David Pool

Recently, a new word has come on my radar. It’s the word “de-churched.” According to an article in The Atlantic, 40 million Americans have ceased going to church over the past 25 years. That might not be hard to believe. After all, scandals and abuse within religious contexts have made the headlines with heartbreaking regularity in recent years and have weakened trust for some institutions. But research shows that a greater percentage of people stop going to church because it no longer fits with the evolving American lifestyle. As Jake Meador puts it, “Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success.” 

But there are other contributing factors to the de-churching in America. Many have noted the change over the last few decades in our society’s understanding of truth. It used to be that truth was understood to be the way the world was and that to get along in one’s life it was necessary to adjust to that truth. Truth used to be seen as objective and external to the person. However, a major shift has occurred. Truth is commonly understood as inside of the person. The individual determines what is “their truth” and the rest of the world must conform to it and accommodate it. 

Combine these two cultural trends (de-churching and “personal truth”) and you can see the desperate times that have come to America. A large body of research shows that church attendance is associated with longer lives, less depression, less substance abuse, less suicide, more stable families, greater life satisfaction and greater volunteerism, among other things. In other words, there is a significant cost to “de-churching.” 

There are also deadly effects of buying into the “personal truth” idea. For one, it unhinges people from reality. If I tell you that my “personal truth” is that 5+5 = 17, I’m guessing you won’t go along. You know that’s not true in the real world. But, more importantly, it undermines the gospel and all of the truth claims of Christianity. How are God’s moral laws relevant if someone has their own truth? Jesus stated, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  This is what it is like to live in a “post-Christian” world. 

So let me encourage you in two ways. First, resist the temptation to de-church. Instead, increase your commitment to and involvement with a local church body. Make friends, share life together, encourage other people with the gifts you’ve been given. Ample blessings and benefits await, even if it means being out of step with the world. Second, seek to conform your life to the truths of God’s word, the Bible. That is where truth is found, and by doing so, you will thrive like never before. I believe you inherently know that you don’t make your own truth. Instead, you discover truth and then adjust your life to it. That’s how you will flourish.

(David Pool is the senior pastor at Grace Point Church in Powell.)