Admittedly, I don’t know much about John Eldredge except that he was written some popular books and many people I know have said he is their favourite author.  I have read Epic: The Story God Is Telling
and enjoyed it, though.  I found out from Julia Duin’s book (Quitting Church: Why The Faithful Are Fleeing And What To Do About It) that John Eldredge quit attending church.  For some reason, I found that surprising.  (Perhaps this is the “mature Christian” who left the institutional church that was referred to here.)  Here is what he said in an interview for Beliefnet.com as reported by Julia Duin on page 169 of her book.

“I don’t think we’ve come to appreciate how utterly numbing most church experience is.  Most people’s church experience amounts to about an hour a week.  It’s the Sunday service.  They are passive participants for the most part.  They listen to a message, they hear some songs, some music, all in an attempt to sort of inspire and courage.  It is mind-numbing, most of it.

So yes, I took a year off of church.  Just because I was so sick of pretending.  I was faking it; that was the problem.  I was faking a holiness I didn’t have, I was faking an enthusiasm that frankly wasn’t there, and I said, “I can’t do that.  It’s dishonest.” (These interviews can be found here.)

(This last comment reminds of two songs which talk about talking one way and acting another way: The Pretender by the Foo Fighters and Acrobat by U2)

According to Julia, John Eldredge and his family left the established church a decade ago and “never looked back.”  He told Julia that it is good to take time off church “to find the real thing”.  He went on to tell her that church does meet the need of newer Christians but for the most part “they are not bringing people into a genuine encounter with God.”

Finally, John Eldredge says, “The accusation is that we are backsliding, but the fact is, we are living a richer Christian experience than ever.  It’s mature Christians who have opted out of church.”

. . . WOW! . . .

So, my question today is . . . for those who have opted out of church, do you feel you are living a richer Christian experience than ever (as John Eldredge) or have you had a different experience?  Leave your comments below.