Why "Dones" are through with the Church

So why are the Dones leaving?  Josh Packard’s Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why People are Done with Church but not with Their Faith give sociological explanations. Some of the answers would take significant time to unpack, but in short:

• The Dones say they left because the judgmental posture of church people individually and collectively which assaulted the communal experience they longed for.
• The Dones say they left because they are tired of trying to serve Jesus through the bureaucratic methods of church organizations which often stifled progress and gave little attention to what they cared for most. Many of the Dones wished to build the Kingdom but were only offered opportunities to build someone’s church empire.
• The Dones say they left because they wanted to come to their own answers about God through dialogue and struggle, not though prepackaged lectures and the predetermined conclusions of their church leaders.
• And the Dones say they left because their church only understood “morality” in terms of “substance abuse” and “sexual activity” with a common disregard to systemic issues of equality, poverty and unjust economics.

Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/06/08/a-new-exodus-out-of-the-american-church-by-jeff-cook/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork