Well-Equipped Christians are Checking Out, Right when Churches Need Them Most
I’ve been almost begging older, knowledgeable, and discipleship minded Christians to come to our church lately, and it’s been a surprisingly difficult sell. Why am I doing this? Well, I am a pastor of a small church that intentionally seeks to be an outpost of Christianity. We have committed to historic and orthodox Christian faith, but we have also committed to placing ourselves on the “edge” of the Church, where skeptics might dip their toes in and ask questions, and where struggling believers might stop to ask their hard questions before they make a decision to leave the faith. To our surprise, especially this calendar year (2022), these folks have been not only engaging with us relationally, but coming to church. We have had somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty formerly religious folks or unbelievers (Sigmund Freud’s term for them, not mine) show up to worship, and most of them have reported liking it. That may not seem like a lot, but as I mentioned, we are a pretty small church. Almost every single week I’m looking out and thinking, “Who’s that?” We’ve been attempting to be this kind of church for about nine years, and this has never happened to this degree before now.
Not only are these folks showing up, but they are having incredible spiritual encounters and some are deciding to follow Jesus. Within the last few months I have heard their stories about deeply sensing a need to pray, seeing compelling visions, having profoundly meaningful spiritual experiences, and feeling a strong impulse to read the Bible. This is obviously a work of God, as some of them had these experiences without the influence of a Christian speaking to them. Others are being prompted by very imperfect Christians in their lives. Recently we baptized a young man at our church. He asked if he should be baptized after explaining to me that he’d been on medication, gone through therapy, and participated in support groups, but had never felt the deep sense of inner peace that he’d experienced since coming to church. Another young single father was there for the first time that week, and the baptism brought him to tears. His friend told me that he decided to try following Jesus himself that evening. In all of the cases I have encountered, the assumption of these potential new believers is that they will be able to go to church and find the rest of us there. They believe that they will find God’s people gathering together on Sundays, and that those people will be ready to walk with them in their freshly forming faith.
At the same time that all of this, very encouraging, stuff has been going on I’ve been hearing and observing another story. That story is of Christians, often ones who I know love to serve and disciple others, deciding that church is something they want to take a break from for now and the foreseeable future. A number of believers who I met while a young believer, in church, aren’t going anymore. I have talked to a number of them, or to their children (as I am a former youth director), specifically about this. I just turned forty, and a number of my peers who still profess to loving Jesus, have been opting out of church going. I work within some broader church contexts and I’m getting the sense that many of my co-leaders in these spaces aren’t going to church either.
I am hearing a number of reasons for this phenomenon. The most common by far, is that they feel “kind of done” because they have gone for so many years and became tired of it or aren’t sensing that it’s really making a difference for them. A number of them are reporting being really busy at work or with their kids, or that they are really enjoying traveling right now. The more rare cases have to do with going through a very difficult or painful event at church or being a part of what I would call a potential church. By that I mean something of a small group that does some things churches do, but in a less formal way. Typically when I have asked a few questions about these small groups, I’ve sadly learned that they rarely (if ever) worship, partake in sacraments together, or offer structured discipline or discipleship. They seem to spend a lot of their time talking to one another about life and eating food, undoubtedly good, but not really unique to God’s people.
Interestingly, the young and new believers I am speaking with are actually looking for anchored and organized groups of Christians that engage in shared and specific Christian worship and are connected to their tradition and history. We are hearing that these visitors most enjoy the communal experience of the sacraments and the preaching when they join us. Several of them are trying out attending multiple churches each Sunday. The other churches I am hearing a similar experience from, are actually pretty traditional and connected to denominations and ancient traditions, though with passionate leaders who apply the faith to modern life. Think about it, if you grew up with postmodern grandparents and parents, you’ve never really had anchored community that teaches timeless truth and practices structured accountability to temper injustice and pride in a community.
I don’t think this is our little isolated experience here in Tucson. Barna group classified Tucson as being high on the “post-Christian” city list a few years back, so maybe that’s part of it. Perhaps the more distance people have from being steeped in American christendom, the more interested they are. Keeping that in consideration, it’s also something I’m seeing in secular media sources. I remember hearing an NPR contributor saying something to the effect that we had to be able to anchor ourselves in truth an institutions early in Trump’s presidency. That stuck out to me, as it’s what purveyors of the Christian worldview had always been saying and wishing others would acknowledge. Recently we added a sermon to a series about foundational Christian beliefs, we felt like we needed to be honest about church structure, eldership, and church discipline. We had a visitor that week, who had grown up in church and left a long time ago. She told one of our leaders that the sermon spoke directly to her, and opened her to reconsidering faith. She always thought churches were ego driven and disorganized, which hurt her and her family. To hear that the Bible taught people to be orderly, wise, and willing to face abuses through the churches structures was deeply encouraging.
