One academic Christian friend stood in front of a group and said “I stopped believing God exists several times last week. That apparently had little or no impact on God existing”. Have you seen this week’s headlines about the slipping number of people who consider themselves Christian in our country? Bishop Warner Brown mentioned it in his message to the Church of the Joyful Healer last week.
Hmmm … Since church/synagogue/house of worship in the USA hovers at between 25 and 35 percent most of the time, when I hear that those who call themselves Christian has dropped from 86% to 75%, I think we may not be getting clear information from the poll. I suspect rather, the use of the word “Christian” no longer has the same meaning it once had, like in the South, where a “good Christian” used to mean someone who doesn’t cause much trouble. People used to call themselves Christian with little meaning to the word other than perhaps a relative was buried by a pastor or priest. Maybe it is good for the country to support people being more reflective on how they connect themselves.
But specifically, when I was appointed to start a church in northern
I suspect that as churches in the
I don’t expect our more open and positive church family to grow every year in number, but usually it does.
What is more important is that the church is growing in relationships and in usefulness to the communities around it. I just spoke to someone in the tick-borne disease support group that meets in our building on Friday. She loves our church even while being a member of a very different religious group. It is never about numbers! It is about the people we bless and the life we find together in faith.
Do well.
1 comment:
6 years ago, I struggled with my own faith. 'was I a christian?' I thought.... I didn't know. One new years eve, I made the resolution to take some time to find out my spirituality, and later on that year, I began looking at churches, eventually finding myself at the church of the joyful healer, about 4 1/2 years ago. In the last 4 1/2 years, I've really tried to take the time to find out my own beliefs, and I've grown in this church, and have come to love the people of this church. They truly are my extended family. Even more so these days, they feel like family as I can't come in to McKinleyville as often as I like due to the mileage between me and UMCJH (plus economics causing me to really make the gas go as long as possible). When I come to church, it feels like a family reunion. But all that besides the point, I read this, and I begin to think again. Am I a Christian? I'm a Member of the United Methodist Church, I'm a believer in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, I give as much of myself as I can to my community at large, my church community, family, etc. To me, I say yes, I'm a christian. But as the conservative christian world begins to pull the chains a little tighter on WHO is considered a christian or not, I begin to feel like one of those people who doesn't want to be called a christian. If a christian is someone who condems a person because they have a different sexual orientation, because they believe differently, or because they have some severe and unhealthy addictions, then I don't want to be considered a christian. If a christian is someone who says if you aren't a christian then you aren't a good person, then I don't want to be considered a christian. If a christian is someone who says that you and your spouse need to believe the exact same way, and that way is the conservative christian way, and if you don't, then you're not doing your part as a whitness to the christian faith... then I don't want to be a christian. If being a christian is having one friend tell me that another friend isn't christian because they converted to a different denomination as she is, and therefor believes slightly differently, or if a christian won't frequent a place of business because the owner or worker is from a different country, is gay, or Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or perhaps doesn't speak english, then I don't want to be christian. i could go on and on...
I bet there are tons of people out there who once considered themselves christian, but as the definition of christian in the conservative world becomes more narrow, they are less likely to consider themselves christian.
All that above said, many of the people i know are depicted in those statements. I love them, despite it all. Sometimes we agree to disagree. There are times though that I don't want to be clumped in with their ideas of who is christian and who is not simply by my own beliefs...but I still proudly define myself as such... even on Facebook...Christian - Methodist.
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