Alan writes – While I have yet to read it (thus this isn’t a review or necessarily a recommendation), I was interviewed as part of the research done by the author in preparing to write her recently US-published book titled: Quitting Church: Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to do About It. It is written by Julia Duin, and was published on the 1st September by Baker.
I will write a review in due course.
The publisher blurb says:
“Several recent studies reveal that churches across America are hemorrhaging--they are losing members at a life-threatening rate. Intrigued and disturbed by what appears to be an epidemic, Julia Duin, a religion reporter for the Washington Times, amassed research on the issue, interviewed many who have left church, and attended numerous churches in hopes of making sense of this phenomenon. Quitting Church reveals the startling findings of her research. It explains to church leaders why this mass exodus is happening--and what can be done to reverse it. Beginning with the cold, hard facts, Duin then takes readers through a number of issues that influence a person's decision to leave the church, including irrelevancy, hidden suffering, family-centric programming that leaves singles out, impersonal or bland worship services, a lack of biblical literacy, and much more. This eye-opening book will be essential reading for pastors, ministry leaders, and churchgoers who wish to bring these disenchanted Christians back into their midst.”
A PDF of Chapter 1 can be found here. [Paul writes, having read chapter one, its perhaps worth commenting that this has the feel of good entry level title, one that will introduce the key themes and patterns around church leaving… particularly in a US-context. However, to the degree that US-approaches to church (practices, values, and ‘liturgy’) have been imported into countries like NZ, then the observations made will have a certain resonance and familiarity). If the rest of the book reads similarly, then it might be a useful introductory read ahead of the books listed below – although Chrysalis is written for a general readership too, and likewise is a good introduction, though this time to the way that healthy faith changes and grows]
For those wanting to do more reading in this area, the following titles will be useful. Also, I’ve written a number of short essays that can be found here (scroll down for online versions):
1. A Churchless Faith by Alan Jamieson.
2. Church Leavers: Faith Journey’s Five Years On by Alan Jamieson
3. Chrysalis by Alan Jamieson.
4. The Church and the DeChurched: Mending a Damaged Faith by Mary Tuomi Hammond.
5. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor.
6. Gone for Good? Church Leaving and Returning in the 21st Century by Leslie J. Francis and Philip Richter.
Also worth visiting is the Spirited Exchanges (NZ) website which has copies of the newsletters (PDF’s) that were published.
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