The Barna Group and USA Today have estimated that 3,500 people walk away from church each day. Of these dechurched people, 80% are from the age group of 14-33.
It’s interesting that the single greatest issue reported by these people walking away from the Church is due to a lack of connectedness.
What does this mean?
It may mean that while people are looking for spiritual connectedness, our youth are not finding it in Church! So, they leave the organized Church looking for God elsewhere. Is it possible that in many churches today, God is not there?
I remember several years ago, Toni and I visited a church in Sonora, California. For the City of Sonora, it was considered one of the largest churches. We walked in and then later out of the church without any welcome or introduction. On our way to our car, I asked Toni,
“Honey, do you think we’re invisible?”
We then visited another church in Sonora and were ambushed by teens and adults with hands held out and warm greetings. Afterward, several people were genuinely interested in us. At one touching moment, a young man introduced himself and offered to pray over my back, as he noticed the pain I was in from a recent collision with a Hummer on Interstate HWY-4.
The stark difference between these two churches we visited, while anecdotal, seems to jive with the Barna Group’s study.
Needless to say, we joined the Church where we not only felt connected but became vital to that body of believers. In other words, the people there took the time to know us, understand our spiritual gifts, and, so, plugged us in to serve.
So, I want to tell my estranged fellow believers, “Don’t give up on the Church and find God there.” Like in most things and in many people there are good ones and not so good ones. Keep searching until you find a church you can call family and become vitality connected and useful.
Complacency and apathy do not belong in God’s people and in His Church. Yet, for many churches, their lack of utilizing people’s spiritual gifts breeds complacency and apathy. And so, sadly, many people become church dropouts.
Your spiritual gifts matter, and never settle for you or the gifts that God gave you to be benched or shelved. Your spiritual vitality and health are important to God and in the right Church also. Be humble and patient with God’s spiritual gifts, but also be wise and discerning.
So, to my dechurched brothers and sisters, I want to challenge and invite you back to God. To tell you that Jesus is there, where He said He would be if two or three are gathered together in His Name.
I am not on the internet, so why are you searching there?
I’m not in your work, so why do you lose yourself there?
I’m not in your affairs or hookups, so why do you hide there?
Is it because you no longer believe in Me or see Me that you continue to wander aimlessly? Is that why you have no fear of Me because I don’t shout and yell at you?
Is that why you trust more in things than in Me?
You’re hanging too tightly to the temporal things at the expense of the eternal!
It doesn’t matter how many Sunday services you attend. It’s your secret life that is denying your belief in Me. Your lack of connectedness in Church stems from your lack of connectedness to Me!
Your Sunday morning “hallelujahs” and “amens” mean nothing to Me without your holiness and devotion. I’m supposed to be in your heart and not in your religious ambitions.
I’m pleading with you to return to Me, even though you’re chasing shadows and lingering in sin, I’m still not willing for you to perish. All your difficulties are not a string of bad luck. It’s Me, dealing with you as a faithful Father!
You will not find Me in the false gods you love; in A.I., Tictok, X, Meta, or Instagram. People are into those things, not Me, I’m here, inside your heart—whispering My heavenly will, which is uniquely designed for you.
Take out the trash in your heart and mind. Ask Me to create in you a clean heart and clear head. All you have to do is admit your sins, cry your eyes out, and invite Me in. I don’t want to judge you—I want to love you!
Turn away from darkness, and come back into the light. I won’t shame you, I want to tame your feral heart. I want to quiet all that hateful self-talk you’re constantly muttering at yourself. Those nasty voices come from the deep broken places that you’ll not let me heal.
Hasn’t my Son, Jesus, convinced you enough that I’m in love with you? I want you here with Me in Heaven so that Father and Son can be with you there on earth.
I know that’s what you want because I put that desire in you before I created you. So, stop holding hands with sin and the devil! He wants you in hell. I want you here with Me. You’ll not find Me there in the devil’s darkness. I’m over here, in the Light of My Word, and in Jesus, My Son.
If you want the devil to stop harassing you and your soul to cease its pain, seek Me with all your heart and weary soul. I’ll be found. I’m not the one hiding.
You’ll Not Find Me There, because I’m over here—I’ve never left!
Call To Courage 