Why Do Some Many People NOT Go to Church?

Let Us Prayerfully Consider....

This is a follow-up to my last blog: “Why Do We Go to Church?”

I do believe that it is good for us as Christians, as church members, as disciples of Jesus, to give prayerful consideration to why we go to church. This happened for me this past Sunday when I caught myself off guard and considered not going to church. I praise God that my faith in Him and my relationship with Him are much deeper than just going to church. I know that is true for so many of you as well. I wasn’t going to stop being a Christian or a disciple of Jesus if I chose not to go to church. I would have spent my time with the Lord here at home, but I would have been isolated and just doing what I wanted to do.

We need community, and we need connection! We need to worship together! We need fellowship with other believers!

Yet, I will also tell you that I believe the Western format for “doing church” is in great jeopardy. This is sad in so many ways, but sometimes we need to let go of the old wineskins so that we can receive the new wine! I praise God for the pockets of vibrancy and life in our churches today, but overall, the Western church is growing older—and it is dying.

According to ChatGPT, a major study of 34 Protestant denominations estimated that 3,850 to 7,700 churches close per year, which translates to roughly 1% to 2% of all Protestant churches closing annually.

The United Methodist Church alone has lost around 25% of its congregations since 2019—and this doesn’t count the recent split, with churches leaving the denomination to form the Global Methodist Church.

Among Southern Baptist churches, 1.8% of congregations closed in 2022–2023.

For those that are staying open, attendance is declining. This results in financial strains—in paying salaries, in doing ministry, and in maintaining buildings.

God is beginning to do new things!

What is the purpose of the “church”? If you are a serious believer in Jesus—if you are a disciple of Jesus—it is time to pray and to connect with God and be led by His Holy Spirit. It is time to discern the “new wineskins” so that we are ready for the “new wine.”

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
(Isaiah 43:19, NIV)

One of the most interesting books I’ve read in the past year or so is Rethinking the Church by James Emery White.

Let me share some of the things he lays out in the introduction of this book:

“A single weekday edition of The New York Times includes more information than the average person in seventeenth-century England encountered over the course of his or her entire lifetime.”

He cites a lot of statistics regarding the decline of modern denominations, and these figures just can’t be ignored. Putting our heads in the sand doesn’t make the problems go away!

James Emery White was involved in commissioning a study in Charlotte, North Carolina (where he lives), and he was curious to know why people didn’t attend church.

Here are the results. I encourage you to check out the book to read his insights as he unpacks these findings, which lay the foundation for the rest of his book:

• There is no value in attending.

• Churches have too many problems. (Division and discord are perceived to be more present in churches than in many other groups.)

• I don’t have time.

• I am simply not interested. (People are very interested in spiritual things, are asking spiritual questions, and are on spiritual quests as seekers—yet they have no interest in the church.)

• Churches ask for money too frequently.

• Church services are usually boring.

• Christian churches hold no relevance for the way I live.

• I do not believe in God, or I am unsure that God exists.

Can I just say here—if someone visits your church for the first time, or if someone who hasn’t attended in a while shows up on Sunday morning—IT IS A BIG DEAL! We should throw a party! Well... maybe not literally, but we should at least visit with them enough to make some kind of real connection.

Our old ways of doing church are not connecting with how people live in today’s world. We definitely need to pray and seek the Lord for how we can connect with people to help them know Jesus and become His disciples!

I know for sure that I am praying and seeking God’s guidance in these days of my life.
Lord Jesus, lead me by Your Holy Spirit! Lord Jesus, lead us by Your Holy Spirit. Help us to be willing to change.

One of my favorite “old school” books on this topic is An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus, published way back in 2001. Here are three of my favorite quotes from that book:

“The motto degenerated from ‘We are the church, here to serve a lost and broken world’ to ‘What does the church have to offer me?’”

“Is it really all about us being fed? I think it might be important to remember that over 60 percent of Americans are overweight or even obese. Is it possible that this is also true in the arena of personal spirituality? Are we too much about us getting fed and too little about us exercising our faith?”

“Too many of our statements about the crisis in the American church center on the superficial arena of style and neglect to go to the core issue of self. At the core of so much of the resistance the church is experiencing is the preservation of selfishness and self-centeredness. It is one thing to have a preference, and it is another to demand that one’s preferences be honored above the needs of those without Christ.”

“Now we have to live with the reality that, all too many times, we kept our traditions (and our pews and our hymns) and lost our children.”

I can tell you that all of this is heavy on my heart and central in my prayers. I want to be a part of the new thing God is doing. I want to exalt Jesus and see people grow as disciples of Jesus—not distracted and worn out trying to be “good church members.” People need Jesus.

Matthew 4:19 – “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’”

I am in! Teach me and lead me, Lord Jesus!