RE-CHURCHED? IS THAT BETTER THAN DE-CHURCHED?

I have been writing about people who have stopped attending church. My friend Marvin left a question on the previous post, asking whether the term 're-churched' serves as a descriptor for people who no longer attend church? The prefix "re" has several meanings. It can mean “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition. Repetition doesn't work here. These people are not leaving one church after another. They have stopped attending church. That's it. However, if the preferred intent for the prefix is "again,' then the expression "re-churched' can apply to a small percentage of non-attenders who for some reason decide to go back and try again. However, they may not appreciate being labeled "re-churched."

Today's comment spins from my recent blog chat in which I used the term 'de-churched' but later found this was inappropriate because "no longer churched" people are still connected with God's definition of Church. They are not "de-Churched" (capital C). They are detached from a local church. They believe in Christian theological essentials and they live Christianly. They have not abandoned faith. They practice faith outside of the organized church, and they worship privately or within their family or a small affinity group.

If a Christian stops going to church and is heard to say with relief, "Ohhh, finally free." That person is not likely to return to church any time soon. The term 're-churched' cannot apply to them without some linguistic stretching. Maybe they are churched 'again' or re-churched in a manner dissimilar to any conventional model but nonetheless connected to the concept of fellowship, service, worship, reading of scripture, prayer, giving to others, support of missionaries, nurture of children, all of that which identifies with church.

I discovered that "Re-Church" is the title of a non-denominational church gathering. Their purpose is expressed this way. "We want to start a church that reaches out to people who used to go to church but no longer do. We want people to give church another try. We want people to view church through a different lens than they did before."

ReChurch is also the name of a movement within Canadian Anglicanism which seeks to revitalize church practices and rituals. 

ReChurch is also a trademarked Conference title by E2 Effective Elders, which has resources, consultations, and seminars for equipping elders because "The world at its worst needs the Church at her best."

ReChurch istitle of a book by Stephen Mansfield  (Tyndale, 2010)
. The subtitle “Healing Your Way Back to the People of God” informs us this is a book for those who have been hurt by God’s people—the church.