If you are among the many people caught in a 'spiritual
wilderness' you might just want to listen to what pastor Troy Watson of
Quest Christian Community recently had to say about the possible
direction religion may take us in the 21st. Century.
The following article by Pastor Watson first appeared in
the St. Catharines, Ontario Standard on April 5th. this year
and is hereby reproduced in full on-line with his kind permission.
Into the spiritual wilderness
TROY WATSON
Special to
The Standard – Saturday, April 5, 2014
Over the
past few years, I've been inundated with stories, statistics, articles, books
and documentaries chronicling the mass migration of people leaving the Church.
The response of "church
loyalists" to this phenomenon of church abandonment has been all over the
map. Some are angry while others are afraid. Some are in denial while others
are grieving. Some blame contemporary culture, secular universities, the media,
postmodernism or anything else under the sun (except themselves) while others
desperately try to adapt and attract people to their church by incorporating
more technology, pop culture and socially "relevant" issues and
causes into their gatherings and programming.
Some churches are asking tough
questions about the evolving role of the church in our new world and have begun
experimenting with new ways of being church. Others are convinced the solution
is found in getting back to the old "tried and true" ways of the
past.
It seems the only common ground in
virtually all churchgoing folk's response to the decline in Canadian church
attendance, is that we need to — get people back to church. But this assumption
might be causing us to miss the bigger picture. What is most important and most
interesting in this unsettling season for Christianity, is discerning where
God's Spirit is during this mass exodus.
In the Exodus story in the Bible, God
calls Moses to liberate the Hebrew people enslaved and oppressed in Egypt so
that they may worship God in the wilderness. I can't help but wonder if there
are correlations here.
Are the
millions of Christians who are leaving the Church abandoning God? Or is
something else going on? Are these people rebelling against their Creator or
embarking on a journey into the unknown and the unfamiliar in attempts to
reconnect with Divine Spirit and renew their faith and spiritual life? Could it
be that the Church has become Pharaoh and the oppressive ancient Egyptian
regime for some people and the Holy Spirit, like Moses, is beckoning them into
the wilderness to worship their true God? What a sobering thought. That God's
Spirit might be saying to the Church,. "Let my people go, so that they may
worship Me in the wilderness." (Exodus 7:16).
For many ex-churchgoers, the Divine
Spirit has literally called them into the wilderness, into the healing beauty
of nature, to be still and know God. Away from all the noise, consumerism and
busyness of work, life and church. I empathize with this. As I get older,
spending time in solitude, surrounded by nature, has become essential to my own
spiritual wellbeing and sanity. Of course, equally important to my faith and
spiritual growth is being part of a community, experiencing togetherness, spiritual
friendship and serving others. But do we need "church" for this? I
suppose that depends on how we define church.
So what
makes a community a church? Do people have to sing together? Do they have to
gather on Sundays? Does everyone have to beliei.re the same doctrine?
I believe
many of our current versions of church will become extinct over the 21st
century. As a pastor who makes his living through the current church paradigm,
I may very well belong to one of these extinct versions of church. On some
levels this concerns me but I hope my faith In God will give me the courage to
let go of my desire for certainty, security and familiarity and kindle in me a
willingness to follow wherever the Holy Spirit is moving. Even if that is away
from Church as I know it.
