BLOG.jpg)
Friday, October 16, 2009
No More Clouds!
The sun came out for just a few seconds today after a whole week of just clouds and rain. Memphis weather is getting depressing, but this made me happy and I ran out to take some photographs! Here's my favorite:
BLOG.jpg)
Friday, October 02, 2009
Church Losing Significance in US?
In history, the church has flourished in troubling times. I remember the Sunday after September 11th when my church's seats were filled to the brink. People looked to my pastor, a prominent figure in the religious world, for answers, meaning, and purpose.
But what about consistently troubled times? This article in USA Today few days ago made me step back and look at what the church is life nowadays. Churches are losing in this economic battle like anyone else; the troubled times are not turning into religious times anymore.
Sure, less money in laity means less tithing, but still this points to something deeper - something Peter Berger saw fifty years ago. Berger said that as society becomes more pluralistic religion changes. Religion is no longer the answer for troubled times: it is only one of the answers. In response, churches have to change, they have to sell what they offer. They are no concerned more with the peoples desires, and the relationship is no dialectical. Not only does the church impose itself on the people but the people now equally impose what they think on the church The result is the church taking the people's wishes into account and turning the religion in to a commodity to sell to the public.
Obviously, this is an extreme take, but I do not think it is too far off. Churches offer coffee bars, wii's, contemporary services, and so on to bring in people. They are hooks to get people in. While the goal is not to make money off of people, but to change people's lives does not change the fact that the means to do so are strikingly similar. This is why people say churches need to stop getting their tips from the people - I agree.
There is a deeper concern though. Why is the church no longer the place to go to during troubling times? Half of the problem is because they are seen as institutions and businesses more than a group of people who care and offer true meaning to such circumstances. But it is also something else.
Why is the church no longer considered a refuge for the troubled?
But what about consistently troubled times? This article in USA Today few days ago made me step back and look at what the church is life nowadays. Churches are losing in this economic battle like anyone else; the troubled times are not turning into religious times anymore.
Sure, less money in laity means less tithing, but still this points to something deeper - something Peter Berger saw fifty years ago. Berger said that as society becomes more pluralistic religion changes. Religion is no longer the answer for troubled times: it is only one of the answers. In response, churches have to change, they have to sell what they offer. They are no concerned more with the peoples desires, and the relationship is no dialectical. Not only does the church impose itself on the people but the people now equally impose what they think on the church The result is the church taking the people's wishes into account and turning the religion in to a commodity to sell to the public.
Obviously, this is an extreme take, but I do not think it is too far off. Churches offer coffee bars, wii's, contemporary services, and so on to bring in people. They are hooks to get people in. While the goal is not to make money off of people, but to change people's lives does not change the fact that the means to do so are strikingly similar. This is why people say churches need to stop getting their tips from the people - I agree.
There is a deeper concern though. Why is the church no longer the place to go to during troubling times? Half of the problem is because they are seen as institutions and businesses more than a group of people who care and offer true meaning to such circumstances. But it is also something else.
Why is the church no longer considered a refuge for the troubled?