Opening back in 1905, the Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon, is one of the oldest in the country. The theme park played a prominent role in the 1993 movie Free Willy.

Last Friday was opening day for the theme park’s summer season (interestingly, for students in Oregon, their summer break doesn’t start until mid-June.) A day at the amusement park usually means thrills and fun, but for nearly thirty people on one of the theme park’s most popular rides, the day quickly turned into fear and trauma.

The ride, aptly named “AtmosFEAR,” is a large pendulum that swings back and forth in the air, temporarily stopping upside down. But somehow the ride malfunctioned. That’s bad enough. But what made it even worse is that the ride suddenly stopped working at the exact moment the riders were upside down!

So for about half an hour, 28 people – mostly teenagers – were stranded 50 feet in the air while dangling upside-down.

One of the passengers, a 14-year-old girl, told a Portland TV station, “A lot of people were screaming, throwing up, crying, panicking — not knowing what to do. We were feeling completely helpless. And no one was really telling us what was going on.” Eighteen-year-old Jordan Harding recalls the terror, saying that “after about 15 seconds of being upside down, I realized we were stuck. I thought we were going to die there.” Other riders shared similar horror stories.

Within 20 minutes, members of the Portland Fire and Rescue arrived, and they were able to work with a park engineer to manually lower the ride. While no serious physical injuries were reported, there were a lot of frightened riders who were coming to grips with their own immortality.

A Portland TV crew asked one of the young riders if he will ever return to the amusement park.

“Never. I will never go back there.”

Sometimes a negative experience will leave scars and keep us from returning to a particular place. In the above-cited example, it was an amusement park. But for some, negative experiences at a church keep them from returning.

A recent nationwide survey finds that the main reason people regularly go to church is an obvious one: to feel closer to God. But the things that keep people away from church are more complicated (and probably not what you think.)

The study first listed the five top reasons people do attend church on a regular basis:

1. To become closer to God
2. So their children will have a moral foundation
3. For comfort in times of trouble or sorrow
4. They find the sermons inspiring (obviously no one at Mountain View was surveyed)

But for the researchers, the most surprising aspects of the study were the reasons people don’t attend church.

As I cited in last week’s Thursday Blast, back in 1955, 96% of Americans identified as Christians. Today the number is 68%. And while the percentage of Christians has declined, the number of Americans who claim to have no religious affiliation has climbed to 29% (although this number seems to have plateaued.) In Vermont, which is regarded as the least religious state, 40% of adults claim no religious affiliation at all. Studies show similar finds in New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington (state).

So the researchers assumed they would encounter a lot of people who don’t attend church because they aren’t Christians. They were right. In addition to those who claim no religious affiliation, 2% of the U.S. population is Jewish, and 1% is Muslim.

Furthermore, when determining why people don’t attend church, the researchers assumed they would encounter a large swath of Americans who are “de-churched.” For the purposes of their study, they defined a de-churched person as someone who used to go to church at least once per month but no longer goes at all.

Sure enough, there are people who were raised in a Christian home only to walk away from the faith sometime in their lives (and statistically speaking, many of them would return.)

Many de-churched people say that they were “turned off” to the Christian faith by some sort of moral scandal. Others felt like the church was too outspoken about political issues that didn’t align with theirs (and it was evenly divided among those who criticized a church for being too politically conservative and those who criticized the church for being too politically liberal.) There were many who walked away from the Christian faith because they found too many believers to be “hypocritical and judgmental.”

But, surprisingly to the researchers, most of the de-churched Americans still consider themselves to be Christians. They didn’t walk away from the faith – just the local church. Many left a particular church because of some relational issue - they had a falling out with some of the people there, or they felt like they didn’t have any deep friendships, or they had a disagreement with the Pastor or a church leader.

But this is what shocked the researchers the most. The most common reason people no longer attend church is not because of theological disagreements, political divisiveness, fractured friendships, or walking away from the faith. The number one reason people stop going to church is because they move, and don’t try to find a new one. It’s that simple. Granted, perhaps a helpful follow-up question would have been, “Why didn’t you try to find a new church?”

