Thanks to Jeff Fountain for this stirring image... but what do YOU think? Do you see hope in Europes future, and if you do, is it because there are more churches or less on our continent? To put it another way, is church part of the problem in our society, or part of the solution? My hunch is that if you put the question to two groups of people, the over-50s and the under 30s - you would get two very different answers. In the first group, a delicate balance between positive and negative assessments of church. In the second group, a deafening condemnation of the church. I have no proof of this, except that every survey that does ask this kind of question tends to point in this kind of direction. The new generation in Europe do not like our churches. In my experience there are four responses common to those born since the 1980s... 1. The church is dangerous. This is not the biggest group, but it may be the fastest growing. Christian belief is not just boring and irrelevant, it is actually a danger to society, primarily because of the way it treats those who disagree with it, or choose a different path. 2. The church is irrelevant. This is a much larger group, who wonder why you would even ask the question in the first place. We dont use Telex machines much any more, or listen to 8-tracks and Walkman Cassette players. We dont light our houses with candles and we dont generally walk to the village pump to fetch water - not in the West, at least. So why would we want to go to church? 3. The church is someone elses preoccupation. Im aware that some people do go, and some of them are even young, but thats because they come from that kind of background. Its nothing to do with me. 4. The church is embarrassing. I dont hate it. I dont fear it. But neither do I talk about it much. Worryingly, this category includes many in this age-group who are members of our churches. If you want to know how they feel about it, dont eavesdrop on their conversation with the Pastor - listen-in, rather, then theyre talking to their colleagues at work. Do these categories ring true for you? This in the continent that all-but invented church-going. This is (was) Christian Europe... What can we do? For a start we can engage urgently and fervently in a conversation that asks is there a church for the future of Europe? Want to talk more? Join us in Amsterdam on March 20th to take the conversation further...
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:07:40 +0000
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