June 21, 2023 • Autumn Gardner, Hunter Beaumont
“Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. That’s something like 12 percent of the population, and it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history.” Religious abuse, moral failure of church leaders, and the pressures of culture that lead to deconstruction of faith all contribute to “dechurching.” Surprisingly, research reveals a less apparent reason driving the statistic cited above: a slow drift away from church participation. In this episode, Autumn and Hunter discuss an Atlantic article by Jake Meador that examines this slow drift. Meador suggests a response to waning participation in American churches. He states that churches in our cultural climate must call their people to a more committed, robust, interdependent way of being the body of Christ. Resources mentioned in this episode: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/christian-church-communitiy-participation-drop/674843/ by Jake Meador https://a.co/d/ek6d5ud by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, et al
Hunter and Autumn discuss “Outgrowing the Ingrown Church,” a book that has impacted Fellowship Denver’s leadership team and led to the development of a new rhythm in the corporate life of our church that we call “Pursuit.” Miller, the author, challenges churches to ask whether they have become “ingrown” and are existing according to their own means rather than the power of the Spirit. Resources mentioned in this episode: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310284112/ by C. John Miller
