"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.
Great quotes and great thoughts here. Good to see some posts coming out of here again, even if reposted. As to your questions.
1) I think they are running towards the hopes of finding something real thats deals with the issues of their reality.
2) They are running away from the places that no longer seem to be able to provide them for them.
Posted by: Jason | Monday, March 17, 2008 at 02:05 PM