Refresh: Churched, Un-Churched and De-Churched
This was a relatively early post on this blog – dating all the way back to Nov 2015 – but continues to be one of the most frequently downloaded. If anything, the topic is even more pertinent a decade later. Churched, Un-Churched and De- Churched If you’re up with the discussions on the future of the church you’ll know that commentators distinguish between people who are un-churched (as in never had any significant contact with a church) and those who are de-churched (as in once were involved, but no more thank you very much). While the church has always worried about those who...
Read MoreConnectedness or Autonomy? From Should to Could
The right of each individual to be astonishing, amazing, independent and – well, individual – has never been more firmly asserted than now. You see it in the shift in our vocabulary. It wasn’t that long ago when people would seriously ask what they “should” do. There was a reasonable community consensus of what constituted the good and moral life, and with that consensus, there was some pressure to conform and to do the things we “should” do. Today we are more interested in all the things we “could” do – and tend to get irritated...
Read MoreMissing You: Gaps that aren’t Filled when People Leave…
I came across a beautiful poem by Irish poet Dennis O’Driscoll entitled simply, Missing God. It’s about the societal drift away from God and all the things we lose in that journey. One verse reflects on how different civil marriage ceremonies feel as they avoid words like “everlasting” and “divine”: Miss Him during the civil weddingwhen, at the blossomy altarof the registrar’s desk, we wait in vainto be fed a line containing wordslike “everlasting” and “divine”. If society misses the signs of the Divine it once paid close attention to, it’s also true...
Read MoreIs church working for you?
He is a very committed Christian but recently said to me, “This church thing, it’s just not working for me. The kids are bored, I’m bored, a lot of what happens is silly, and I experience God a lot more when I’m out in nature than when I’m forced to sit still and listen to endless jabber from the front – all in that rather drab building.” My instinct was to tell him why he was wrong, and to think of a way to help him reframe things. But even as the shape of a few rebuttal sentences formed in my head, I remembered this wasn’t the first time I...
Read MoreChurch-Lite
Let’s face it. If you say the word “church” a less than enthusiastic response is likely to follow. True, there are some glorious exceptions, but by and large those who have never been part of a church tend to express views that have been shaped by the press coverage the church has been receiving (almost uniformly bad), while those who have often launch into a story of feeling let down, disappointed or even betrayed. Many will tell you that they now embrace a churchless faith, one which is real but which effectively says “Jesus yes, church, no!” Others will tell...
Read More