Why People Are Losing Their Religion (and How the Church Can Respond)
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- Updated Nov 04, 2024
There is a growing group of people, known as the religious dones, that would have formerly considered themselves religious but no longer identify as believers. Recently a study was published in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality sharing information that was gathered from this emerging group of people.
The results of this study revealed four main themes that the respondents self-identified as reasons for leaving their faith. Around half of the sample stated they left faith due to intellectual reasons or they outgrew their faith, about a fifth of the group stated they left due to religious trauma, and about 15% reported they left due to personal adversity such as the death of a child or social reasons, and about 11% shared they felt the religious community was unwelcoming.
The result of more people walking away from their faith communities is church closures. In 2019 about 4,500 Protestant churches closed, with only 3,000 new churches opening. This was the first time the number of churches has not grown since these numbers have been tracked. This trend has only sped up since the pandemic, leaving many faith communities burned out and forced to close their doors.
How, as believers, are we to respond to this group of people who have chosen to walk away from organized religion?
1. Offer a Listening Ear
When we encounter those that have decided to step away from their faith, it’s not time to start shouting out truths this person likely already knows. If you are ready to walk away from the God you once knew, you likely have counted the high cost and are not looking for a lecture. The church needs to be willing to stop and hear the stories of those who are ready to move away from the church.
Humility needs to be the defining quality of our posture when entering these important conversations. Church trauma is real and leaves deep scars. The idea that reason points us away from religion is a pervasive idea in our culture and not one we should dismiss without hearing what about this worldview appeals to their hearts. Holding onto faith through unimaginable loss is one of the toughest trials we can ever face. Church communities are full of imperfect people, and the rejection some have felt in the church is deep. We cannot make assumptions about the motivation of others. If we want to build a bridge, we have to first be willing to hear the stories of others to truly see where they are at.
2. Determine Who or What They Are Rejecting
Many times, people leave the church not because the Bible offended them or they hate Jesus, but because a person or organization hurt them. Again, the church is a flawed organization. If you stick around it long enough someone is likely to make you upset along the way.
Encourage those you know that have stepped away from the church to not let go of Jesus. Remind them that they can lean into and grow in their faith through the Bible and in their personal life. Sometimes healing has to happen outside the church if the church is the main offender. The Bible is powerful all on its own, and God’s truth changes hearts when we continue to pursue it.
3. Embrace Doubt
Many of us grew up in a very rigid Christian culture, where questions felt like an affront to Jesus himself. Yet, each of us will enter seasons of doubt, struggle, and questioning. There is no way to live this life where evil abounds and not have a why God moment! Our churches need to make space for questions.
The generations coming up have been programmed to question everything. They question why teachers can give them a certain grade, why parents have a say in their lives, why God has assigned them a certain gender, and the list goes on. If we want to reach a generation that is filled with questions and sometimes, consequently, a lot of confusion, we have to start engaging them with some tough, well-thought-out answers.
4. Teach the Bible with Grace and Truth
Many are walking away from faith because they “grow out of it” due to a desperate lack of discipleship in the American church. Most of us don’t know what the Bible actually says because we aren’t taking the time to study it ourselves. Lifeway research tells us only about 11% of Americans have actually read through the Bible at least one time. It's a pretty easy tactic on the part of the enemy to draw people away from the church by being told that your worldview is incomplete if you don’t actually understand what God actually tells us in his Word.
The church needs to focus on Biblical teaching, discipleship, and helping people to experience God’s presence in their lives. Knowing God and knowing of God are two very different things. We need to raise a generation who knows God intimately, understands his Word and nature, and is ready to cling to that truth when life gets tough, and your view becomes unpopular.
Following Jesus is tough, the Bible teaches that we follow the narrow way, and falling away from God’s truth is easy. We are not to judge harshly those that have stepped away from the church; there are real reasons why hurt leads us away from a community that is supposed to be designed to love and nurture our souls. It’s time to open our ears, humble our hearts, and lean into truth so the generations to come can find Jesus for their lives. A Jesus that is bigger than the failings of organizations and whose truth is timeless.
Related Resource: The Unique Challenges Facing Pastors and Their Mental Health
We honor those serving in the Church and acknowledge the unique challenges facing pastors, their families, and staff. Pastor Gregory Seltz has an enlightening conversation with Dr. Tim Clinton about the mental health issues that impact those we trust to lead us in our faith. Dr. Clinton discusses the dangers of neglecting pastors’ mental health needs, the mandate to invite God into all areas of our lives, and the importance of focusing on what truly matters, even when we feel pulled in many directions.
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