I’m sure that we have all noticed the decline in church attendance over the past twenty years or so, and of course there has been a lot of concern about this, but should we be concerned or should we just embrace the change and see what could come out of this and learn to adapt to it?
Most of you will know that I trained as a farrier, shoeing horses, which I left to become a full time youth worker, which being made redundant, I returned to the trade in 2008 and really enjoyed the freedom that this gave me, along with being in nature and the one to one conversations with clients, it became my ideal job. However, the main reason for mentioning this transition is that I started to hear about a new movement of horses going without shoes which at first, I thought would only actually be suitable for certain horses, such as native breeds and people who weren’t doing much road work, but then I started to read more about it and I spoke to and followed a few “barefoot trimmers” in their work and found that with the correct diet and more natural conditions, pretty much any horse can go without shoes. This shoe-less transition is obviously much better for the horse as the shoes actually stop the hoof from functioning as it should, but it is amazing how many people, including professionals will not go along with it because of a long history and tradition and also how it might affect their business and income. I’ve loved the transition from being a farrier to a barefoot trimmer and the horses have appreciated it too.
I think that you might be able to guess, where I am going with this analogy.
People are leaving church for a number of reasons, but for me it has mainly been because of the hierarchy and structure of authority, alongside the expectation of people having to fit in with a culture that was quite different to what they are used to. Along with our education system, there seems to be a culture of being taught “what” to think instead of “how” to think, which can then lead to a set of narrow beliefs and lack of freedom to question what we are taught to believe. We are generally taught from the front instead of learning from each other, which can then lead to control and takes away the responsibility from us to grow personally. Church seems to have become a school that we are never expected to leave and if we do leave then we are seen as abandoning or backsliding from our faith.
I originally came to faith outside of church, I know of others who had experiences of the divine outside of church, and I have not attended an established church on a regular basis for about twenty years. My faith hasn’t diminished, in fact I’d actually say that it has grown, as I’ve had to grow up and find ways to sustain my faith outside of a mainstream tradition, but then how are we supposed to measure faith anyway? We live in a world now where it’s easy to gain information through easy access to books and podcasts. I’ve also found that the ancient contemplative practices of Centering prayer, Lectio Divina, the Examen, Imaginary Prayer, and being in nature are all great tools in developing intimacy with the divine nature and presence of God.
Therefore, what if, instead of going to church, we become church? In other words, we learn what we need to develop our own relationship with God in a way that is appropriate to us and our personality?
What if, instead of having a leader we had facilitators who encourage people to develop their own walk with God that they can do with a few others to form small outward looking local communities who are meeting their own needs as well as the needs of others in their area?
What if, instead of going forward for communion in a church building, we saw sharing food and intentionally eating together as communion with each other and the divine?
Personally, I think that the Twelve Step program for recovery is a great model of what church could look like. These are self-governing groups of people who are willing to be totally real and vulnerable and who know that they need each other and a higher power of their own understanding in order to grow and change. Wasn’t it Jesus who said that “where two or three people are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them?”. We need to unpick what he meant by “in my name” but we could do that together. Couldn’t we?
Would you be willing to discuss this further? Let me know.
Thank you for reading.
Comments