liberalism and decline in Christianity

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New Text 20563 (101 lines) [W1]

Bhakti Vikasa Swami

07-Apr-04 03:30 -0400

Prabhupada Disciples

Tridandi Sannyasa

Quotes

liberalism and decline in Christianity

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ISKCON trendsetters might take into account that adjustment with modern

materialistic society is causing the death of Christian denominations. See

below -- from a text sent to me. (NB The United Church is one of Canada's

most liberal churches condoning gay marriage, feminism, women ministers

etc.)

 

 

Here is another blog from my favorite, very very Angry (with a capital "A")

ex Episcopalian:

His blog (Midwest Conservative Journal) can be found at

http://mcj.bloghorn.com 4/1/2004 7:58:54 PM ICHABOD

In Canada's new Western Standard, which has just been added to the links

here, Candis McLean describes Canada's Christian decline:

 

Jones has seen it with his own eyes. But the statistics back up the grim

picture for the future of what used to count as some of Canada’s most

popular denominations. In 2001, 43 per cent of Canadians told Statistics

Canada that they had not attended religious services in the past year,

compared with only 26 per cent in 1986. And most of that decline occurred

within the six largest denominations. Amongst Presbyterians there was a

precipitous 36 per cent decline in occasional churchgoers between 1991 and

2002 while Pentecostals saw a 15 per cent drop off in the same category.

There were eight per cent fewer people reporting they belonged to the

United Church, seven per cent fewer attending Anglican services and

Lutherans suffered a five per cent fall off.

 

In Calgary alone over the past three years, five of 34 United Churches,

Canada’s largest Protestant denomination, have ceased to exist: two closed

altogether while five were forced to merge. For Jones’ Calgary congregation

at 93-year-old Trinity United Church in the inner-city Inglewood

neighbourhood, it was rotting windows that signaled to the congregation

that the church was in trouble. After 25 years of declining attendance, the

fewer than 40 valiant members of the once 250-strong congregation were

brought to their knees: Despite fund-raisers and digging deep, they

couldn’t even afford the sort of basic repairs needed to sustain their old,

beloved church. A storm of meetings led to the painful decision in October

2002 to close the following year. Four months later, after managing a minor

resurgence in attendance, the congregation was split over whether to

proceed with the closure. The decision was made for them. In February 2003,

Presbytery, the local governing body of elected lay and ministerial

delegates, started to move in. It fired the church board members and

installed its representative as chairman, all powers granted to it by the

United Church manual.

 

As well as the cluelessness of Canada's liberal Christians:

 

“A disproportionate number of our United Church congregations in the

Calgary area are struggling with participation, leadership, facility

maintenance, and finances.” His solution seems to lie in a plan to purchase

two new properties in the city’s outlying areas. Rather than just another

house of worship, however, [Reverend Joel] Den Haan says members want a

“gutsy” new concept: a “multi-use outreach facility” with “less emphasis on

worship space” and more opportunity for partnerships with arts

organizations, schools and other faith groups. They will be, he writes,

“more than just a church.”

 

The problem with that idea, notes McLean, is that it is exactly the

opposite of what Canadian Christianity needs:

 

But a number of theologians following the mainline Church crisis say that’s

something denominations should do only if they have a death wish. The

shocking secret, they say, is that people actually want to worship God.

They’re not looking for the down-to-earth, but its reverse, the

supernatural – the reality beyond human understanding, the divine entity

beyond the physical world.

 

John Stackhouse, Jr., professor of theology and culture at Vancouver’s

Regent College, says the declining mainline churches have lost members by

trying to pander to everyone until those attending were not hearing

anything much different from opinions in newspaper editorial pages.

“Especially in larger cities where many churches became social work

agencies with a cross on top, the Presbyterian, United and Anglican

churches got away from traditional teachings about the supernatural,” he

says. “Jesus was no longer the Son of God who died on the cross for the

sins of the world. He was just a great example of how to live a godly

life.” Congregants, he said, were made to feel that it was okay to pick and

choose the messages from the Bible that they felt most comfortable with and

free to disagree with anything they thought was too ardent, violent or

sexist.

 

Because some Canadian churches are actually thriving. These kind:

 

But not all churches are waning. Last year alone Baptist membership in

Canada increased 10 per cent while some smaller, more fundamentalist

Protestant congregations, such as Evangelical Missionary Church, have

increased a whopping 48 per cent, opening huge new facilities to

accommodate the swelling crowds and conducting multiple services each

weekend.

 

Many religious scholars say that Canadians’ thirst for a relationship with

God is as great as it ever was. But the reasons are just now becoming clear

for the dramatic differences between those denominations that will languish

into the 21st century and those that will flourish. On the rise are

churches that tend to be conservative, evangelical (they faithfully accept

the Gospel), that offer their congregants a sense of certainty, and those

that promulgate a supernatural faith which believes that God plays an

active role in people’s lives. Politically incorrect, they are

unapologetically historic. In short, it is the old time religions that are

thriving.

 

None of this ought to be particularly surprising except to Canadian

liberals. Like most everyone everywhere, Canadians want to believe in

something rather than nothing at all. Because they know you can't feed a

hungry man with a picture of a meal.

(Text 20563) --------------

 

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