A Churchless Faith

Alan Jamieson’s study is based on a series of 108 interviews with ‘church leavers’. The group consisted mostly of people who declared themselves to have been committed, well-informed, active Christians in the evangelical-Pentecostal-charismatic (EPC) stream of the church. Most of the group still regarded themselves as committed disciples of Jesus after their departure: it was the church that they were leaving, not the Christian faith.

The comments of the interviewees indicate a range of reasons for leaving: a sense of no longer fitting in; philosophical and theological divergence; spiritual and emotional bullying; the realization that church is irrelevant, out of touch, claustrophobic, controlling, lacking in real spirituality; a sense of powerlessness; a lack of spiritual development; boredom with the routine of church attendance; the inability of church leadership to handle personal crises, moral failure, etc., effectively and compassionately.

At the heart of the study lies Jamieson’s classification of four basic types of leaver.

Disillusioned followers have become disillusioned with the EPC church but not with the essentials of the EPC faith. They still cling to their ‘faith’ but are less certain about its content and boundaries.

Reflective exiles have more fundamental misgivings about the metanarratives provided by the EPC church.

Transitional explorers are characterized by ‘an emerging sense of ownership of their faith’. They demonstrate ‘a clear decision to move from a deconstruction of their received faith to a re-appropriation of some elements of Christian faith and giving energy to building a new self-owned faith’ (77). The reconstructed faith is likely to embrace a more inclusive understanding of salvation, a less doctrinaire position on matters such as heaven and hell, tolerance towards the homosexual lifestyle and cohabitation. Some of these ‘transitioners’ are moving towards more eclectic, alternative faiths.

Integrated wayfinders have gone through an intense re-examination of their faith and come to a new, but not uncritical, confidence both in Scripture and in the experience of God. They have completed the reconstruction of their faith. They are engaged in the process of integrating their faith into all aspects of their lives; they have developed an understanding of faith which is ‘not reductionist or simplistic but which provides a coherent faith system and therefore a strong basis for their world view’ (98). They are likely to take an open and constructive stance towards other belief systems. They exhibit a willingness to reconnect with other believers and perhaps even return to church.

On the basis of this analysis Jamieson suggests that the traditional EPC churches are not meeting the need for faith development. What drives people away is their resistance to ‘being immersed in a church that through its teaching, worship, governance patterns and accepted role models discourages people from exploring the faith stages that their own internal desire and external context are fostering’ (121).

Using categories developed by James Fowler, especially in his book Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, Jamieson describes six stages in the development of faith: 1) the innocent (intuitive-projective); 2) the literalist (mythical-literal); 3) the loyalist (synthetic-conventional); 4) the critic (individuated-reflective); 5) the seer (conjunctive); and 6) the saint (universalizing).

Three factors can be expected to disrupt a person’s faith and encourage her to move through these stages: 1) suffering; 2) an education that provides the intellectual tools to question and explore alternatives; and 3) exposure to an environment, such as the emerging postmodern culture, that ‘encourages the next faith stage transition’ (121-122).

This book is written not just for the benefit of pastors who are struggling to keep people - or who are barely aware that they are losing people - but also for the architects of new churches for the postmodern era. The advice that Jamieson gives to pastors of EPC churches also serves to adumbrate the sort of pastoral care and discipleship that are needed for the development of credible emerging-culture churches: provide places for people to explore, question and to doubt; provide a theology of journey; provide resources for people in the dark places; provide models of other theological understandings; provide models of an honest Christian life rather than ‘shoulds’; provide room for emotions and intuitions.

Jamieson’s description of ‘liminal’ groups for people who have given up on church but not on Christianity could be a useful model for groups within an emerging-culture church plant. They offen a number of benefits for this type of mission: liminal groups have an inherent connection with the emerging postmodern culture; they have given priority to the questions of the new age; they have learned from the journey of exile; they indicate other ways of structuring Christian community than that typically employed by EPC churches; they have an openness to people who think differently; and they have a broad eclectic approach to liturgy and worship.

It is important that the book concludes with the reminder that postmodern Christians - those believers who are forging new theological and community structure - still have something to learn from the EPC churches that in many ways they have turned their backs on. The real challenge will lie in reintegrating these two very different sets of values and commitments.