Thanks to David Kinnaman, I finally have a name for my condition. I think I’m an exile. You might be too.

Here are a few diagnostic statements. Mentally mark off the ones you strongly agree with (as in “this makes me want to stand up and clap, even though I’m in a coffee shop right now, and that would be so not okay”):

  I am a Christian, but the institutional church is a difficult place for me to live out my faith.
  I want to find a way to follow Jesus that connects with the world I live in.
  My vocation (or professional calling) is disconnected from my church experience.
  I want to be a Christian without separating myself from the world around me.
  God is more at work outside the church than inside, and I want to be a part of that.
  I feel stuck between the comfortable faith of the previous generation and the life I believe God wants from me.
  I want to help the church change its priorities to be what Jesus intended it to be.
  I am not disillusioned with tradition, but I am frustrated with slick or shallow expressions of religion.
  I want to be part of a Christian community that is more than a performance one day a week.