TRACKS: Rochester, New York

“Why do you not attend church?” That was the question recently posed to scores of Americans by The Barna Group, a conservative Christian research firm that tracks the place of faith in public life. “Because I have been hurt by the church or church people,” was the answer given by almost 4 out of 10 individuals who have no relationship with a church.

Here are surprising findings. 61% of the people who do not participate in a church consider themselves Christians. 53% of so-called “unchurched” people once had a relationship with a Christian congregation but moved away from the church. 37% of people out of the church say they left because of a painful experience within a church.

I find these figures sad and incriminating. That is just not what “good news” does to people. So, what are churches preaching and teaching? And how are churches behaving—in ways that inflict hurt rather than off consolation and healing? At what points of hurt in people’s lives are churches not connecting with compassion and help?

The Barna Group’s documentation of the demographics behind these numbers explodes typical assumptions. More women than men stay away from church. (Could that be the result of the way many churches treat women as second-class believers and members?) More boomers and their older friends stay out of church than do young people. (Is the church not dealing with the life-situational issues that accompany “growing up,” “finding a job,” “having a family,” “facing crises of transition” and “dealing with failure?”) More conservatives than liberals stay away from the church as do more white people than people of color. (“Is the church not nurturing the foundations of Christianity as well as pursuing its mandates for mission and change?”)

I don’t believe it is ever possible to emphasize enough the good of the good news. As Jesus himself said, his ministry and message are for those in need. How could a church be a church and devote its resources to any one else or allow its message and ministry to leave on people who participate in it hurt instead of help and healing?

Prayer

O God, forgive us if we ever turn the gospel into bad news rather than present the gospel as good news and/or shape the church as just another institution in which people get hurt rather than as a unique community devoted to loving and healing—with no exceptions. Amen