Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Quitting Church by Julia Duin

Duin was a newspaper reporter for years and is now the religion editor of The Washington Times. She is one of the thousands of Christians who has not abandoned her Christian faith, but has abandoned the church. Duin sensed for some time that there was something not right about the church. Scores of Christians are leaving the brick and mortar church and developing a subculture of authentic faith.
Some say church has nothing to do with their actual lives (p. 33). John Eldredge, who took a year off from church, called church a "numbing" experience (p. 170). The church is not bringing people into a genuine encounter with God, Eldredge says. He claims, "It's mature Christians who have opted out of the church" (p. 170). Eldredge has found his spiritual needs met in a home church.
The truly reflective and intelligent Christians are finding the church irrelevant. Singles and women are marginalized in the church organization and structure.
Rather than being just another church bashing book, Duin is truly concerned about the state of today's church. While she does not give and real answers to the problems, I think every pastor should read this book to know how those people who used to sit in the pews of his church really feel.

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