Nate

“Americans are tired of the religious wars between evangelicals and liberals, but they never tire of Jesus and his way.”
― James K. Wellman Jr., Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

“As our respondents show when discussing these tensions, the failure of the church to adapt to new cultural realities is a fundamental issue driving the dechurched movement. In short, what worked for churches to attract and keep people in the 1980s or 1990s can be the same practices that drive people away in the 2000s.”
― Josh Packard, Church Refugees: Sociologists reveal why people are DONE with church but not their faith

“While everyone’s story is unique, there are some common tensions that emerge among the dechurched. • They wanted community . . . and got judgment. • They wanted to affect the life of the church . . . and got bureaucracy. • They wanted conversation . . . and got doctrine. • They wanted meaningful engagement with the world . . . and got moral prescription.”
― Josh Packard, Church Refugees: Sociologists reveal why people are DONE with church but not their faith

“What we do here, matters. What we make here, matters. How we serve here, matters. If it is only about our destiny in the world to come, this world becomes a mere means to our true end; every person merely an object of evangelism.”
― James K. Wellman Jr., Rob Bell and a New American Christianity