Paul, of Prodigal Kiwis Blog, writes – a post by Jason Goroncy directs us to a recent new story that states the obvious – New Zealanders are becoming less religious.
So what difference is/will this make to how we are church? Probably none! They’ll probably only intensify their inward focus and their love of safety and security – nothing wrong with that in and of itself (except when it becomes an end-unto-itself), but I wonder where God is and where God is at work. Inside the church? Outside the church? Both?
I wonder too, along with John Drane, if “Christians Know How to Be Spiritual?” Our responses to these kinds of questions have significant implications for how we are church, how we in practice embody and enact “good news” and how we creatively and imaginatively engage (rather than retreat from) the socio-cultural realties of our local contexts. I think the voices woven through the last few posts on this blog (Ignatius of Loyola, Hauerwas, McCabe, Drane, Rahner, and Mobsby, etc) will help frame the challenges and highlight the possibilities, but it will take hard work to earth the thinking in the realities of everyday life and living, and the ways in which we understand ourselves and are church.
“There has been a sharp rise in the number of New Zealanders with no religious affiliation, new research shows. In a study by [Massey] University, 40 per cent of respondents say they have no religious affiliation compared to 29 per cent 17 years ago. Just over a third of New Zealanders describe themselves as religious. Fifty-three per cent say they believe in God (although half of those say they have doubts), 20 per cent believe in some form of higher power and about third say they don’t believe or don’t know… “So perhaps the apparent decline in religiosity reflects a decline in traditional religious loyalties – rather than a decline in spirituality as such.” [Reminds me of some of the excellent content of Ian Mobsby’s workshop in Hamilton]
The study found that significant numbers of New Zealanders believe in the supernatural with 57 per cent believing in life after death, 51 per cent believing in heaven and 36 per cent believing in hell. A quarter of those surveyed think star signs affect people’s futures, 28 per cent say good luck charms work and 39 per cent believe fortune-tellers can foresee the future…”
Remember this quote which Dave Tomlinson uses in his latest book: “Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.” Lenny Bruce
While people might not articulate their “spiritual seeking” as a search for “God” I think Bruce and Tomlinson’s insights are deeply relevant.
From Prodigal Kiwis Blog
So what difference is/will this make to how we are church? Probably none! They’ll probably only intensify their inward focus and their love of safety and security – nothing wrong with that in and of itself (except when it becomes an end-unto-itself), but I wonder where God is and where God is at work. Inside the church? Outside the church? Both?
It will take creative and imaginative work to begin and to nourish ways of being church that make possible ever deepening conversation between “gospel” and the deep longings, yearning and desires that lie beneath the surface of people’s lives and what is reflected in studies like the one Jason directs our attention to.
“There has been a sharp rise in the number of New Zealanders with no religious affiliation, new research shows. In a study by [Massey] University, 40 per cent of respondents say they have no religious affiliation compared to 29 per cent 17 years ago. Just over a third of New Zealanders describe themselves as religious. Fifty-three per cent say they believe in God (although half of those say they have doubts), 20 per cent believe in some form of higher power and about third say they don’t believe or don’t know… “So perhaps the apparent decline in religiosity reflects a decline in traditional religious loyalties – rather than a decline in spirituality as such.” [Reminds me of some of the excellent content of Ian Mobsby’s workshop in Hamilton]
The study found that significant numbers of New Zealanders believe in the supernatural with 57 per cent believing in life after death, 51 per cent believing in heaven and 36 per cent believing in hell. A quarter of those surveyed think star signs affect people’s futures, 28 per cent say good luck charms work and 39 per cent believe fortune-tellers can foresee the future…”
Remember this quote which Dave Tomlinson uses in his latest book: “Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.” Lenny Bruce
While people might not articulate their “spiritual seeking” as a search for “God” I think Bruce and Tomlinson’s insights are deeply relevant.
From Prodigal Kiwis Blog
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