I was particularly attentive to this:
There is a deep spiritual yearning pervasive across generations, yet we know people will no longer settle for one-way preaching and entertaining services. They want meaningful worship, an empowered lay leadership, and a spirituality that leads to action. Again, people are longing for the very things that many denominational churches have been cultivating for decades. How are we doing in these three areas, do you think?
Faithfully,
Lex
As a St. Thomas member with a wide array of denominational experiences prior to coming here almost four years ago, I've been thinking a lot about this post and the Alban Institute article. I personally think St. Thomas does well at offering meaningful worship and an empowered lay leadership. Small changes could be made to make our church more welcoming to newcomers in those two areas (such as a tad more guidance in the order of worship for those who do not have an Episcopal or liturgical background or a more efficient way to match program/ministry/lay leadership opportunities to newcomers) but overall I think these are some of our church's strong points. Spirituality leading to action seems a bit more erratic -- we have some extremely well-developed and effective programs but I would love to see more diverse participation across the parish.
ReplyDeleteOne aspect of the Alban Institute article that made me sad was the author's perpetuation of us vs. them -- in her case, mainline church vs. evangelical/megachurch. I would love to see St. Thomas be a leader in the area of building bridges across denominations and faiths. I think a spirituality that leads to action is especially powerful when you are serving your fellow humankind side-by-side with a brother or sister who is doing so by living out his/her faith -- even when it has a different name and practice.
I agree, Sunni! I am sometimes guilty of falling into "us-and-them" thinking. But I know I'm at my best when I focus not on how we are different, but on what we can accomplish together.
ReplyDeleteI hear you saying that St. Thomas could be better at helping channel new members into ministry. I think many of our members think they're too busy to really get involved at church (or even to show up weekly). I'd like to see this perception conquered and more people from a variety of generations working together more often. It happens at Thanksgiving. It can happen at other times of the year, too.