The Great Dechurching

Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?

De: Jim Davis, Michael Graham, Ryan P. Burge, Collin Hansen - introduction

Narrado por: Jim Davis, Michael Graham

Read by the authors.

We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history.

It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction. Yet precious little rigorous study has been done on the broad phenomenon of dechurching in America. Jim Davis and Michael Graham have commissioned the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by renowned sociologists Dr. Ryan Burge and Dr. Paul Djupe.

The Great Dechurching takes the insights gleaned from this study to drill down on how exactly people are dechurching with respect to beliefs, behavior, and belonging.

This book gives the church in America its first ever deep dive into the dechurched phenomenon. You'll learn about the dechurched through a detailed sketch of demographics, size, core concerns, church off-ramps, historical roots, and the gravity of what is at stake. Then you'll explore what can be done to slow the bleed, engage the pertinent issues winsomely and wisely, and hopefully re-church some of the dechurched.

Accompanying figures are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Started well, but some interpretations are iffy.

The book attempts too much. The interpretive second half of the book should have been a separate volume. Instead, to me anyway, the first half feels like an extended sermon illustration. I realize that money drives these things in publishing, but the book feels like an anthology.

Timely - relevant

Regardless how long you’ve walked with Jesus, we all see our brother & sisters, friends & family making other choices. Whether it’s college freedom, hurt feelings, bad experiences, poor parenting, lack of community, pandemics … it’s a reality we all must face … people chose to leave the church for any number of reasons.

How does the bride of Christ continue to minister to them when in or out of a congregation?

Good listen … getting my team on board with it … to open up our apertures.

The audio is skipping after I posted it on social media.

I highly recommend buying the book if this audio is skipping. This book has made me think in a new perspective. It’s not everyone’s way of thinking, but its always good to see others point of view instead of our own.

A very well written book, chock full of valuable information that is indeed a blessing to the church at large.

A huge amount of research has gone into the production of The Great Decburching. This is how the book is able to put numbers to a well documented problem. But in addition to this, the authors put names to the numbers, using stories derived from real life scenarios. It's very compelling indeed. Yet the authors do not leave us in the dark when it comes to a potential solution to this problem. In my opinion, one of the best parts of the book is the final chapters on living in exile. In these chapters, they strike a beautiful balance between knowing that this world is not our home and yet that there is much that we can do to improve our temporary residence. This temporary residence status applies to every corner of the world we live in- yes even America. A very well written book, chock full of valuable information that is indeed a blessing to the church at large.

Nieve and contradictory

authors seem to lay the fault of the rapidly diminishing church in America at the feet of the church itself. while there are many areas for improvement, the issues are far more complex than the over reaching generalizations this book addresses. they seem to think that if the church just listens more and addresses felt needs all will be well. I don't know how much stock to place in asking fallen humans why they reject the church and what the church can do for them to get them back. the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can know it. on top of this, I found the authors contradicting themselves repeatedly throughout the book. Best part of the book was the end, which offered some helpful tips moving forward. if the books would have began with these tips and then unpacked them along the way, it would have been far more beneficial.