So, like those panicked teenagers who vow to never return to that Portland amusement park, you probably know men and women who have stated that they will never go back to church. But studies continually show that the majority of people who do not attend church would accept an invitation to do so. That’s something that you and I can easily do something about.

In the Bible, the author of the Book of Hebrews was writing to Christians who were facing intense persecution, which caused many to walk away from their newfound faith. The author challenged them by writing, “Let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

You may not have the influence necessary to convince an agnostic in Vermont that God is real. But you do have the opportunity to reach out to that new neighbor down the street to invite them to church.

I should mention that we have many members of our Mountain View Church family who are not physically able to attend church because of health reasons. They would give anything to be there, and are still incredibly dedicated to their faith, and we need to continue to find new ways to better minister to them.

Friends, I pray that none of you ever get trapped upside down on an amusement park ride. But more importantly, I pray that you never have any doubts about the love God has for you, or about the influence you can have on the lives of others. I am proud to be your Pastor, and I look forward to worshiping with you on Sunday. Until then, know that you are loved.

Joe

Did you know the church is able to accept stock donations through our Schwab account? Contact the church office for more information.

At Mountain View, we are a praying church, and we have assurance and confidence that God hears our prayers, whether celebration and joys, or heartfelt cries and pain. We invite you (and encourage you) to pray for the following people and circumstances:

• Pray for Mitch Kellar, who is recovering from a broken shoulder.
• Pray for Donna Scott, the mother of Tanya Cannon. Donna is in the hospital with pneumonia, and will then have two weeks of rehab.
• Pray for Shirley Adams, the mother of Terri Kellar. Shirley was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and will be having major surgery in the upcoming weeks.
• Pray for Libba Parden, who is at home recovering after being hospitalized with pneumonia.
• Pray for Sue-Ellen Brogdon, who is facing health issues.
• Pray for Dianne Patterson, who will be having hybrid ablation surgery on June 26.
• Pray for Denise Moroney's cousins in California, as they are having to evacuate their house because of the forest fires.
• Pray for Sue Spann's niece, Gloria Mattix, who is battling cancer.
  
• Pray for Bob Stockwell, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Also pray for his wife, Jill.
  
• Pray for Rev. Hugh Donald Herrin, who is the father of Anne Taylor's caregiver. Rev. Herrin has Alzheimer's, and has taken a turn for the worse.
  
• Pray for Emma Kate, the granddaughter of Emily Adams' aunt, as their family faces some difficult issues.
  
• Pray for Lauren Whitfield, who is facing some medical issues.
• Pray for Pam Johnson, who is bedridden with Parkinson's. She is a friend of Joanne Mazula.
  
• Pray for Marie Boatright, who is recovering from liver surgery. She is a friend of Joanne Mazula.
• Pray for Eileen Jedlicka, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. She is a friend of Joanne Mazula.
• Pray for Michelle Salmon, who is in Hospice. She is the grandmother of Kristen Woodruff. Also pray for Kristen's mother, Kim McKinney, who is the one caring for Michelle.
  
• Pray for Robert McKechnie, the father of Joe McKechnie. Robert had been battling cancer, but found out that it has spread to his bones.
  
• Pray for Sharon Basal, who is now living in the Signature Nursing Home by Kennestone.
  
• Pray for Anne Taylor's nephew, Kenny Taylor, who is having health issues.
  
• Pray for Sandra Logan, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Sandra is a dear friend of Dianne Patterson.
  
• Pray for Tina Gillies (the cousin of Joanne Mazula). Tina has cancer in her colon, liver, and lungs, and has started chemo in Tennessee).
  
• Pray for Sid Orr, whose cancer has spread to his bones, keeping him from being able to walk.
• Pray for Israel.
• Pray for the people of Ukraine, as well as Christian missionaries who are in ministry there.
  
• Pray for Caroline, a little girl with brain cancer.
• Pray for our military - we thank them for serving in harm's way for our freedoms.

If you would like to share a prayer request with us, please email Dr. Joe at Joe@mv-church.org.