What Happened Last?

February 2005

Exodus

Paul Wilson on "Why People leave the church"

Paul Wilson led a well presented and thought provoking evening. Using non-religious language this important analysis of why some people leave the Church was powerful and challenging. The audience was diverse including clergy and laity, Christians from a range of church backgrounds, and people who themselves had left church at some point in their lives. Some of these “leavers” had taken part in the research that Paul had conducted.

The discussion covered three main sections. Firstly, an overview of the statistics of numerical decline in the British churches accompanied by remarkable evidence that faith in God was by no means lost amongst those who were no longer attenders. Some may have even gone on to deepen their faith outside of an organised framework. Concepts such as “A Churchless Faith” have been explored which have echoes of Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on “Religionless Christianity”.

Two models of church leavers were then presented. The first from work in the Methodist Church in the USA highlighted the pastoral and emotional reasons why some Christians find themselves on the exit track potentially ending up as turtles (passive resenters) or skunks (angry reactors). The second looked at Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in New Zealand. Reasons for leaving gathered in this survey were complex and often quite different from those the ministers involved had assumed were the case. Some leavers saw moving out of the church as a necessary part of a maturing process in their Christian faith which led them to be uncomfortable with the church they were in. In almost every case the act of leaving was accompanied by great sadness and pain. Loss of relationships was often cited as the biggest aspect of the cost of leaving church.

Debate amongst the audience was lively and almost everyone was involved. There were some moving personal examples of having given cries for help which fellow church members found it hard to cope with or respond to. This can put real strains on a sense of belonging. Many valuable lessons were drawn out in the dialogue. There can be life after church for some. For others, the real challenge is to encourage the church to hear and respond to those who join and belong and so provide a positive place to be through life’s ups and downs and the growing pains of the spiritual journey.

Chris.