Who is dechurching -- educated or uneducated?
Published: Wed, 01/10/24
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In every tradition, the more education people have, the more likely they are to stay in church. This offers a surprising challenge to the common belief that higher education is facilitating departures from the church. Many Christian colleges were founded based on the belief that secular liberal arts colleges and institutions of higher education lead young Christians astray. For example, the founder of Bob Jones University said, “Bob Jones College . . . stands for the narrow road. We don’t stand for the broad road. We don’t stand for what is stood for in most educational institutions.” While the value of Christian versus secular higher education is a complex topic beyond the scope of this book, support for the idea that secular higher education has a negative effect on the Christian faith may not be as well-founded as many assume. In fact, the opposite may be true. Ryan Burge wrote on this phenomenon in The Wall Street Journal:
The data also leads us to believe that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to see social value in religion, believe in institutions, and have higher levels of interpersonal trust. Broadly speaking, and contrary to modern sociological opinion that Christianity is more attractive to the poor, our research overwhelmingly shows that Americans who make less money are more likely to dechurch than those who make more money. Why is this the case? In our opinion, America is largely built for a specific type of person. If you belong to a nuclear family, graduate from college, and have children after marriage, America’s institutions tend to work better for you. If you get off that track (or never started on it), the US is a more difficult place in which to thrive. Ninety-seven percent of millennial Americans live above the poverty level if they follow what American Enterprise Institute calls the success sequence, which involves three things: graduating from high school, working full-time, and having children after you get married. The more you get out of that success sequence, the more the friction between you and American institutions increases. The church is no exception to that. We cannot underestimate the real challenges often posed when there is friction from differences in class, race, education, marital status, employment type, or nonnuclear family. The American church and especially evangelicalism is largely built for the nuclear family or those on that track. The young, single parent working multiple jobs to make ends meet is going to find it harder to create the bandwidth necessary for meaningful church involvement and be more likely to experience depression and even shame in a church culture that creates programs that work for and elevate the nuclear family. The early church that used to cheerfully bring the poor and destitute into their lives now (at least in the US) often serves them at a distance through benevolence programs without fully embracing them into their church family. Modern American churches are financially incentivized to target the wealthy and create a space where those on track feel comfortable. Biblical hospitality, though, is so much more than just throwing money at a problem, and the net result is that the average American church is not truly hospitable to the less fortunate, making them feel like outsiders in our midst. Davis, Jim, Michael Graham, Ryan P. Burge, and Collin Hansen. 2023. The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. What will it take to bring them back?I suggest a long-term perspective. We didn’t get here in a day and it will take more than a day to get out. I’d suggest a three-year approach. It took roughly three years for Jesus to make his followers into fishers of men. It may take us at least that.
The planSimple as this is, I think it will take a while to get there. Here is what I suggest. Every year, starting in January or August, do a church-wide study of evangelism. (You might consider a sermon series to go along with the study.)
Each of these studies is about six weeks and are available on Amazon or as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking subscription system. www.MyBibleStudyLessons.com During the rest of the year, I recommend you spend five or ten minutes each week in each group talking about such questions as:
In addition, I'd encourage each group to host a fellowship every month and invite every member and every prospect. For more on this, see https://www.YouCanDouble.com/ I close with a quote from the last book above:
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