More and more people are leaving the church, and this has alarmed many believers, including Christian writer John UpChurch who said leaving the church equates to people rejecting the institution which Jesus Christ built and started.
In an article written for Crosswalk, UpChurch shared a recent report from Group Publishing which revealed five leading reasons why "Dones," or people who used to go to church but no longer do so, decided to quit church.
Their top five reasons are:
1. They found their church too judgmental.
2. The church bureaucracy was stifling.
3. They did not like the lecture style of preaching.
4. The church was not the place where they encountered God.
5. The church took a social or political stance they disagreed with.
"Honestly, I don't always like to examine the stats. They can be very hard to swallow when I see how many people in America are walking away from the church. Those aren't just cold, lifeless percentages," UpChurch said. "If we're to do anything, if we're to make necessary changes, we have to take a long look at what's happening."
He urged church leaders to think more deeply and reflect on why "Dones" have decided to leave their church, and how they can dissuade their flock from skipping church service or leaving the church altogether.
He said the church must be willing to consider new ideas to generate enthusiasm among the faithful.
"We can't change the truth of God's Word, but we can change how we share the Gospel," he said.
There will definitely be some things the church and its congregation will disagree with, but bureaucracy and preaching style should not pose as stumbling blocks in any person's journey of faith, said UpChurch, who is the senior editor of BibleStudyTools.com.
