Summary – The Great Dechurching

Profile 2: Dechurched Mainstream Evangelicals

This group makes up 17% of dechurched evangelicals.

• The dechurched mainstream evangelicals look nearly identical to churched mainstream evangelicals.
• They have a high orthodoxy score.
• They have a more favorable view of evangelicals and better mental health score than churched evangelicals.
• Align politically center-right.
• Top reasons for leaving church are getting out of the habit (e.g. COVID quarantine) or moving and did not find new church.
• 100% are actively willing to return to an evangelical church.
• How to bring them back: mainly just need a nudge (e.g. invitation from a friend).

Profile 3: Exvangelicals

This group makes up 17% of dechurched evangelicals.

• This group has permanently and purposefully left evangelicalism.
• 0% are actively willing to return to an evangelical church.
• 65% female.
• Align politically center-left.
• Characterized by looking to themselves for answers on life’s issues.
• They are the second most orthodox group.
• They deeply dislike the evangelical culture wars.
• American institutions are not working well for this group.
• This group feels left behind relationally, socially, and politically by society and the church.
• Highest correlation with negative church experiences and not feeling loved by the church.
• How to bring them back: build relationships through humility, listening, remaining calm and curious.

Profile 4: Dechurched BIPOC

This group makes up 14% of dechurched evangelicals.

• 100% non-white (race was not included in the data analysis that created the profiles). Race and ethnicity have a large impact on evangelical church experience.
• Class appears to be a bigger cultural factor than race or ethnicity.
• 68% male.
• Characterized by ideologically complex and seemingly conflicting positions.
• Low score on mental health indicators.
• Relatively unorthodox.
• Many left the church after high school. Parents played a more negative role in decision to dechurch.
• 65% are willing to return to an evangelical church.
• Reasons for returning center on social reasons and nostalgia. They maintain a residual spiritual sensitivity.
• How to bring them back: put relationship over political partisanship.

Reasons to Hope Amidst the Great Dechurching

Belief: More orthodox than we may think. We should approach differently than our unchurched friends. They likely just need to be invited back to church.

Belonging: The greatest factor that people said would make them likely to return to church is a feeling of belonging. What can we do to foster belonging in our churches? It is telling that many people find a more compelling and rich community in their kid’s sports teams, social clubs, and gyms than they find in the church. Does church operate more like an event or a family?

Behavior: 51% of dechurched evangelicals believe it is important to attend religious services. They don’t need to be convinced it is important to attend, they just need to be convinced to do what they already know they should do.

Relational Wisdom

The data shows the impact of relational incompetence from individuals and churches in their relation to those at risk of dechurching. The authors propose six key awarenesses that lead to relational wisdom and maturity.

• God-Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Others-Awareness
• Emotional-Awarenss
• Awareness of how others perceive us
• Cultural Awareness

The best overall approach to building relationships is to have a quiet, calm curiosity.

Transitions

The top three stages of life that people dechurch are high school, college, and the first years as a young professional. These times of transition are impacted by parents, social and cultural pressures, and time commitments. Young people need churches focused on spiritual formation more than church growth. They need real, honest answers to questions. They need older generations who listen and are willing to say, “I don’t know”.

Addressing the Top Issues

• Politics: There is something wrong if any church is more passionate about politics than the gospel. Christianity has political implications, but how to apply biblical principles is a secondary issue. Find a church that balances things correctly.
• Hurt: Many dechurched perceive the church to be patriarchal, unhelpfully hierarchical, and oppressive to women. Church leaders have abused their power. You don’t have to return to the specific church that caused hurt, but you should return to a church.
• Online Worship: Streaming services (which became popular during the pandemic) should be limited for those that cannot attend in person services. They are not a replacement for in person services. They fuel consumeristic church and enable laziness.
• Abuse of Children: Abuse is unchristian behavior. There is no place for abuse of any kind in the church. People involved in abuse are completely disqualified from ministry. We should listen, affirm, and weep with them as they slowly move toward what Jesus has for them. Accountability and transparency are important.
• Isolation: Being plugged into a church is part of God’s plan for our growth in Christlikeness.
• Belief: Many have left because they have changed their beliefs. We must remind and show people how the gospel is good news.

