I did – based on 108 interviews with church leavers across New Zealand – I found the church leavers from Pentecostal and charismatic churches were predominantly middle aged (70% were aged between 35 and 45 years) and had been involved in their respective churches as adults (ie beyond their 18th birthday) for an average of 15.8 years. While there are other categories of leavers, here is one category of leavers that few seem to consider.

… Myth five

The people who leave lack commitment.

All 108 of the people I interviewed had made adult (post 18th birthday)

commitments to their Christian faith and to their local church. For a number this was the continuation of a previous commitment, while for others it involved a deliberate step of commitment in their adult years.

94% of those I interviewed had also been involved in significant leadership positions within their churches and 40% had been involved for one year or more as either a full-time (paid) Christian worker for a local church, para-church group, or overseas missionary organization, or studied full-time in a theological institution – many had done both.

Myth six

Leavers don’t have an adequate grounding in the faith.

Again this is hard to substantiate if the people I met are indicative of church leavers. The people I interviewed had been, on average, part of their respective churches for 15.8 years.

94% held significant leadership positions within the church and 40% had been full-time Christian workers for at least one year. A third of those interviewed had undergone some form of theological study. Coupled with this, most spoke of very clear and vivid experiences of God at work in their lives.

… Myth nine

They’ll be coming back.

The leavers I spoke with were adamant that they would not be returning to the kind of church they had left. In some cases I have been able to keep in touch with these leavers and to date the majority of them have not returned.

Some do become loosely involved on the fringe of a different group of churches to those they left. They tend to do this by attending the occasional Catholic mass, Anglican communion, Taize, Celtic, multi-media or alternative service.

Even when people do go back to another evangelical Pentecostal or charismatic church they tend to stay very much on the fringes and do not become involved in the leadership and core roles where they were once to be found. Often there is another reason for their return – perhaps the church provides an attractive youth-group for their teenagers, for example.

Myth ten

They are backsliding and giving away their faith.

When I began this research I expected to find that the longer people were out of the church community the more their faith would decline, and in the end most would to all intents move away from Christian faith. This was not the case for a very high percentage of the church leavers I was to meet.

In fact, while these people are clear that they have left their churches and have no plans to return, they are equally adamant that they are continuing in Christian faith.

….

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Note: This article originally appeared in Reality.org.

Note: Alan is part of a Wellington-based group called ‘Spirited Exchanges’, which provides a forum for those who have left church or are finding it unhelpful in their continued journey of faith. The group is an endeavor of Wellington Central Baptist Church, where Alan is co-senior pastor. He has completed a PhD (in sociology) on the topic “Churchless Faith”, which analyzed why people leave churches and their journeys of faith outside the church.

from http://www.batteredsheep.com/myths.html