A few weeks back, a headline came across my newsfeed that caught my attention.  A couple of high-profile pastors had left their large churches and, at least in the church world, these headlines are big news.  For those of us in the Church, they inevitably lead to some deeper questions:  was there moral failure? Are they no longer Christians?  Are they now atheists??!?!  For years, the equation in my mind was pretty simple:  Christians = Regular Church Attenders.  And if you leave church and stop going?  Well, the only reason that made sense was that you stopped believing in God.  

However, this last year, that equation became a little muddy.  COVID hit, and we all stopped going to church.  And while some churches have started meeting since (okay, most churches)... my family hasn’t gone back.  It’s not that we’ve experienced moral failure, or stopped believing in God.  We haven’t even become atheists.  The truth is, we’ve experienced God’s presence in incredible ways while worshipping at home.  And in some ways, we’ve grown more aware of God’s presence in the last year--not less!  (Plus, for those of you looking for a church in this season of masks and social distancing, it’s not always easy to know what to expect when you walk into a building.)  So we continue to worship at home.

Sociologist Josh Packard* has a word for those people like us who have left our churches (at least for a season).  He calls them the dechurched, or the “Dones”.  I know from talking with some of you that this is your story, too.  You have walked away from your church, but not God.  You have grown frustrated with the way the Church often fails to live out its calling in the world.  Maybe you felt that you weren’t free to share your gifts.  Maybe you felt judged when you were really seeking love and community.  Whatever the reason that you left, Tyler and I understand.  We are currently among those numbers of “dechurched”.  Will we be forever?  Hopefully not.  But in this season, we are the “Dones”.  

If you study church history in much depth, you’ll find out that it is one of regular course-corrections.  As is typical of any institution that involves humans, it has lost its way over and over again throughout the past 2,000 years.  But always, God raised up people who were disgruntled with the institution, unsatisfied with what it offered, and were convinced that the way of Jesus looked different.  They asked questions, pushed back against authority, and were often labeled “heretics”.  But years later, history has proven that they were onto something.  My dad used to tell me that there have been “reformations” about every 500 years--and if we count Martin Luther and his Reformation as the last, then we are due for another. If the Church is, indeed, in need of reformation, then what do we do? How do we move forward?

If you are a part of a church, then you have a vital role to play within your church. Go back and read this blog post that we wrote in February...but I’ll give you the abbreviated version here: “Maybe you are exactly what the Church needs. Maybe your questions are precisely what the Church needs to hear. My sense is that the Church has moved away from so many of the people that it is supposed to be connecting with that it exists in a bubble of its own making. And it really doesn’t know what life is like outside that bubble. So maybe it is up to us to move towards the Church. To bring your questions, and not to settle for weak answers. To bring your doubts and not be content with cheap platitudes of faith.”  Your church needs you!   

However, if you find yourself in the same category as the “dones”, I want to encourage you today.  You are part of a “chosen people, a royal priesthood… a people belonging to God”.  Not attending church doesn’t change that.  We believe that you left your church for valid reasons.  That you still love Jesus, and that you desire to do good in your community and for your neighbors.  Hear me say this: you don’t need a degree to host a group of people in your home and engage with the Bible.  To have neighbors over for supper.  To create a welcoming atmosphere in your home where people are free to struggle, to share openly, to address the issues that really matter to them.  To find ways to make your community better.  Ideally, this is the role of the Church.  But as believers, we are the Church.  If you find yourself in a season where you are among the dechurched--the Dones, then gather a group of people around you and together, build the community you want.  There is nothing stopping you!

*Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope, authors of “Church Refugees”, interviewed many people who have walked away (after many years of faithful service) from their churches.  I would highly recommend this book, if you find yourself in this same boat.