Why I’m not Leaving the Church

Many of us who attend church on Sundays have probably noticed that there are a lot more vacancies in the pews than there were a few years ago. We wonder if churches have not yet recovered from the pandemic, which had a disastrous effect on church attendance, or maybe partisan politics have disgusted church members, causing some members to stay home. Whatever the reason, fewer people are going to church.

If you have observed more empty seats on Sunday morning, you are not alone, as polls bear out that Americans are leaving their religion behind. Why? Why have Americans stopped going to church? Over the next few weeks a series of articles in the New York Times by Jessica Grose will try to uncover the reasons why people are backing away from religion. Since I spent my adult life as a pastor, committed to the church, I will follow her series closely.

When I became a pastor in the 1970s, church influence on American culture was significant, perhaps not as significant as the 1950s, but churches still played a key role in the lives of a majority of Americans. New churches were sprouting up everywhere, older churches were expanding their facilities, church attendance, while not standing room only, was steady, and denominational institutions were enlarging their staffs. Many seminaries were celebrating record enrollments and graduating high numbers of freshly minted pastors, teachers and missionaries.

Denominational leaders were encouraged about the direction of church life in America. The future for religious work looked bright, and even though the church’s reluctance to embrace the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s had severely eroded the institution’s credibility, influential pastors were predicting a renewed uptick in church growth.

But they were wrong. For a variety of reasons, church attendance and financial contributions began to decline, especially among smaller and medium size churches. The seminary where I attended, once one of the largest seminaries in the world, experienced an alarming drop off in student enrollment and today is just a shadow of its former self. Denominational offices have either shut their doors entirely or drastically reduced staff. Denominational properties, such as Children’s Homes, conference centers and camps, were sold off in order to pay bills. What has happened to my denomination has been repeated in other denominations all across the country.

Church leaders recognized by the mid to late 1980s or early 1990s that churches were beginning to struggle and tried valiantly to stem the tide by introducing new programs of outreach, innovative worship styles, and seeker friendly services but, while the bleeding slowed down, it didn’t stop the exodus of people leaving the church.

Some pastors and leaders blamed encroaching liberalism or the New Age movement or cultural shifts that challenged the mores of traditional American values. Theological wars were waged within denominations over the veracity of the Bible, women in ministry, and an assortment of other cultural flash-points, all to no avail. Church attendance continued to slide.

All the while the non-churched were turned-off by the religious infighting and constant bickering. If church members, people who claim to be on the right path toward God, can’t get along with one another, then why should the unaffiliated want to be part of church? The church became increasingly irrelevant to American culture.

Today, according to Jessica Grose, 6,000 to 10,000 churches close their doors each year. Some of these churches have been converted to apartment complexes or restaurants or have just been razed to the ground. It appears the “Golden Age of Church” in America is over.

I was fortunate during my years in the pastorate that the churches I served grew both financially and numerically. Looking back on my ministry, I realize that whatever “blessing” I experienced was due in large part to timing, rather than leadership ability. Sadly, several of the former churches I served have fallen on difficult times, even though they have outstanding pastors and lay leadership.

I have not given up on the church. Communities of faith have accomplished so much good in the world—churches have fed the hungry, cared for the sick and dying, given hope to the hopeless, reminded us of our humanity, and helped to connect people to God. During the pandemic churches all across the country provided groceries for thousands of people who struggled to make ends meet and offered an array of other ministries such as vaccination sites.

Image Credit: The New Yorker

But the church has also had a darker side. Ministers and priests have been accused and convicted of sexual crimes, greatly eroding trust among many people. Other churches have aligned with political parties, making Sunday worship seem more like a political rally than a place for prayer.

Some Christian leaders, disgusted with the direction of the church and tired of fighting culture wars, have decided to leave the church in order to follow Jesus. I agree that some churches have lost sight of their mission and become hopelessly bogged down in divisive cultural or political issues. I wonder, though, how can a person follow Jesus without the community of faith?

Leaving church may sound like the right course of action at first blush, but without the community of faith encouraging people, praying with people, struggling with people, and challenging people how can people possibly have an authentic relationship with God? Doesn’t the Bible tell us, wherever two or three are gathered together in God’s name, there God’s presence dwells. When it comes to the worship of God, individualism leads to self-worship, an idol already ubiquitous in too many of our churches.

The church needs reformation, not rejection. The way through these difficult times is best accomplished by connecting to the family of faith, not abandoning it. The church is at its best when it welcomes all people with love, kindness, and understanding. The church is not a judge, separating the good from the bad. That responsibility belongs to God and God alone. The church’s mission is to love even the unlovable, to welcome the stranger, and to serve as a refuge for the despised of this world. If the church can recover its mission, people will be drawn to its story—a story that changes lives for the better and gives hope to an often hopeless world.