"When many people simultaneously run in the same direction, two questions need to be asked: what are they running after and what are they running from" T.H. Marshall (Quoted in Liquid Modernity, Bauman, p81).
Given the dispersed geographical nature of the church we are perhaps aware of the two's and three's who leave the church we are part of, but cannot easily observe the bigger picture.
The last Scottish Church Census was done in 2002, in his report Peter Brierley notes, "congregations are getting smaller....huge numbers of young people (under 30) have dropped out of church in the last 20 years in Scotland, as in England and other Western countries".
Marshall's question above is therefore a pertinent one for the church, as the huge numbers Brierley's research has counted constitutes many people simultaneously running in the same direction.
So what are people running after?
What are people running from?
Post your thoughts in the comments section.
I have just read a book about the spirituality of 15 to 25 year old in the UK- they celebrate and value Life in the hear and now with the main ambition to be happy and have little or no interest in transcendence as defined by a relationship with a higher power,spirit etc. The survey found little or no instinct for transcendence ( ie the God shaped hole of Augustine )among the Y generation. They are running from institutional religion percieved as outdated, negative, reactionary and out of step with their culture and a future where the saturation of entertainment embodied by Big Brother and the Playstaton 3 rule.
Rodney
Posted by: rodney neill | Friday, March 16, 2007 at 12:18 PM
maybe they aren't running from anything? Maybe they are already in a religion, with its own places of worship, rituals and ethics? So why would they need to bother with a christian one?
Posted by: Paul | Friday, March 16, 2007 at 01:44 PM
Paul - are you answering Rodney, me or both of us?
Posted by: brodie | Friday, March 16, 2007 at 01:55 PM