Believing without belonging?

The problem of the de-churched

According to a recent Teafund report there are twice as many de-churched Christians as regular churchgoers in the UK. The report places 33% of the population in the "de-churched" category. While non-churched is a name given to people who have never been Christians, de-churched is a name given to people who are Christians that have stopped going to Church.

Pie chart of Churchgoing in the UK

Source: Tearfund report on Churchgoing April 2007 Fig 1a

Downloadable chart

The phrase "believing without belonging" was used to describe this problem in a book called Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging by Grace Davey published in 1994.

A ceiling to churchgoing

If this pattern of churchgoing continues it puts a ceiling on Church attendance; even if 100% of the population were to become Christians Church attendance could never exceed 33%. Given that limitation the figure of 15.1% of the population going to Church at least once a month is almost half of what the Church could achieve.

Understanding the problem

The report from Tearfund shows the experience of Church was for the "de-churched" Christians such a turn off, that they are unlikely to return. The research done by Tearfund shows that 82% are either "not likely" or "not very likely" to return. This is a very strong rejection of Church.

Likelyhood of unchurched returning

Source: Tearfund report on Churchgoing April 2007 Fig 4c

Downloadable chart

Looking at the detail the Tearfund report surveyed groups of people about the reasons that would motivate them to attend a Church service. If we look at the un-churched response we find that 64% thought there were none that would cause them to attend Church, which shows how deeply unattractive they find Church. Perhaps the biggest clue here lies in why there are so few men in church.

De-churched reasons for attendance

Source: Tearfund report on Churchgoing April 2007 Fig 4d

Downloadable chart

To sum up then it's not Christ but the Church, that most Christians in the UK reject. It's not a question of getting people to become Christians (evangelism), but that the Church in the UK is repelling Christians. It seems that Church in the UK is an unattractive place for most Christians.