“Why would members choose to leave their church for another? Why would they switch denominations — from Baptist to Methodist, for example? Why would they completely switch faith traditions — letting go of Christian tenets to follow Buddhist teachings, perhaps?”

You’ve been a member of the same church for a few years. While you may not know everyone in the congregation well, you are acquainted with most folks in your Sunday school class.

One Sunday morning you realize a friend isn’t there. The more you think about it, the more you realize she hasn’t attended the class in a couple of weeks. What has happened? Is she ill?

Possibly. But equally plausible: She’s looking for something different — she’s church shopping.

Several studies show that sometime in their life, at least 40 percent of religiously oriented people will switch church denominations or faith traditions, says Bill Leonard, James and Marilyn Dunn Professor of Church History and Baptist Studies at Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

Why would members choose to leave their church for another? Why would they switch denominations — from Baptist to Methodist, for example? Why would they completely switch faith traditions — letting go of Christian tenets to follow Buddhist teachings, perhaps?

The reasons are as varied as the people who opt to shop.

Like the ‘old’ church

Comfort and familiarity are the primary reasons people change affiliation, particularly when they move to a different geographical location, Leonard believes.

“These days, chances are that a growing number of people who change churches are more apt to go look for a church that feels like the one in which they were comfortable before they look at the name on the church sign,” he said.

The local church can become a strong source of personal — not denominational — identity. People look for a church that mentors, nurtures or cares for them in the same or similar way they had experienced with their former congregation, Leonard said.

Finding a place that recreates that intensity can be difficult. If the Baptist church the individual visits can’t meet that level, the individual looks elsewhere.

“‘I just couldn’t find any church like the church where we’ve been.’ I hear this consistently,” he said.

The felt need usually trumps religious ties. When religious individuals relocate, denominational and faith tags do not mean as much as they might have in the past, he said.

Conflict

Denominational identity means much less to people than it did in the past, Robert “Bob” Perry, a longtime church health consultant and author, agreed.

He sees conflict in the local congregation or within the denomination or religious tradition as a key reason many people change affiliations. The “negative baggage” conflict and other issues often create can drive people to look elsewhere.

“Most people are wanting church to be a place of refuge and peace,” he said.

“When a denomination is chronically engaged in conflict and rancor, many people just get fed up with it,” he added.

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