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Author Topic:   Shouldn't Churches Learn from Deconversion Stories?
Wollysaurus
Member (Idle past 4492 days)
Posts: 52
From: US
Joined: 08-25-2011


(1)
Message 18 of 28 (642211)
11-26-2011 5:25 PM


I would be lying if I said I didn't know folks for whom atheism was just one aspect of a seemingly packaged ideology.
That doesn't mean atheism is, in and of itself, anything more than a simple conclusion that there are no gods.
I stop short of declaring myself an atheist, because for me it is too "certain" of a declaration. But when you boil it down, I seriously doubt there is any intelligence driving the universe, much less responsible for it.
quote:
1. Would it benefit churches and evangelists to learn why Christians of their own persuasion deconvert?
I believe so. However, this assumes that they might be capable of objectively analyzing whatever the "deconvert" might have to say.
Years ago, I went to a couple of churches with some family and friends that were, to me, frightening. Had I been a member and left, I'd have said things like "trying to terrify children with a 'Hell House' as an alternative to trick-or-treating on Halloween is just disgusting, to me. Your message is one of fear, not of grace. If God is real, and is a God of Love, you are doing him a great disservice." I doubt such a critique would be analyzed with any sort of rigor by those folks.
A few times, I also attended a church which was deeply "Biblical" as opposed to worship focused, and as a result the sermons were more concerned with proving the literal nature of the Bible as opposed to the existence of God within our lives. Anyone with a semblance of education would be able to dismiss much of what was "covered" in these sermons (designed to validate the biblical Flood, the Young Earth, etc) and there is no way I would have stayed there. Again, that particular congregation, and that leadership, would most likely not be interested in anything I might have to say about leaving, or anyone else for that matter.
Couple that with the fact that many of these churches honestly believe that Satan is in play, and anything that might come up in opposition to their teachings can be assigned to that bogey man, you have another excuse for them to ignore the observations of those who leave.
quote:
2. Should churches and evangelists try to learn what they're doing wrong from deconverts and try to correct their methods accordingly?
From the perspective of attempting to grow the numbers of any particular church, sure. However, many churches (for example the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) claim significant growth... rooted, of course, in the Third World. I believe in the religious free market. Let these churches die out, if it is because they just can't hold on to people with a modicum of common sense. Remarkably, I think some denominations (like the Roman Catholics) are doing Okay, considering their (present) willingness to accept scientific truth.
quote:
3. How would churches make up for the current lack of departure interviews?
I don't know about you, but if I chose to leave a church (and the social connections, infrastructure and support systems that entails) I might be more concerned with keeping my head down than doing a "departure interview". Consider the social awkwardness of such a thing.
What Churches should do is devote time and energy to researching why people leave (there are plenty of open source forums on the internet, for example) and make their decisions. Ultimately, it is up to the Churches to change their teachings or culture (or not). If they don't survive, it is essentially "the market" sorting itself our.
Belief is a funny thing. When it comes to Christian Churches, you have congregations to measure. What about all the "spiritualist" movements that gain and lose followers on a daily basis? How many of people you know wear magnetic bracelets to adjust their "life energy" or some such silliness? It's not just the Churches that experience and ebb and flow of "converts", it's just more apparent, I think.

  
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