We have just returned from our Maundy Thursday service. It is a beautiful time. The need to be humble is a challenge for all of us.
As usual, I am concerned about the size of the congregation (shrinking) and its age (going up). How do we reach young people with this message of this service?
I have many thoughts about this, Ian. I’d love to talk to you about it. Much of my PhD research involved reading and evaluating the studies and polls about the changes in religious practices in the US. It’s so complicated. Only one part of it is a marketing issue. Then there’s the PR issue that the evangelicals have made for all of us. Then there’s the cosmological change that the nuclear age and quantum physics has wrought. What is salvation when we can destroy ourselves so easily?
We have just returned from our Maundy Thursday service. It is a beautiful time. The need to be humble is a challenge for all of us.
As usual, I am concerned about the size of the congregation (shrinking) and its age (going up). How do we reach young people with this message of this service?
I have many thoughts about this, Ian. I’d love to talk to you about it. Much of my PhD research involved reading and evaluating the studies and polls about the changes in religious practices in the US. It’s so complicated. Only one part of it is a marketing issue. Then there’s the PR issue that the evangelicals have made for all of us. Then there’s the cosmological change that the nuclear age and quantum physics has wrought. What is salvation when we can destroy ourselves so easily?
This is obviously a huge topic ― one that has many possible answers. Some thoughts are provided at the post https://faithclimate.substack.com/p/a-theology-for-our-times.