Church at the Zoo

Why do so many people think that church has to be held within four walls of a church building? Or that inviting someone to church can be a scary thing? Why not think of something you like doing and take church there?? That's exactly what we recently did in the Canada East Mission, we held "Church at the Zoo" and it was an event enjoyed by all who came! 

What a fun event to invite people to experience Christ and the sacredness of creation together! Some who came, attend their local congregations on a regular basis, others had only set foot in a church one or two times in their lives, so what a perfect time it was to introduce our Enduring Principles to them and share examples of using them in everyday life, outside the walls of the church. 

Matt Swain created an exciting scavenger hunt that touched on each enduring principle and made people think about how they can truly live Christ's mission. By the end of the day many new friends where made, many strangers lives had been touched by simple things like thanking them for holding a door, and plenty of pictures were taken! You can even watch the video by clicking on this link.

This will most definitely become an annual event! Hopefully we will see you there next year!

Emily Whitworth

Canada East Mission

Young Adult Leader

Superficiality and Community

For years now I have read the news on-line vs a newspaper even though in the Toronto market many are free. What I enjoy about the on-line Globe or Star are the comments following the articles. Invariably there are contrary and divergent viewpoints that expand my understanding of issues. Some comments are reactive, some affirmative and some bring brilliant dialogue to the topic which becomes a catalyst for testing the validity of the points expressed. One such interactive dialogue I found so intriguing from the viewpoints posted on all sides (many more than 2 sides to the story) that I copied and pasted the entire 200+ comments onto a word document to enable me to be more informed about the Israeli / Palestine issue which is confusing for me.

There are countless blogs and unlimited dialogue forums on-line about meaningful and diverse subjects. For yourselves, within Facebook there are perhaps a dozen dialogue groups openly discussing any and all topics about our heritage, our theology, our practices, our validity. These forums for me provide insight to the breadth of viewpoints related to our Community of Christ body of people. These forums help me to understand my own faith better as I consider my response to questions posed or perspectives cited. It is not just about protecting my positions of faith. I learn, I grow, I research to verify claims, I am stretched with the new and am enriched. I also always am mindful of our heritage standard to learn by both study and (prayerful) faith.  I would encourage each one to expand your horizons of exposure to faith dialogue. It will also necessitate you knowing your own heritage beliefs with Community of Christ. To know the fundamentals of our faith read the booklet, "We Share" which encapsulates our current enduring principles of faith. If you do not have the booklet, just read it on-line here:

 http://www.cofchrist.org/discernment/weshare/weshare.pdf

To give you a taste of thoughts out there about churches that are being discussed that hold back no punches try these following blurbs people have posted.

"when we are a part of the church, many of us assume that because we are surrounded by people our loneliness will be remedied. Not!  We wonder how genuine the friendships were there in the first place. We were lonely surrounded by people."

I understand the sense of isolation that seems pervasive in church culture. I have spent many hours this past year as a 66 year old trying to determine why this seems to be a characteristic of church community, even in the church that I have been a member of for 35 years and in which I have held leadership positions. When I recently went through a personal crisis, it was my longtime friends and neighbors outside the church community that rushed to inquire about my well being and support me. Interestingly enough, it was not my church "family." I haven't quite figured out the paradox of this situation, but I am working at it.

"going to church could give people the opportunity to mingle with diverse people that are quite different from themselves. In practice, though, many churches tend to attract congregations that tend to be somewhat "the same" and many church communities fear diversity and "the other". In a diverse world when certain communities fear diversity, these "sameness bubbles" will tend to get smaller and smaller. I think that if churches could change their inner psychology and embrace diversity, they could grow their numbers."

"I've never gone to a church where there was ethnic diversity. I have always gone to churches where there was economic diversity. Like you said, the ethnic diversity should have been there, and would have been a great way to get to know and relate to people of other cultural backgrounds. But it didn't work out that way, unfortunately."

