Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 11: Searching for a place to belong

A significan proportion of Alan's Interviewee's were involved in some kind of post church group or informal network of leavers. These groups gave the people the freedon to tlak about their doubts, fears and hopes. He observes:

• These groups could provide models for nurturing Christian faith.
• The members are intuitively connected with the changing culutre (often called postmodernity)
• They have learned and are learning from their experiences outside of the culture of the church, that learning should not be dismissed, but allowed to develop.

Alan argues for an ongoing dialogue between the church leavers and the evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. I think he recognises the tendancy for both sides to see the worst in each other and wants the experience of those on the margins to enrich the centre.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 10: Leaver-sensitive churches

Alan makes a few initial comments about what the churches stand to lose by allowing people to leave. His observations lead him to a discussion of how churches could become leaver-sensitive.According to Alan, leaver sensitive churches should have the following characteristics:

• Provide places for people to explore, question and to doubt.
• Provide a theology of journey
• Provide resources for people in the dark places
• Provide models of other theological understandings
• Provide models of an honest Christian life rather than “shoulds”
• Provide room for emotions and intuitions (Pages 145-149)

  When leaders become aware of clues that may indicate someone is struggling with their faith or their church involvement, the best strategy is to go and listen to them and ask if their observations are indicating anything. Leavers are far more open to discussion than church leaders might expect. Page 150.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 9: Jumping ship – making your own way

Alan analyses the difficulty of leaving a church using cruise liners and yachts as an analogy. He observes:

• Leaving a church is not something that happens in an instant. The individuals are plagued by different feelings of unease and the decision to go is rarely made lightly.

  Too often church leaders suspect the way to keep dissatisfied people happy is to give them a role in the leadership or a significant leadership position within a specific aspect of the church. ... ... Potential leavers may be correct in perceiving what needs to change but invariably this is not the time for them to bring it about. Page 129.

• Leavers and potential leavers need the time and space to pursue their own internal journey. They need affirmation and to be told that faith development and growth is normal.
• People who perceive their own need to leave but are unable because of their circumstances should find their own space within the life of the church to allow their faith to develop and change. Speaking of a church that actively supported potential church leavers he comments:

  What impressed me about the attitude of this church was its primary focus on the individual and their Christian faith. The Churches priority was not to keep them coming to their church or even any other church. The focus was on helping them to find ways to nurture their own development and maturing of Christian Faith. To help this happen they were prepared to give them the freedom to attend other groups and connect with others, knowing that they might later move away. Page 132.

• People who do leave experience a sense of loss. The community they once relied upon is no longer there and relationships that were once good become strained.
• The experience of faith change and development is captured in the Biblical story of Job. Jobs approach to God changes as the dynamic of his relationship with God changes.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 8: Bringing it all together… where’s the map?

Having defined the developmental stages of faith among his sample, he grounds his thinking in the academic research that surrounds the issue of faith development. He observes that:

• Thinking about faith development is not new to the church.
• Within evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches, there is often no talk about stages of faith, or faith development.
• Fowlers faith development stages, although 20 years old, still represent the best and most widely accepted research on the subject.
• Some people settle in one of the perceived stages of faith, others do not and move through them.

Alan offers a way to integrate his own observations of the faith development of his church leavers with fowlers faith stages. He is keen to point out that the development of faith that he has witnessed is one best described as a journey, and should not be seen as a neat progression from one stage or type to another. Each person struggles at one level or another with their journey through the development of their faith.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 7: Integrated Wayfinders

Making up 27% of his sample, Alan categorises the Integrated Wayfinders as such, because they have found some direction and integration to their faith. He observes:

• Although not feeling as though they fit into the category they once did within their evangelical, Pentecostal or charismatic tradition, there is a confidence to mix and relate to other Christians.

