“A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith. They contend that the church no longer contributes to their spiritual development. In fact, they say, quite the opposite is true.”
Based on experience, I have no doubt that there are people who once were in church who are not now. And I suppose in some cases, they could be Christians seeking to leave toxic situations that could damage their faith.
But what I have seen more often than not hasn't been that at all.
They left to preserve their preferences, to protest the direction the church was going (or any changes that might be made), and rather than immediately find a place of service and worship, decide to sit on the sidelines and sour.
A friend told me he heard Ed Stetzer say recently that "each church must make a decision - either for their traditions or for the children." He added that Stetzer said most would chose tradition.
As the number of churches, even First Baptist churches - change, those places where tradition is as Faulkner famously remarked "the past isn't dead, it isn't even past" holds true dwindles, where will these people go? They won't. They'll stay home, watch Joel Osteen and enjoy their best life now. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Didn't Jesus say something about being connected to the vine?
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