This is the seventh article of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality, evangelism, missions, ethics, Bible, and spirituality have been explored. In his book Becoming a Thinking Christian, John Cobb promotes the…
Churchless believers?
Emerging Paths for Fresh Ministries The religious and church landscape is definitely shifting today! We have the traditional members and churches, the missional communities of faith, the multi-site congregations, workplace ministries and a growing host of faith-based non-profits and para-church…
In organized Christianity, some people are gone and others are done
Do we need another category to describe people who are either no longer related to organized Christianity or never were? Probably.
Missing Church: Why I’m not a “Done” (Even If I Want to Be)
A couple of months ago, I posted about the experience of taking a break from attending church. It somehow garnered a lot more attention than I expected, enough that it prompted a follow-up question: Why go back? It’s a question that…
Why people are NOT leaving your church
The Internet is full of articles about why people are leaving church—or never attending church in the first place. Some are called “nones” and recently many people are using the term “dones” for those who are finished with church—at least…
Mundane work, internal politics drive many from church, experts say
By Jeff Brumley A team of sociologists in Colorado say they were stunned recently by data showing a growing wave of once-dedicated church goers leaving their congregations. Their findings inspired the now-popular term “dones,” denoting Christians deciding to go it alone on…
You’ve met the ‘nones.’ Now meet the ‘dones.’
By Jeff Brumley It figures. Just as churches, seminaries and congregational consultants were wrapping their heads around the concept of “the nones” in religious life, yet another term emerges for yet another category of Americans abandoning the church: “the dones.”…