The Effect of COVID on Churches

In this episode of As in Heaven, Jim Davis and Michael Graham welcome Patrick Miller to discuss the meaning of casual dechurching. They address the idea of casual dechurching and provide insights into why roughly three-quarters of those who have dechurched fit this category. You'll learn how we can better engage this group of people and why there is tremendous hope that many of them will return to church.

Episode time stamps: 

• Episode topic and guest introduction (0:00)
• Dechurching and a missional call to Gen Z (4:00)
• Who are the casually dechurched and why did they leave? (6:06)
• Church size and COVID-19 (10:22)
• Re-engaging and what has worked in Miller's context (17:06)
• The use of technology in re-engaging the dechurched (19:13)
• Six different profiles of churchgoers (24:54)
• Four categories of church evangelicals (26:45)
• Close friendship and discipleship (28:38)
• Trusting the Holy Spirit and being intentional (33:53)
• Practically engaging the dechurched through discipleship (41:50)

This episode is part of As In Heaven’s third season, devoted to The Great Dechurching—the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. To learn more about this phenomenon upon which the episodes of this season are based, pre-order The Great Dechurching by Michael Graham and Jim Davis.