Spiritual Formation

We live in a culture where technology demands our attention and makes us prone to division, anger, and strife. We consume a lot of information, and much of it is done unconsciously. The influence that we assign to information either magnifies or diminishes it based on our biases and preferences. We need to help people become more aware and intentional about the information they consume.

We need to have a full view of the gospel. It is not just sin and redemption. We need to help people experience the gospel tangibly by connecting to Christian community and seeing Christians exercise beliefs in a way that promotes human flourishing. People need safe and transparent relationships with mature believers to get deeper into the habits and routines of life.

We need churches that balance mission and confession. We need churches that are both theologically faithful and missionally focused. There is no confession or mission without Jesus.

Exile

Exile is the most common state for God’s people throughout history. The evangelical church is more and more finding itself in a state of exile. This can come with blessings.

• Exile promotes from advance of the gospel
• Exile confronts our idols of power
• Exile is where we depend on the Lord
• Exile shows us our new and better identity
• Exile requires discipleship
• Exile makes us generous

Exhortations to Leaders

• Don’t be surprised when people fall away
• Extreme responses hurt people
• Be Patient
• Shepherd the flock
• Equip the saints

The church is at a crossroads. One path is to fight to retain power. The other is to embrace the role of exiles. There is hope as we seek to follow Jesus from the margins of power.

Top Takeaways – The Great Dechurching

Hope

My first takeaway is the reason for hope despite the great acceleration in dechurching. Many people would come back if invited. 51% think they will one day return to church. Many of these are people in the Cultural Christian category. It may actually be simpler to reach these people with the true gospel now than when they were still within the church but not true believers.

I also have hope that God will bless the church in exile. Exile has a way of refining faith. Instead of grasping to maintain influence and power, the church would be better off learning to follow God from the margins.

Rethinking Church

My second takeaway is that spiritual formation is part of the cause for dechurching, as well as being part of the solution. The authors call out the lack of orthodox doctrine in many evangelicals within the church as well as those leaving the church. Spiritual formation goes beyond just learning sound doctrine. The authors also call out the needs for discipleship and a wholistic reading of Scripture.

The authors define the “success sequence” as graduate from high school, work full time, and have children after getting married. 97% of people who follow this sequence live above the poverty line. Those that do not follow this sequence, encounter friction with institutions designed to cater to those who did follow the sequence. The church needs to find ways to specifically cater to single parents, people working weekends, etc. that are easy to ignore in the most common church programming.

Critique – The Great Dechurching

My one critique with The Great Dechurching is the assumption that reengaging with the current evangelical church is the best solution to the problem of dechurching. Clearly community is an essential element of following Jesus. The authors call out many of the failures of the evangelical church as reason people are leaving. Political idolatry, abuse, and a lack of discipleship are serious problems. We need to rethink the way we do church in order to solve the root causes. Inviting people back does not solve the underlying problems.

For example, Sunday services designed around the sermon have failed to teach orthodox doctrine. What other models would be more successful? Running a church like a corporate business has led to covering up abuse. What other church structures could work better? Churches focused on seekers have failed to create mature disciples. What can churches do to focus on spiritual formation? Once we address the underlying problems in evangelicalism, people will naturally come back.

Evaluation – The Great Dechurching

The Great Dechurching does a great job balancing a lot of data and graphs with personal profiles that bring a human element to the data. The profiles are fictitious but contain many elements that we can all understand and relate to. There are likely people in our lives that we can see in aspects of the profiles. I also appreciate a book that addresses the current evangelical church from a data perspective. There are many memoirs and anecdotal stories that highlight specific people’s experiences, but it is hard to discern just how common these experiences are.