Barna research now shows that the number of “unchurched” people in the United States has increased by 92 percent between 1991 and 2004. He defines “unchurched” as an adult that has not attended church in the previous six months other than a holiday or special event (funeral or wedding). Such a dramatic increase can only be accounted for by one thing-more people have quit going to church.

You might be one of them. And if you are, the Seventh Day Adventists want to know. Ken Wetmore, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor in Spokane, has launched the WhyIQuitChurch.com campaign. The site, which is being advertised on buses in Spokane, features a simple survey where people can explain their church background and why they’ve stopped attending.

At that address, respondents are faced with a number of questions that range from “Did you grow up in a family that attended church” to “In general, which factor(s) led you to stop attending?”

In addition to ferreting out the various reasons why people quit church, Wetmore says there’s a second, more important, feature of the STA campaign: trying to make amends.

“Sometimes as a church we don’t do a good enough job loving people and taking care of them,” he says. “So we wanted also to be able to let people know that we’re sorry for having failed them.”

What has the survey revealed? Here are some of the early results:

Turned off by the attitude/behaviors of members of the church:  53%

No longer believe the doctrines/teachings of the church: 31%

The credibility of the leadership discouraged me: 30%

The church didn’t meet my needs: 23.9%

Something happened and I no longer felt comfortable: 20.9%

I was specifically hurt/offended by a person within the group: 20.6%

Take the survey for yourself at www.whyiquitchurch.com.