Church Tomorrow?: What the 'Nones' and 'Dones' Teach Us About the Future of Faith

by Stephanie Spellers

“Remarkable . . . a vision for the future that is decidedly  not the way we’ve always done it but instead shaped by the way of Jesus and his love.” –from the foreword by Michael B. Curry, former Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church

The Nones, Dones, Unchurched, spiritual-but-not-religious (SBNRs). Call them what you will, they're a dominant force in American religion and the majority among Millennials and Gen Zers. In Church Tomorrow? Stephanie Spellers presents hard truths about declining religious affiliation in America, paired with stories and wisdom from her interviews with dozens of young people who either grew up with no faith or gave up formal religion. Along the way, she joins hundreds in a yoga circle at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral; in Atlanta, Georgia, she attends Sunday Assembly, a secular congregation that caters to agnostics and atheists; just outside the Twin Cities, she interviews college students exploring crystals and tarot decks; and in New York City she comes home to meet spiritual-but-not-religious young adults who once attended her own church. And that's only the beginning.As she listens and learns, Spellers Why are younger generations passing on church? What spiritual pathways and communities are they creating? And how could their insights help to shape the future of Christian community? Listen up – today’s young Nones and Dones have a prophecy for the church of tomorrow. 


 

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published December 2, 2025

About the author

STEPHANIE SPELLERS serves as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Canon for Evangelism and Reconciliation. The author of The Church Cracked Open, and The Episcopal Way (with Eric Law), she has directed mission and evangelism work at General Theological Seminary and in the Diocese of Long Island. A native of Kentucky and a graduate of both Episcopal Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, she lives in Harlem, New York.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I somehow finished this in a single day.

I have some mixed feelings about this book, but mostly I found it encouraging and refreshing in several ways. I was encouraged to hear a priest/reverend call out publicly the White Christo-Nationalism we're seeing take over certain branches of the church as the heresy it so clearly is. I was also encouraged that she took time to talk to and listen to people who have been leaving the church, have left the church, or were never a part of it, and actually get to know them instead of assuming she knew why they left and judging them for it (as many evangelical preachers seem too quick to do). I think her suggestions for ways the church could move forward were interesting, and at least beg more thought.

I have mixed feelings about some of the more nuanced theological takes or suggestions she had, but overall I think this is worth the read and the conversation it should spark.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie Spellers has done church folk a great service in researching and writing “Church Tomorrow?” Beginning with a particular insightful and well written look at the statistics of decline, she then turns to listen to those who check the box for no religion who are the “nones and dones” when it comes to institutional religion. What she finds are people who may be done with church, but not with God and certainly not with Jesus.

She explains well the “three currents propelling American culture beyond Christianity: privatization, secularization, and pluralization.” These don’t necessarily take people away from faith as much as organized religion. Spellers offers the memorable line that captures spirituality for many, “They've all got their own bespoke spiritual bento box, too.”

Yet, “Millennial and Gen Z Nones and Dones regularly battle with loneliness and isolation, so they have a keen sense of the human need for social networks.” Communities of faith do have something vital to offer.

The heart of the book comes from her many interviews, which she threads together well into a well woven narrative. The dones are those, “disappointed because they actually wanted a deep spirituality and transformative action, and Christianity failed to deliver.”

Spellers offers prophecies from her dive into statistics and her interviews and then gives some concrete next steps, but she is rightly humble about charting the course too far forward. All in all, I find this book from the priest who served as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Canon for Evangelism, Racial Reconciliation, and Creation Care offers a word the church, especially the Episcopal Church needs to hear and reflect on.

In an evocative passage that connected for me from similar experience, Spellers told of how as a young person she loved her Selectric typewriter that she naturally abandoned for a desktop computer. She says that, “while seeing a typewriter might inspire fond memories, and I bear no ill will toward the machine, I wouldn't dream of actually using one now.” She adds, “that's how a growing proportion of Americans feel about traditional religion. Even if they are interested in spirituality, organized religions simply don't cross their minds.”

Ouch. We would do well to read and reflect on this book and then use the resources she offers at a companion website and most importantly, listen to the younger nones and dones around us.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to get to the end as some of the points were interesting and it made for a good discussion group. I have fallen into the "Dones" category as have many people around me and the perspective was good.

That being said, it was incredibly repetitive with the same stories over and over and still a bit of a lack of understanding why people are disenfranchised. It also focused pretty heavily on the same "type" of person - there were not a lot of folks from down South and I would have been curious to get a wider perspective.

I think, more writing and fewer interview specifics - a few are good, but get down to your thoughts because I'm falling asleep reading the same thing over and over again - I hope to pick it up again and really enjoyed the great conversations we had, but I wouldn't really recommended reading it.

[JA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Data and interviews are fun! Let’s all give up worshipping underused buildings.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a great idea, but her research pool was extremely one sided and therefore the whole basis of the survey void.

[Cathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this; it's an easy read. The author is an Episcopal priest and worked with Bishop Michael Curry when he was Presiding Bishop. She discusses the reasons many people are leaving the traditional Christian denominations, then she interviews Nones and Dones in various locations around the country. She describes what they told her about leaving traditional churches and what they are looking for - there is a deep spiritual hunger but it is not currently being met. The author breaks the dissatisfaction into 4 chapters and then has 4 chapters with possible church responses. I really liked several of her ideas. She also has a resource guide that you can request from her website.

Two weeks later... After further thought, I still think we should do more to appeal to Nones and Dones, but the church I attend is already offering multiple things they say they want. It seems to me they want "spiritually on demand" uniquely tailored to them organizations, which is essentially impossible because the whole point of church is community.