Church-shoppers are less concerned about denominational tradition or doctrine and more concerned about the local congregational experience. Stackhouse says there is nothing wrong with church-hopping. He likens the practice to those students who attend university. He says ministers shouldn't take it personally when an individual or family leaves for another church. Dr. Martin Marty, author of more than 45 books and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, says in that same issue of Envision that there is no such thing as the perfect church, and those who constantly search for one won't find it.
People have a hunch that there is some place where there is perfection.
Ultimately that place will fail you. So you go to the next place down the block. And if it fails you, you go to the bookstore, and if it fails you, you go to the schoolroom, and so on. And you get to be very fickle. Consequently, Marty says some denominations will thrive over the next decade or two while others will diminish.