Quitting Church?

VirtueOnline: Sunday Morning, Staying Home The linked article is a review of the book Quitting Church by Julia Duin, who claims there are a number of people who are quitting evangelical churches. They long for a decent church but can't find one. Here are some of the reasons she has uncovered: "She reports, among other things: a lack of a feeling of community among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom; church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith or to reach members grappling with suffering or unanswered prayer; pastors who are either out of touch with their parishioners or themselves unhappy, or who fail to shepherd their flocks, or who are caught up in scandal, or who try to control the lives of church members in a high-handed way. She claims that many churches have "inefficient leadership models" and that many, preoccupied with the care of families, neglect single people." A personal observation: when I pastored a church I had numerous clergy friends that were very dissatisfied with their parishes and we talked about the clergy crisis of pastors leaving ministry at alarming rates and churches firing their pastors. For the past 2 years now I have been in a lay person role in the church and now I have numerous friends that talk to me about their disappointment with their current church situation and don't really see other viable, enticing church options. There is a lot of church unhappiness out there at the moment.