“The original research postulated that being part of a faith group was a powerful context, encouraging conti-nued faith development.

“This was borne out,” the authors say.

“There may be merit in contacting this group of church leavers in another five years to record and assess their continuing journey of faith.

“Having left an evan-gelical, Pentecostal and cha-rismatic church, people are unlikely to rejoin one. Only four people who had left an EPC church have gone back to regular participation in any form of established Christian church during the last five years.

“There was a consistent concern about church. ALL the respondents expressed reservations, significant concerns or clear antipathy to established churches.

For most, church was simply irrelevant to their faith and life. Considering the deep and long term commitments these people had previously made to their churches (an average being adult committed members for 15.8 years) this must raise serious concerns for those responsible for shaping churches today.

“People across all faith categories raised significant concerns with regard to leadership in faith and church groups.

“Universally, the leavers looked primarily for ‘cha-racter” strengths including integrity, vulnerability, and willingness to express weakness.

“The Wayfinders espe-cially pointed to the need for theological and pastoral training, spiritual and psychological maturity and the deep personal skills of empathy and listening.”

The study also found the majority of respondents showed stability in their faith position over five years. “Whether they are discussion groups or groups that take on elements of church worship, faith groups for teaching and support beyond the established church are powerful contexts for continued individual faith development.

“The differing faith cate-gories reflect responsive-ness to differing types and ways of prayer, rituals, use of symbols and differing approaches to the Bible.”