QUITTING CHURCH
Author JULIA DUIN
Publisher BAKER BOOKS
ISBN 978-0-8010-6823-2
I have read several books by this author. She has something helpful to say. A Christian of many years having entered into the things of God back in the early 1970’s. She is a well respected journalist, currently working for the Washington Times where she is religion editor. Both these elements along with the fact that she is a single highly motivated lady tend to tinge this book. She writes on a vital topic. Remember this is about the churches of North America particularly. In certain respects she harks back to the days of the sixties and seventies when the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit was particularly working . Certainly such days are not present in the churches of the Westernised world now. She stretches the net of her enquiry extremely wide, from Orthodox Church to IHOP of Kansas City and just about everything in between. Reasons why people are leaving the churches, their opinions are canvassed as are those of pastors and leaders in the various churches. Plenty of research, plenty of interviews, plenty of negatives, few positives, the underlying attitudes from which opinions rise are not part of the analysis here, peoples views are allowed to stand as they were spoken. It is that kind of book, and we must remember that it is far from easy to write about the current state of the churches journalistically using plenty of research data from people like George Barna and other sources without a kind of negativity, sadness and even cynicism coming through. First she states the case, there is a flood of people leaving the churches, across the board almost. The following chapters speak of the apparent irrelevance of the church, the search for meaningful community fellowship, the emerging and the re-emerging churches, a chapter on singles being uncared for, pastors failing in their ministry, why many women are fed up with the churches and a last chapter about how it is possible to bring people back into the churches. So, lots of areas, so much to regretfully agree with, but all the while a sense that it is information but little by way of answers. Does a seeming nostalgia from the ‘former days’ colour things, the author’s career stance as a single lady in an era where feminism has destabilised the male. Does the North American church simply reflect the world in which it is set? Where are those who put God first? There are massive failures, but there are also answers from Heaven. Perhaps things must collapse yet more and trials come upon the churches before the Lord’s people will be challenged to turn again to Him Who is the Fountain and Source of all.
