Why Are the "Dones" Done? How Can Faith-Based Institutions Provide Spiritual Care for Them? A Qualitative Analysis of Group Interviews Conducted with Disaffiliated College Students

This research study explores how emerging adults who have disaffiliated from a Christian tradition understand faith, articulate why they are “done” with the church, and want to receive spiritual care. Part one of this article overviewed the existing research on emerging adult spirituality and explored the results of a quantitative survey with college students at a Protestant Christian university. This article explains the qualitative portion of the study, in which the researchers conducted group interviews with college students who identify as being “done” with church. This article then provides an analysis and suggested application of the results of this study. The participants shared that they care deeply about community but experienced deep disappointment and pain when their faith communities hindered their experience of God through what they perceived as hypocrisy and judgment. This sample of “dones” revealed that they are “done” because they experienced harm from decisions and practices of their faith communities, particularly regarding patriarchal practices, exclusion of the LGBTQ+ community, and the prevalence of abuses of power within the church. The majority of them are not “done” with God but feel strongly about their disaffiliation from church. They desired non-judgmental spiritual guidance from a mentor figure but struggled to articulate their needs beyond that.