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    Who Are the De-Churched? (Part 1)

    Some are leaving the church because they've received a false gospel. Other are leaving because they've found the real one.

    In days gone by, missional efforts were focused on presenting and demonstrating the love of Christ to non-Christians. But in the 1980s a new term was coined to describe the growing number of North Americans without any significant church background. They were called the unchurched. Untold numbers of books were written about them. Ministry conferences discussed them. Church leaders orchestrated worship services to attract them.The shift from “evangelizing non-Christians” to “reaching the unchurched” was perceived as benign at the time, but it represented an important shift in our understanding of mission. The church was no longer just a means by which Christ’s mission would advance in the world, it was also the end of that mission. The goal wasn’t simply to introduce the unchurched to Christ, but—as the…

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Recent Comments

  • dan wisley: I’m using some of this for teaching my high school Ethics class. We’re looking at Stoics and Kant and self-denial vs. Christian motivation for self-denial. Thanks.
  • John Cuthbert: Not certain why you feel a need to clarify about the outward attempts to “assist” people in worship at church. Singing is merely a reflection of culture and taste, still...
  • Patrick Duffy, Jr.: As a Catholic it is wonderful to join hands with our Evangelical brothers and sisters who seek to build a Kingdom of Justice and Peace, the one Jesus sought to create. From the...
  • MT: Nicely written.
  • John Stanko: I have another one, Sam waterson and Doctor D. James Kennedy
  • Dr. Bush: Sure US Christians are persecuted. Just look at any Christian running for public office. They are ridiculed, defamed and made out to be modern-day lunatics. But we are to consider it a...
  • Christine Leonick-Szenes: I went on the one of the first voyages of the SS Noway back in 1981. It was an unforgetable experience. It’s sad to see that this is her end result - but we...