Did I tell you how much I like the magazine "The Week".
The latest issue had an article about "Spiritual Flakes". The article was based around the statistical figure that 44% of people will change affiliations with religious denominations in their lifetime.
Now if your like Bobby, you would say that isn't significant because "denomination" could mean that they switched from an Assemblies of God church to a Four Square Church, or in my case, a Non Denominational Church (Which surprisingly is a denomination) to an Assemblies of God Church. I would agree with this to a point, but it doesn't make for interesting conversation.
What's interesting is the way Church has turned into a product that is openly bought and sold on the free market. It's church capitalism, where consumer's vote with their feet, and when they don't like something, they move on and consume something else.
This is all fine and dandy if you view church as a product being sold to its congregation, but church is anything but this. Church is not a product being sold to it's congregation, but instead a product of it's congregation.
Spiritual Flakes would be a funny cereal name.
1 comment:
Although I was raised chiefly in the Assemblies of God, I have attended every kind of church under the sun.
My babysitter used to take me to a Catholic church when I was a kid.
My paternal grandmother, a baptist in her later years, was the widow of a Presbyterian minister. I still love the baptist hymns.
My wife Catherine is Episcopalian (Catholic-Lite).
Despite the differences in personalities and worship styles, there are sincere worshipers in all denominations. And one thing I know for sure is that God was present in each of those churches!
Post a Comment