  The new networks into which they connect represent a wider diversity of belief, values and expectations than the church they left previously. Making reneed connections with other groups of faith provides for the individual context in which to contribute to others' lives or the life of a community. The desire to contribute, support and give to others is a growing desire among the Integrated Wayfinders. Page 98

• The practice of faith has become drawn into to their lifestyle.
• Their faith is owned in such a way that it is autonomous. They are able to easily talk about what they believe and why they believe it.
• Their fiath practice is strong, reflecting their quiet confidence in what they believe.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 6: Transitional Explorers

Picking up on similar themes within the other categories of church leavers Alan observes that the 18% who made up the Transitional Explorers had allowed their faith to develop beyond the anger and doubt of the first two groups.

• They had a sense of inner dependency for their faith. While outside sources may be significant, they are not the focus of the persons strength, or faith. Those come from within.
• They are able to reconstruct their faith as their landscape of belief changes.

  Where the Reflective Exiles were engaged in a process of deconstruction and subsequent examination of the components of their received faith, the transitional explorers have now examined a number of their faith components and found them useful for the new self-constructed faith that they are building. Page 83.

• There is a greater sense of ownership. Their faith is now their own, rather than a belief system received and adopted.
• The greater sense of ownership seemed to indicate that their faith was more secure, or stronger.An additional 6% of those interviewed had taken the transition in faith a little bit further by adopting an alternative faith or religion. These particular Transitional Explorers actively rejected the evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic faith hey had once embraced.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 5: Reflective Exiles

The Reflective Exiles made up 50% of Alan's interviewees and differed from the Disillusioned followers in many ways.

• There was no sense of dependency on the wider evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic community. Active revulsion was more common.
• They were happy to deconstruct their faith and examine it at its core.
• That examination lead to an ongoing engagement in reflective practice concerning their faith as they reject, modify and question different aspects of their faith.

  In the process of deconstructing and reflecting on their faith, many of the reflective exiles develop a new trust for their emotions and intuitions, which they use as part of the judgement they bring to each segment of the faith they are re-evaluating. Page 71.

• A sense of uncertainty characterises their faith practice. Unlike the disillusioned Followers they are unlikely to maintain a bold faith practice.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 4: Disillusioned Followers

In the first of four chapters that characterise those people who have stopped attending church, Alan talks about the role of disillusionment among 18% of his interviewees. He observes:

• The process of disillusionment starts with a specific grumble which develops into feelings of hurt and anger.

  In fact for many particularly the “angry” leavers, part of their claim is that they, unlike the church they left, have remained true to the evangelical/Pentecostal/charismatic faith. Page 51.

• Although it was the pain that motivated their exit from the life of the church, they maintained their faith by being dependent on the wider evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic church. Dependence of Radio and TV preaching were common.
• Their exit from the church did not mean that they re-evaluated their faith, just their relationship with the organisation.

  Disillusioned Followers remain strongly committed to their faith. Their faith is described as bold because they remain sure, confident and bold in their explanation of both their faith and their decision to leave the church. Page 56.

• The final observation is that those who feel hurt are more open to returning to regular church attendance that those who felt angry.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 3: The leaving process

Alan draws on the work of Helen Ebaugh (Leaving the Convent 1984) to suggest a four stage process:

1. First doubts.
2. Seeking and weighing alternatives.
3. Negotiating turning points.
4. Developing a new sence of identity.

Page 33.

Having interviewed a number of church leaders about why they thought that people left their churches he suggests a high level of naivety among them.

The disparity between the views of church leaders who were either puzzled, tentative or blaming the individuals, and the comments of church leavers point to a lack of communication between the two. Page 43

Alan notes that of the church leaders interviewed only those who were councillors or lecturers observed that peoples faith may have changed or developed. Those who were Pastors or Ministers did not give this aspect any thought.

Jamieson, A Churchless Faith, Chapter 2: EPC Churches

Alan more throughly introduces the churches his interviewees are leaving. He observes that:

• Evangelical Churches cover a wide range of theological convictions but central to them all is a commitment to the bible.
• Often the links between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists are close, the main difference being in the engagement with culture.
• "Theologically and experientially the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements are very similar" (Page 24).
• There is a tenancy to idolise large churches and imitate their emphases.

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