Do you really need church to have a relationship with God?

Church can produce all kinds of automatic reactions depending on your past experiences. Perhaps your family was actively involved in church, or maybe your experience was limited to attending on the occasional holiday. Is it a place you associate with feelings of shame or joy? Does it bring anxiety, or do you have fond memories? Few people are neutral on the subject of church.

Are you one of the 16 million American women who have left the church in the last decade? There are many reasons for this exodus. Many women who leave the church—especially those who still consider themselves to be Christians—desire a closer relationship with God and a deeper spiritual life. What they may not realize is that the imperfect churches of their pasts might be keeping them from meeting those deep spiritual longings today.

In Reason to Return, Ericka Andersen delves into the reasons why women are leaving church in droves. With gentle insight and thoughtful research, she invites Christian women who are hurt or disillusioned by the churches of their pasts to fulfill their unmet spiritual longings for God and community—and consider what the church might still have to offer them.