A recently released survey of American spiritual commitments by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life focused on the reasons why people switch or leave their religious affiliations. The results indicate that most do so not because of disagreement over institutional direction or theological disputes, as important as these may be, but rather through slow drift and gradual loss of commitment to the institution.
In an article on these findings, the Washington Post reports: “Pew Forum senior fellow John C. Green said that [this] result surprised researchers, who had expected policy disputes or disillusionment over internal scandals -- such as the clergy sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church -- to play more of a role in people's decision to leave a faith. Among former Catholics who became Protestants, one in five cited the sex-abuse scandal as one of several reasons why they had left the church. But only a small percentage -- 2 to 3 percent -- cited it as the lone reason. ‘It suggests that what leads people to leave their faith is that, somehow for some reason, it isn't meeting their needs . . . religion becomes less plausible to the person,’ Green said.” (The link to the Washington Post article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/27/AR2009042701460_pf.html).
These statistics would seem to represent a wake-up call to most Christian denominations as well as local congregations (as if we needed another). One should not assume that church membership depends merely on shared theology, practice, or vision. Getting people in the door is one ministry. Keeping them from slipping out the back door is another.
Looking to the future it is vitally important to pay attention to such data. As the preponderance of evidence from multiple surveys indicates, young adults generally do not share their parents’ sense of loyalty to a particular denomination, congregation, or tradition. Already declining denominations, in fact, will not be able replace their senior populations in the coming generation with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Most of these in younger generations will be long gone.
As Tony Woodlief writes in a recent column for the Christian news magazine, World, “What we are in danger of—in our country, in our churches, in ourselves—is practical atheism. This is not a considered embrace of godlessness. It is instead the slow slide into lives where God is irrelevant. The people who walk away from churches likely haven't pondered Christian theology and rejected it; they simply haven't been exposed to theology in the first place. Absent knowledge of—and communion with—the living God, why would anyone in his right mind keep coming back?” (http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15261).
As a parish priest, however, I find such surveys as this one from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life helpful in sharpening mission and focus. Not all traditions and congregations will suffer the fate of decline and drift. Indeed, I believe that those articulating a clear sense of Christ-centered purpose will shine brightly through these times of murky spiritual identity and commitment. Congregations that stress building up members’ faith, foster empowering lay discipleship, and offer vibrant worship over clergy-centered chaplaincy models, presumed church loyalty, and unreflective or repetitious practice, will be those who increasingly represent “salt and light” to a increasingly uncommitted population.