"actually, I think the internet is one of the biggest reason for a fall in church numbers.
The internet does two important things:

(1) Community: as related to the post -- it allows community of like minded folks without having to give up 1/4 of your time off each week, drive across town or get dressed up only to have perfunctory nice talks with lots of fake smiles. Well, that is only how church is for some folks.
(2) Knowledge: evidence exposing the foibles of religion are now readily available.
While true that face to face community is important, I think it's important to emphasize a third option on why the Internet may have altered religious practice:
(3) freedom to explore ideas And no topic is considered off-limits. You can share and there will always be someone who can relate, chime in, etc. In the Church, there's too much concern about something being taboo, thus leading to artificial relationships. And our group is not perfect. People say things that offend others, but we're generally quick to make amends without sweeping it under the rug. That doesn't often happen in church. Quite the opposite: the offense is swept under the rug hoping to never be dealt with again. Nothing gets resolved. I'll take real and flawed any day over superficial parading as real and genuine.

Comments like the above challenge us to be relevant, to be real, to explore what needs to change. A full 75% of our total CEM membership is now peripheral to our attending ranks. That says something. Numbers speak volumes. In the sales profession, poor measurables determine the discontinuation of a product or the immediate and critical necessity to change it. Corporate survival is based upon listening, market research, competition, perceived customer benefits, and the cost to acquire that product in comparison to the alternatives. I say it that way as there is a cost to you to attend church in your measurably precious time, your personal inner investment for meaningful intersection with the Divine, courage to engage yourself in social relationships and actual $$ expenditures in gas, contributions etc. Knowing your customer and your customers needs in business creates product loyalty. Loyalty is fading. The comments above about churches are just a small slice of reality in people's thoughts who choose not to attend church.

We need "to be with" those in the periphery or those who are "alone" in our congregations to know them. "With" means personal time, $, courage, prayer and life investment in their lives. Many just fade away otherwise. We are superficial friends if we allow that to happen? Were they lonely in our midst because of superficiality. Is our community of joy, hope, love and peace a future image in our minds or a present reality in our midst. Are we community? These questions are for each of us to ask, to feel deeply within, to have tears over, to take us to our knees and pray for ourselves to change, as we are ultimately that product that needs changing.

I challenge myself and you to be honest, to know there is a cost, to know we need to change things in our lives such as praying intently, having an envisioned plan that compels us, increasing our capacity of time to nurture the reality of community where we are and becoming a catalyst by partnering with others to do the same. It is not easy. I open this blog site's stats and pray for everyone on this blog subscription list every day. May I, may the Spirit be a catalyst in yours and my life!!

submitted by Kerry

Post-Congregational II

Since writing about post-congregational folks in this blog a month ago, I have had several private email or personal conversations with people who are themselves, post-congregational. I have also continued to ponder the phenomenon. The following observations are simply more musings on the subject.

• Many post-congregational people do not appear to be post-denominational, although some probably are.

• Many post-congregational people are connected to each other by various webs; actual or virtual, including social media such as Twitter and facebook, plus other electronic media like blog networks and email. Others are not connected.

• Some post-congregational people get together physically from time to time at locations such as campgrounds for reunions or other gathering events. Friends who are in congregations join with them there.

• Post-congregational people often disregard previous generations’ social conventions or ‘the old rules’.

• How post-congregational people feel about traditional sacraments is unknown, but may be somewhat ambivalent. (I would like to know.)

• How post-congregational people will relate to World Church, Mission Centres or congregations in the long-term remains unknown, but the relationship seems to me somewhat tenuous. This may vary by generation. For example post-congregational Baby Boomers may have different church allegiances than those in Generation X or the Millennials; not better or worse, just different.

• What percentage of post-congregational people support the church financially is unknown, but the fact that some do tells us that they still feel a great sense of connection.

• Like many others, post-congregational people really do appear to be deeply ‘spiritual but not religious.’

• Some post-congregationals may be inclined to connect to the church electronically for discipleship formation. As was pointed out in a comment to the previous post, the Unitarian Universalist Church already provides resources for that on their website and has for many years. If we are to continue reaching out to these folks, we may need to do the same.

• Are Post-congregational members part of the ‘Emergent church?’ Probably yes. They are certainly part of the post-modern age.

• The number of post-congregational members appears to be increasing while the number of those actively connected to a congregation seems to be decreasing.

Once again, the purpose of this conversation is an effort to reach a clearer understanding and not to judge people’s decisions or positions. Your comments on the subject are invited, especially if you are post-congregational or know someone who is.

Posted by Carman

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