At the last church she attended before dropping out, Julia Duin was not impressed with the service opportunities available to her as a single woman.<\/p>\n\n
She could do child-care work, greet people at the door or join the women in the altar guild. However, since her journalism work required frequent travel, Duin sought more flexible commitments. Perhaps she could play harp before services? Fill an occasional teaching role, using her seminary training or material from her books? <\/p>\n\n
After several frustrating years, she quit going to church. <\/p>\n\n
Soon she discovered that she wasn\u2019t alone, which caused the Washington Times religion-beat specialist to do what reporters tend to do. She started listening, reading and connecting dots. What she found was, as one researcher put it, a \u201cspiritual brain drain\u201d out of churches today.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI found that a lot of people who were leaving were not necessarily new believers. They were the Baby Boomers who had been involved in all of this for 20 years,\u201d said Duin, speaking at the recent national Religion Newswriters Association meetings in Washington, D.C. These active, committed laypeople had \u201cbeen there and done that. \u2026 So you couldn\u2019t just say to them, \u2018Oh just try this. Oh just try that.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n
Many believers, she said, are sad or mad \u2014 or both. \u201cThey say, \u2018Listen \u2026 I\u2019ve done everything. Now I\u2019m in the middle of a mid-life crisis and I\u2019m not getting any answers.\u2019 These are the people who are saying, \u2018I\u2019m out of here.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n
The result of her research is a new book, \u201cQuitting Church,\u201d that pours painful experience over a foundation of troubling statistics.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s important to stress that Duin \u2014 a longtime family friend \u2014 focused on active churchgoers, not the \u201cbacksliders, the slackers and the complainers\u201d most church leaders think would quit. <\/p>\n\n
Also, this is not another volume about the fall of the \u201cseven sisters\u201d of liberal Protestantism \u2014 the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptists and the Christian Church (Disciples). In recent decades, their membership totals have declined 20 percent or more \u2014 a trend shaped by falling birthrates, bitter doctrinal fights, an aging population and other factors.<\/p>\n\n
Now, sobering statistics are showing up elsewhere. The Southern Baptist Convention, for example, has seen a steady decline in baptisms. While the nation\u2019s largest non-Catholic flock claims 16 million members, Duin noted that its 2007 report indicates that about 6.1 million people regularly attend worship services.<\/p>\n\n
Gallup polls keep showing church attendance hovering at roughly 40 percent of the U.S. population. However, Duin noted that two other studies from 2005 cut that number down to 18 to 20 percent.<\/p>\n\n
What\u2019s happening? Duin shows evidence of parallel and even clashing trends. Many people say they\u2019re too busy, some are burned out and others are mourning the loss of great churches they knew in their past.<\/p>\n\n
There are paradoxes in this story, too. In recent decades, thriving megachurches have dominated the landscape, offering media-friendly services and chatty sermons in gigantic sanctuaries that give seekers a cushion of anonymity. But in 2007, the influential Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago found that many older members said they are now spiritually \u201cstalled\u201d or \u201cdissatisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Duin is convinced many evangelical churches are also struggling to deal with rising numbers of single adults and single-parent families. In 2005, a University of Virginia researcher found that 32 percent of married men and 38 percent of married women are churchgoers. But only 15 percent of single men and 23 percent of single women go to church.<\/p>\n\n
There\u2019s another reality that is hard to put into statistics, said Duin. Many believers have grown tired of quickie services, PowerPoint answers and pop lyrics. Many \u201cquitters\u201d she interviewed were yearning for intimate, down-to-earth churches where pastors and people knew their names. They\u2019d been born again. Now they wanted to know how to face the doubts and pains of daily life. They wanted real spiritual growth.<\/p>\n\n
Many candid believers, said Duin, \u201care perplexed and disappointed with God\u201d and they found that when they asked tough questions, they \u201cwere not getting meaningful answers from their churches. In fact, they were encouraged not to talk about their pain. ? <\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe big questions are not going away and the answers can no longer be put off.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the last church she attended before dropping out, Julia Duin was not impressed with the service opportunities available to her as a single woman. She could do child-care work, greet people at the door or join the women in the altar guild. However, since her journalism work required frequent travel, Duin sought more flexible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[88,214,1534,488,705,790,813],"class_list":["post-1509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-baby-boomers","tag-church-growth","tag-evangelicals","tag-julia-duin","tag-quitting-church","tag-seven-sisters","tag-southern-baptists"],"yoast_head":"\n