A recent article in USA Today noted that as millions leave organized religion, they often struggle to let go of “religiony” practices. I explored one aspect of this in a recent blog post, noting that many who reject the Christian faith still desire to embrace its culture while seeking a spiritual community.
The USA Today piece highlighted a specific dynamic: individuals who forgo formalized membership in a church or denomination still crave a sense of community and regular gathering. This shift suggests that while religious affiliation is declining, the need for communal belonging remains steadfast.
Consider Brad Ruggles, a former pastor in suburban Indianapolis who stepped down after struggling with the stances of his denomination. Despite leaving his role, he still missed the fellowship he enjoyed as part of a congregation. He eventually joined a Sunday collective that describes itself as a “home for the spiritually homeless.”
As USA Today reports, such communities show how, despite Americans’ ongoing abandonment of traditional organized religion, “many are longing to maintain some sense of spirituality and community in their lives are finding it in places” that are… well, still very religious. And not just places, but gatherings of people.
Examples include the Current Collective, a community in California that describes itself as “rooted in the mystic Christian tradition” with a dogma-free theology. Then there’s the Sunday Assembly USA, a London-based secular network with branches in 13 American cities. Sociologist Christian Smith calls it the “post-religious organizational field.”
It’s been widely noted that human beings are innately spiritual, if not religious. We are, all of us, deeply spiritual beings regardless of our individual beliefs. One of the most interesting manifestations throughout all civilizations is the deep spiritual hunger of men and women. Anthropologists have discovered that human beings are incurably spiritual and conscious of the idea of God. This was described by Blaise Pascal, the great 17th-century philosopher and mathematician, as the “God-shaped hole” in every human being.
Those entering the post-religious organizational field often say they are seeking to get away from organized religion, but the irony is that they are simply forming another one—one that simply rejects the doctrines of the ones they embraced before.
So let’s be clear about much of the de-churching that is taking place with the rising of the nones. For many, it is not jettisoning the broad contours of the Christian faith, spiritual community, or even the idea of church. It is jettisoning historic Christian orthodoxy, distinctly Christian community, and the gathering of Christ followers for the purpose and mission of being a Christian church. And then replacing it with a gathering that has no beliefs that transcend human thought, a community that is not infused with the power and presence of the living God through the Holy Spirit, and a purpose that does not go beyond satisfying spiritual narcissism. Their stance on oversight is to have no oversight, their stance on doctrine is to have no doctrine, and their stance on spirituality is to have their own spirituality.
But yet they gather.
So, it would seem that we are not simply incurably religious but incurably churchy. Which is why I don’t believe it will be long before they hunger for far more than the “brotherhood” they had before
… but the actual church.
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This article originally appeared on ChurchAndCulture.org and is reposted here by permission.