Excerpts from Craig Bird’s book review of A Churchless Faith, in FaithWorks (hat tip to the Rev. Jan Nunley, who cited the piece on the House of Bishops listserv mailing list; extra paragraphing added):
What Jamieson has found in his studies has surprised him. In researching his book, A Churchless Faith, he interviewed 108 leavers. Most were not marginal churchgoers who finally quit but organizational linchpins.
Ninety-four percent had been church leaders — deacons, home-group leaders, elders, Sunday school teachers — and 32 percent had been in full-time ministry.
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The couple [Jamieson first interviewed] were not backslidden church members. They had been key and effective leaders. They had not walked away from a relationship with God but continued to pray, worship and study the Bible. They even prayed for Jamieson and his ministry before he left.
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Some would consider it old news that mainline Christian denominations have shed adherents in droves. But Alan Jamieson and others warn that evangelical and charismatic churches are faring no better.
While many boast massive numbers of converts, they are like a powerful vacuum cleaner with a collection bag full of holes — a lot of what is being taken in the front is leaking out the back.
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Jamieson, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Wellington, New Zealand, told FaithWorks he was shocked to learn that many churches are unaware, even unconcerned, about those who have left. The overwhelming majority of leavers interviewed in his study said no one from their church ever talked with them about why they left.
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