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About Me
- getreconnected
- I get paid to be a preacher and pastor, but I'm really interested in the fascinating places God, faith and religion show up in people's lives. I live in the beautiful village of Fenwick in the Niagara Region of Ontario and my church is in St. Catharines. Currently, I live with my wife, Rev. Diane Walker, just we two, because all of our four little birdies have flown the nest. Two will be getting married in 2012. And we are the ridiculously doting grandparents of two.
Grandpa and Levi
3 comments:
I think that often I have spoken to family or friends about church attendance and their response is similar to what your respondents said. 'I find spirituality in nature and going for a walk in the woods is where I find solace. I believe this is a cop out because the wording is almost always the same from everyone - like a well rehearsed speech. It is hard to respond to statements like that when all I want to say is that you really want to sleep in on Sunday morning and it is an excuse for not really getting involved in your faith in order to find out what you really DO believe. This is not to say that they don't get something out of communing with nature - but is it really spiritual?
There are several reasons why young - and not so young - people don't find a connection with a church community.
I will name a couple:
1. They come looing to have it happen like a lightning strike and that just will not happen unless there are like people there at the same time and they hit it off immediately. So they go away and may not try again. They don't give it a chance.
2. They are unwilling to get involved. They are waiting for the perfect job to come along that they want to do instead of getting gradually involved and letting it happen. Part of the fault is the congregation that does not continually ask for this involvement by new people, but it is a 2 way street and it won't just happen. Current members can't always be told they are at fault or they will avoid getting involved as well.
3. They don't realize that you get out what you put into anything - so jump right in. The church will only be there in the future if people like them step up to the plate - both financially and with their volunteering.
Man, are you cynical. What do you think the answer is? I hope it's more than just being angry and depressed about it.
I agree that the much of contemporary spirituality is pretty self-centred and very low demand. But if that's what people are thinking, then that's where you start. If people find spiritual significance in nature, how can the church begin to connect with that intuitive desire and develop an appreciation for the doctrine of creation, for example? I'm looking for the "entry points" at which we might begin some serious stuff. Of course, a majority of people might never move away from the easy going "spirituality lite" of our time. I'm not so sure that in the days of massive church conformity that it was any different. But my hope is that we can intentionally do the work of real faith formation with at least some people we might otherwise miss, by tuning into what they are telling us.
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