Last week I wrote that the de-churched (those once involved in church who have stopped participating) not only account for 1 out of every 3 American adults, but are also the fastest growing group. Soon after posting those thoughts, I encountered a rather discouraging word to categorize a significant portion of the de-churched: “dones.”
Thom Shultz, founder of Group Publishing and Lifetree Cafe, recently reflected on sociologist Josh Packard’s talk about the “dones” at Group’s Future of the Church conference. That talk was based on research he and Ashleigh Hope conducted on “dones,” including hundreds of in-depth interviews with people who are done with church, will be published next June in a book titled Church Refugees.
Packard and Hope’s “dones” are those who were once heavily invested in church life, including many who were strong leaders. They heard it all, then chose to depart.
The Dones are fatigued with the Sunday routine of plop, pray and pay. They want to play. They want to participate. But they feel spurned at every turn.
So What?
Given the limited data shared in this article and available online at present, we may have to wait till close to the release of Church Refugees to learn what makes the list of reasons why the “dones” are done. It is, however, already apparent that once people transition from active participation to “done” they are typically done for good. In other words, churches are advised to focus on done prevention rather than efforts to help reunite dones with a community of faith.
One way to prevent or at least potentially lessen the percentage of currently active members of your community of faith from transitioning to done status is to engage them in honest questions, and to really listen to their response. Packard and Hope’s list includes
- Why are you a part of this church?
- What keeps you here?
- Have you ever contemplated stepping away from church? Why or why not?
- What effect, if any, has our church had on your relationship with God?
- What would need to change here to help you grow more toward Jesus’ call to love God and love others?
Has your local church lost many long-time members to the ranks of the “dones” in recent years? (If you are not already in the practice of conducting exit interviews this is yet one more reason why they should be a normative practice.)