Read anything written by Reggie McNeal? He is the author of The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church
A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith. They contend that the church no longer contributes to their spiritual development. In fact, they say, quite the opposite is true. The number of “post-congregational” Christians is growing. David Barrett, author of World Christian Encyclopedia, estimates that there are about 112 million “churchless Christians” worldwide, about 5 percent of all adherents, but he projects that number will double in the next twenty years!
I have the feeling that Europe is years ahead of North America in this trend of “churchless” or “post-congregational” Christianity.
By the way, you can listen to an audio narration of the first chapter of McNeal’s book here at New Reality Number One: The Collapse of the Church Culture.
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Related articles: A typical week “outside the box” of organized religion (Churchless.net)
My cousin & his family spent the past four days with us, after a ten-day mission trip in Birmingham, England. Harold "Bubba" Lollar works in the Tupelo office of Roger Wicker, United States Congressman for the First Congressional District of Mississippi. We got some interesting looks when I introduced "my cousin Bubba and his wife, Rockie," to our Welsh friends. Their six-year-old adopted daughter, Myleea, really enjoyed herself wherever we went; and her teen-aged sister, Kate, spent some time with our youngest daughter, Jennifer. Bubba and I had not seen one another for thirty-five years, but we began to get reacquainted when I contacted him four or five years ago regarding our Lollar genealogy. Other than our two daughters who still live in the states, this is the very first time we have had family members visit us in Wales. It was a great experience, especially when we discovered their love for Jesus Christ and His church. Thanks for coming to see us! 
A brother by the name of Christian Smith—never heard of him until I stumbled upon 
One week ago a thirty-three-year-old single man, Karl Hayes, from our church was found dead in his apartment. None of us had noticed he was missing from our midst, even though he was absent from our worship gathering the previous Sunday and his small group meeting the week after. His parents had just left on a two-week hoiiday abroad and his brother was in Uganda with one of our mission teams.
The following conversation takes place between Jake Colsen, the associate pastor of a prominent evangelical church, and a curious new friend known only as John. Several years ago, Jake had traded his lucrative commercial real estate practice for a full-time staff position in a mega church that he and his family had been involved in planting some fifteen years earlier. He has just met John for the first time, after leaving his church office in frustration for a long walk in the park.
Sometimes I really wonder why I left a good secular vocation to work for the church. Things were a lot easier when I could compartmentalize life into three neat piles: career, family, and spirituality. For most of my life, I have pursued a dual-career approach to ministry. My business skills related to computers and accounting enabled me to provide for my family; and I think we've done pretty well as a family, considering that all of our kids have turned out to be productive members of society…so far.
