The Church and the Future of Faith
Comments. Considerations. Questions.
by Kenneth Bagnell
As a journalist, with a minister’s special interest in religion, I’m always pleased I have at hand these two sources: (1) Pew Research, the best of all such firms, uniquely with a special interest in organized religion and (b) a news network called RNS, Religion News Service, with a daily media report, uniquely called “Slingshot.” Both are excellent and moreover do their important work, on all aspects of religion, on a non profit basis. I mention them now for it was rather recently that they notified their subscribers of an aspect that no serious journalist with an interest in religion can dare miss. The subject: the state of organized religion or to put it another way, Decline and the Churches. The title of the latest dispatch from Pew will open the door on the subject, carried among other sources, including “Slingshot.” The research goes under the title Canada’s Changing Religious Landscape.
In brief, here’s their key revelation reported by the historic theological publication The Christian Century: “Top notch preaching is what attracts most people looking for a new place to pray.” Oh? It gave me a bit of a surprise because the minsters I meet – and we shake hands and heads as we chatter away – are mostly given to thinking of (a) church location, (b) warm atmosphere, (c) lots of parking and (d) competent greetings and so on. As for preaching, I’m sorry to say, it does not seem high on the agenda of many Protestant ministers, especially those below, say, sixty years of age. As for its appeal to the general congregation, I really don’t know if its appeal is broad or narrow. But I do think, in any case, the importance of it is not what it once was. It’s not what it once was. I recall what was once said to me as a “minister-journalist” when I interviewed maybe the most renowned liberal preacher of them all, Harry Emerson Fosdick in New York’s Riverside Church. He strongly believed in it. But not just any kind of sermon. He said this softly but briskly: “For every minute in the sermon, one hour in the study.” He’s right but that was then. (And Fosdick was Fosdick.) As for today, I’ll always remember the time Barbara and I visited an old friend in small town Ontario and I asked, among other things, if they had a local minister. She paused briefly, smiled and said: “Well, yes, but to be honest I asked him if he’s read Bishop Spong and he said he’d never heard of him.” Given that I wager he hasn’t read Niebuhr, Tillich or Barth. Never mind Harvey Cox.
(The most insightful and credible opinion on this matter has to be left to the specialists, the researchers on the reflections of the people in the sanctuary. That’s why I read as often as I can the sociological-religious research by Pew. (A quick check has just revealed to me that in the last few months it conducted over 20 studies leading to material on religion issues mainly with where the people stand. A half dozen examples of Pew recent studies must suffice: (1) Public sees Religion’s Influence waning; (2) US Catholics open to non-traditional families; (3) Choosing a new Church or House of Worship; (4) Trends in Global Restrictions on Religion; (5) Evangelicals Rally to Trump. Religious ‘Nones’ back Clinton. And so on. For anyone with a moderately serious interest in the cultural aspects of religious life it’s a bottomless well of social and intellectual material having to do with religion (all credible, all at no fee!)
In any case, the Pew study we’re now dealing with, according to the reportage in Religion News Service (as carried on Slingshot) also reports that, despite the fact that overall membership in “mainline Protestantism, has been dropping steadily and now swiftly there are other congregations growing. Most are right of center or (generally) “small c” conservative evangelicals. As Religion News Service put it a few days ago concerning its Canadian study: “The project surveyed more than 2,200 churchgoers from Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran and United Churches in Ontario, according to an executive summary. About half were part of 13 mainline protestant congregations whose memberships had declined at least two percent over the past decade, while the other half attended nine churches that had grown at the same rate….”
As most of us know, the conservative churches, mostly all evangelical, are, by the statistical evidence as recorded, not in notable decline and often on the increase all over North America. Apparently, the Canadian study took roughly five years to complete and will be fully revealed in December. I’m not certain it was wholly conducted by the reliable Pew, but Wilfrid Laurier Professor David Haskell was. Then I discovered that, to a slight surprise, so was Kevin N. Flatt a theological professor at conservative Holy Redeemer College in Hamilton. (He’s author of the critical book, “After Evangelicalism,” which dealt with the United Church’s history and theology; thus I wonder a bit if a liberal church will be treated objectively by conservative scholars. Full disclosure: I have two copies!) I understand that the research point of view of the book, to appear shortly, will maintain that evangelical churches are growing for specific reasons while mainline churches like the United Church are in decline for other and distinct reasons.
I finally located a brief early press release which appropriately acknowledged the concern I just mentioned. Your opinion of its conclusion is yours. But here’s a sentence from Dr. Haskell: “One of the greatest obstacles to this study was finding mainline churches that were growing. However, once we did, we were able to compare the religious beliefs and practices of the growing church attendees and clergy to those of the declining. For all measures, those from the growing mainline churches were holding firmly to traditional beliefs of Christianity and were more diligent with things like prayer and Bible reading.” So there it is. I expect it’s well and carefully researched and thereby unbiased.
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Past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.