I regularly read, Al Mohler’s Reading List Blog  to get ideas of books that I may enjoy and encourage me to grow.
In October, Dr. Mohler wrote a review of “Quiting Church” by Julia Dunn. The subtitle of the book, “Quiting Church“,  speaks to a strong concern of mine: “Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to Do about It.”
She reminds me:
The three fastest-growing church groups, according to the 2007bYearbook of American and Canadian Churches, were Assemblies of God, Mormons, and Catholics. The Southern Baptists, long a growing denomination, saw its baptisms drop at the midpoint in the decade. (p12.)
Now, my biggest question after reading the book was; “What DOES the church do about it?”She offers no viable alternative. She offers that we should cater to the disgruntled or, if we are the ones disenchanted, start up a house church. These are not viable–because a church does have a mission to grow–which is contrary to this method.
However, she does offer many established complaints about how the church is doing wrong these days. Many of these have been voiced by me as well.
She includes Irrelevance, Lack of Community, Singles, Lack of Solid Teaching, and Women’s Issues as some of these problems.
She quotes a reader to “Christianity Today” who said:
Today’s Church dropout is not interested in a “weakened local church. Instead we are seeking a departure from a Christian subculture that has developed over the last twenty years, and a return to a faith that is authentic, relevant, and applicable.” (p20)
What made this book so revealing for me, is that in many cases I have seen these reasons demonstrated in most of the churches I have encountered.
Again she writes;
…people needed sermons on unanswered prayer, but their pastors were giving PowerPoint presentations on attaining breakthroughs. (p22)
This bring us to the purpose of this book, written on page 23:
This book is an attempt to get at the roots of these problems, understand why people are bailing out, and offer some ideas…if nothing is done, this exodus of desperation, this boycott, will continue.
I recommend this book. It is written from a viewpoint opposite of most Church Growth books. It is a study of why churches are dying–not how to experience rapid amazing growth over night. It is critical that we as a church take a look at this issue. It will take more than rock bands in our services to encourage church members in their faith. It will take a complete change of mindset–not done very often in the church. It will take a return to the basics of Christianity–not the latest Church Growth tool.
Suzanne Forbes says
I think I’ll find that book and read it. Thanks for your review of it – and for sharing your concerns about the church as a whole.
I am on the Outreach Council at our church and I know our Senior Pastor (along with my hubby Duncan) really have a passion for growing people in their faith – as well as evangelism. (www.nk-bc.org)
Suzanne
Chaplain Andrews says
Suzanne–
I think that is one of the biggest problems we are facing right now…is not providing the answers to how we fix some of this withdrawl within the church. One of the key points of this book, however, is that by identifying the problems inside the church, she provides some insight into areas of what to fix. She has also received some survey data to back up her deductions.
There is a big house church movement–which I believe is ill advised…maybe this will become more of a focus for me to discuss on this blog.
Suzanne Forbes says
I recently read a book titled Jaded. It had some similar issues – lots of stories about why people are leaving churches, but no positive resolution or suggestions (other than going to a house-church) were given to help people if they’ve come across the same situation.
I was rather frustrated while reading it because it felt like a whine session. I agree whole-heartedly that things could improve in the church, but nobody – in any of the scenarios – actually handled things in a biblical way.