The past several years have also supplied us with a shocking amount of explicit Christianity among celebrities in the media. Most notable, and debatable of course, is Kanye West putting out gospel albums, hosting church services with a young pastor from John MacArthur’s circles, and declaring his allegiance to Jesus. Long time Christians like Candice Cameron Bure were speaking clearly about their faith on television. Netflix embraced Christian camp culture on A Week Away and then pumped out Father Stu, with it’s powerful message of Jesus, who did the “heavy lifting.” Then came Justin Bieber’s worship album with Chandler Moore of Maverick City Music and Pastor Judah Smith. In the world of sports, beyond the fact that NBA superstar Steph Curry produced an explicitly Christian film, The Ringer recently allowed their beloved cancer-stricken and dying commentator Jonathan Tjarks to write about his faith on their platforms and paid tribute to him and his faith after he died. Those posts are reportedly some of their most read and engaged. Within recent months, as if that weren’t enough, Shia Lebeouf publicly shared his conversion to not only faith, but to Catholicism through the Latin Mass, and Eminem released one of his most explicit sets of bars ever…except this time they were explicitly Christian. Jordan Peterson released a video specifically lecturing people on why they should go to church, and another chiding churches who aren’t receptive to them (especially young men) being involved. Young and curious people are paying attention to these things, and it’s no surprise, that some of them are deciding its time to give Christianity a chance.
I really don’t want to be critical of the long time Christians who aren’t feeling church right now. I totally understand. In 2020 and 2021 I was entirely discouraged as well, and there were many days I didn’t want to show up either. The work is hard; often not personally “life-giving”, and people are messy. In the midst of difficult times, we all wished that people in church would have been better and more unified, but they often weren’t. I guess that its true, that all of us are Christians only because of grace, not because we deserve it. Ministering to others, being patient, forgiving one another, and living in harmony are some of the most difficult callings in life, and they often don’t feel very fulfilling. I am absolutely for taking care of one’s self, leaving abusive situations, and practicing patterns of rest. Without such things, we will not be able to minister effectively. But it also seems evident that we are products of our time. I have heard the same reasons for not engaging with church from people who lean in both political directions and they sound surprisingly similar. They honestly sound like the reasons people leave their marriages. They sound like people formed more by expressive individualism than by the gospel of Jesus Christ, a suffering servant king.
In light of all my own feelings I’ve contemplated the Apostle Paul. People in church were clearly a mess in his day, many of his longtime religious comrades turned against him, and the work must have been utterly exhausting. Aren’t we glad he stuck with it with God’s help? Imagine if he’d decided one year (because his ministry spanned many!) that he was going to step away from church because it wasn’t really feeling necessary for him anymore, and he was enjoying traveling more for personal pleasure. Imagine if he got out of the habit, and never really re-engaged. No, we look back and honor him for his perseverance as we look back on parents who stuck out tough relationships, veterans who stayed true to their country and commitments, and civil servants who stayed consistent in trying times. I know, none of us are the Apostle Paul, but consistent and present people are the glue we need as God’s people. It’s good we aren’t all as big a deal as him, because that means we can be present in little local assemblies, and ready when that person with questions, fears, and budding faith walks in the door. It’s good we live now, because a lot of the celebrity voices are mixed bags to say the least. People who hear their messages, will need to find grounded and mature people in their communities to disciple them.
You may be thinking, Andy, that’s why you and other pastors are there. Here’s the thing; over forty percent of pastors are quitting or considering it right now. That’s a story even the New York Times is telling, and I have also observed on the ground with pastors in my network. They’ve been through a lot of stress, and received a lot of criticism, and they are reporting feeling very, very alone. Pastors were never meant to do the ministry by themselves. The Bible clearly articulates that the leaders of the church are there to equip you to do the ministry (Ephesians 4:11–13). Pastors should shepherd a group of mature Christians, help to equip them, and then see them present and active in worship, sharing their faith, and discipling others. If so many well-equipped Christians weren’t checking out, I would assume that the pastors would be far less discouraged. I KNOW that would be true for me.
Finally though, I think we need to consider what’s going on in spiritual places. If you know me, you know I am cautious when it comes to assigning spiritual causes. I have seen that line of thinking abused. For instance, I don’t think Hurricane Ian needs to be viewed as a judgement on Fort Meyers, Florida. I exercise great caution when it comes to these things, and yet I sense that God is at work in the hearts and minds of many people. I don’t think these spiritual experiences we’re hearing about, these proclamations of faith in public, or the general hunger we are sensing are coincidence. God is at work! Conversely, it seems clear that the enemy of our souls is at work. If you were running a disruptive military campaign, you would try to take out and distract the opposition’s most effective soldiers. We have a spiritual enemy who wants to disrupt and distract us even more.
Please consider, that perhaps your discouragement, apathy, or sense of being “done” or too busy may not be neutral, but may be the work of Satan in your life. We don’t need to be afraid of that as Christians. Satan is a doomed foe, who is on a tight leash until Jesus returns victorious. No, we need not be afraid, but we do need to be aware of his schemes. Peter tells us that Satan roams like a lion, seeking those who he can devour (1 Peter 5:8–9). If you’ve ever watched a nature documentary you know how lions destroy a strong animal. They tire them out, they isolate them, and then they devour them slowly. That is a tragedy for the one devoured and their family, but also for the entire community. Every strong and well-equipped believer we lose (on any given week!) leaves us weaker as a community. Please, for your sake and for the sake of the faith, re-engage! We need you!
