Post-Congregational

There is a very interesting phenomenon going on these days. It keeps growing, and pushing its way into my consciousness and I can no longer ignore it. For the sake of this discussion, I will refer to this as a “post-congregational” development.

Have you noticed how many people there are these days who are church members that clearly value their denominational membership but are not part of a congregation? I find this a very interesting development. Such a situation would have been almost unthinkable a mere 50 years ago. Such people would have been dismissed as back-sliders, or apostates. In many denominations their names would have been (and still are) removed from the membership records. Now, however, there are thousands of people in this situation.

No description of this group will fit everyone, and those I am talking about here may be merely a subgroup of a larger movement, but what I have observed is that many congregationless people continue to have a real relationship with the church, and sometimes on more than one level. For example, some truly love the world church, its leadership, or its theological positions, and want to be part of a body that seeks to become a world-wide, prophetic movement. Others value the fellowship and sense of community they find at reunions or family camps. Many may even contribute tithing to the church, they simply do not attend a congregation.

When I ask such people why they do not participate in a local church, there are often a variety of reasons given. In some cases, people’s lives may have taken them to a place where there is no congregation near (or near enough), however such people are in the minority. Whether you can accept it or not, the answer I hear most often is that the congregational programming “simply does not meet my needs.” When I probe a little deeper, often people report having attended once and feeling unwelcome, not included, or centred out. Young adults in this age group sometimes tell me there was nobody else their age. Often such people are unwilling to give a congregation a second chance.

Lest you write this group off too quickly as “flakey” or self-absorbed,” let me hasten to add that, in my experience, these are usually deeply spiritual people. It is not unusual for such people to feel they have grown spiritually to a point where they will not waste their time on programming they see as inadequate.

My purpose here is not at all to judge this phenomenon or the people whom it represents, but rather to highlight the need to understand it. The point is simply that there are a lot of people who might now be described as post-congregational. They are denomination members who don’t have a local church, and are no longer looking for one. In fact, in any given Eastern Canadian city, there are far more members who do not attend a congregation than people who do! Is this the future? Are we moving into a post-congregational age? What might that look like? How would it operate? I confess, I do not know the answers, but I find the phenomenon fascinating!

Posted by Carman