The Dones

Church attendance in the US has been in steady decline for decades. We all know about that. Researchers have noted that many people have given up on church altogether. We hear about their loss of faith, no longer having anything to do with religion.

But some researchers are digging deeper and finding out that many are leaving the "church," but these many are NOT leaving the Christian faith. They are simply exiting the doors of the visible church building. They still believe in God, the bible, and the one-anothers of the Christian life.

These people are not the group known as the "nones" (i.e. those who no longer profess allegiance to any denomination or even religion), but can be identified as the "dones." These are the people who are done with church. They have become fed up with the status quo. They have been ignored, neglected, used, abused, or have had any number of other things happen to them while attending their church. Now they are done.

Here is an interesting blog site called The Dones (hat tip to Eric Carpenter) that takes a look at Christians who have left the institutional church, but not Christianity.

Ezekiel 34 Series - Coming Soon

I have been reading and pondering Ezekiel 34 lately (the last year or so) and have decided to make a series of blog posts on the chapter. (Click here for Ezekiel 34, NASB)

I have long understood God's judgment against shepherds for neglecting their duties toward their sheep in this prophesy, but there are other actions of God as well. God judges between sheep; the fat and lean sheep. I will strive to touch upon the duties of shepherds in this passage and how this relates to today in America. I will also look at the distinction between fat and lean sheep. I see a parallel between ancient Israel and today's evangelical/Reformed church.

Stay tuned for the Ezekiel 34 series.

Book Almost Out: Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity

The forthcoming book I wrote about a few blog posts ago will be out in just a few weeks! With that, I will be a published author.

The final title of the book is, "Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity." Twenty-four contributors each write a chapter, with the goal of telling what we're for rather than what we're against. I have not read the book in advance, but am eagerly looking forward to all the other authors' contributions. I understand that the book will be available on December 2.

If you are interested, the book is available for pre-order either at Amazon.com (here  http://amzn.to/1oH3HKh ) or from the publisher, Redeeming Press (here http://redeemingpress.com/authors/eric-carpenter/simple-church/ ).