Discover More about Peter DeHaan’s Book 52 Churches
Explore a dozen questions—and answers—that uncover the reasons behind my journey of visiting 52 churches in a year. Here is the 52 Churches Q & A:
Question: Why did you decide to visit fifty-two churches in a year?
Answer: It started as a research exercise to learn about the ten churches located in our local school district, but God called me to pursue a bigger vision. The result is my book 52 Churches.
Q: Was it hard to be a church visitor each week?
A: Yes, it was hard—the entire time. No matter how open and inviting the church, it was difficult for me to go. Closed churches made it even more difficult, and there were too many of them.
My wife, Candy, was part of this journey, and she didn’t struggle with visiting churches as much as I did.
Q: Did you ever feel like giving up?
A: Yes. The first week! I wanted to quit before we even started. But once that first week was behind me, the desire to give up went away.
Toward the end of the year, however, visiting a different church each week grew more difficult, but I didn’t want to quit then; I wanted to preserver.
Q: Did walking into a new church ever get easier?
A: Not really. Though after a while, it became less hard, but it was never easy for me. Granted, I’m an introvert, but given that a slight majority of the population are introverts, my disquiet is likely common to many church visitors.
Q: What was your criteria for selecting the churches you visited?
A: All the churches were within ten miles of our house. We started with a list of fifty-six churches, so we knew we’d need to skip some. But we kept discovering more churches and ended up with a list of ninety—all within ten miles of home.
Q: So that leaves thirty-eight churches you didn’t visit. Is there be a sequel?
A: Definitely. In fact, more than one!
Q: What are the titles?
A: The sequel is More Than 52 Churches.
Next is Visiting Online Church and fourth is Shopping for Church.
There are also two workbooks: The 52 Churches Workbook and The More Than 52 Churches Workbook.
Currently I’m developing a seventh book in the Visiting Churches Series with a working title of Revisiting 52 Churches
Q: When you told people about your journey what were common reactions?
A: Many of my friends heard the word Christian but assumed Protestant. When they learned we would visit Catholic Churches too, they then wondered if we’d visit non-Christian gatherings. We didn’t.
As far as the churches we visited, most people there didn’t understand our intent.
Despite telling them we were visiting a different church every Sunday and weren’t looking to join one, most assumed we were looking for a new church home, and some tried very hard to get us to come back.
Q: What was your purpose?
A: To learn what God would teach us about his church.
Q: Why do you think people go to church?
A: Some go out of habit, to avoid guilt, or for entertainment—good music or a sermon that will tickle their ears.
However, most people that are intentional about going to church do so for the Christian community. The music and sermon are secondary.
Q: If you could tell the church to stop doing one think, what would it be?
A: Stop doing the same things you’ve always done and expecting—and praying for—different results. If you want to see spiritual and numeric growth, you need to try new things.
Q: Much has been said about shrinking church attendance and dying churches. Did you see that?
A: Yes and no. We saw many old, small, dying churches. The one thing they had in common was that they were internally focused. They fixated on survival and not outreach.
We also visited many growing churches. Most of them looked outward, seeking to serve and connect with their community.
Though much of this results in a zero-sum game, with people moving from dying churches to growing churches, a few churches—thankfully so—were focused on reaching the non-churched and the church dropouts.
That’s the best way to grow.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.