Church Tomorrow?
Author: Stephanie Spellers
Genre: Religion; Christian Studies
Rating: ★★★★☆
Church Tomorrow? by Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers (released in early December 2025) is a clear-eyed, research-forward look at what many churches keep whispering about and avoiding: the rise of the “Nones” and “Dones,” and the spiritual landscape Millennials and Gen Z are actually inhabiting. Spellers frames the conversation with real analysis and real human voices, drawing on interviews with young adults who either never attached to church in the first place or walked away after growing up inside it. 
Reading it, I felt like I was being walked through a thoughtfully built case—more lab report than lament—about why the traditional church experience has struggled to hold trust, attention, and belonging. The “highly scientific” feel you noticed is part of the strength: the book doesn’t rely on nostalgia or scolding, and it doesn’t reduce a whole generation to a stereotype. Instead, it listens closely and then asks the church to do the brave thing: take the findings seriously, especially where the stories expose fatigue with institutional performance, hunger for authenticity, and deep sensitivity to hypocrisy and harm. 
For me, the value of Church Tomorrow? is the way it turns “decline” into discernment. It offers a lot of food for thought without pretending there’s a single fix, and it invites leaders and laypeople alike into a posture of humility—less defending, more learning; less blaming “kids these days,” more examining what kind of community we’ve actually built. If you’re willing to be challenged without being shamed, this is the kind of book that can spark better conversations in boardrooms, living rooms, and prayer rooms—and maybe help us build churches that feel like good news again to the people we most want to reach. 
