28 February 2008

Evangelical Drop-Outs

An interesting resume of a study here from the USA: Evangelical Drop-Outs | Out of Ur | Following God's Call in a New World | Conversations hosted by the editors of Leadership journal:
"Among the 7 in 10 who dropped out of the church a diversity of reasons were discovered:
• Wanted a break from church: 27%
• Found church members judgmental or hypocritical: 26%
• Moved to college: 25%
• Tied up with work: 23%
• Moved too far away from home church: 22%
• Too busy: 22%
• Felt disconnected to people at church: 20%
• Disagreed with church's stance on political/social issues: 18%
• Spent more time with friends outside church: 17%
• Only went before to please others: 17%"
It looks to me like a lot of this is about churches not being communities that create a real sense of belonging or a sense of the importance of corporate expressions of faith.... ?

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