The church in the 21st century..

Capt Lightning

Capt Lightning

Well-known Member
Location
Historic Buchan, Scotland
Reading an earlier post about the Pastor who was not very interactive, conjured up unhappy childhood memories about being forced to Bible class & church in the 50's & 60's. As I recall, the bible classes were run by laymen who were not very articulate or able to argue their case. I don't recall seeing the minister there except on rare occasions.

By my teens I had lost any religious beliefs and by the time I finished university and moved to England, church attendance was falling rapidly. Churches were being sold and converted to houses, cafes etc- and in my village here, it was an auction house. In places where churches remained, it was common for one minister or vicar to be responsible for 3 or 4 parishes, so I can imagine that they had little time for things like bible study which had become a fringe activity for a small devout minority.

Today, this part of Scotland would appear to be very secular - which suits me fine. Christmas is fairly low-key and Easter is barely recognised. Hogmany and Burn's Night - that's different.
One hundred or so years ago, my village had 2 churches. Now I am only aware of 2 residents who attend church regularly. The only exception is a nearby village that has the highest ratio of churches per head of population in Britain. The village is fairly well divided by the everyday people who live in the old part, and the wealthy, very evangelical folk who live in the modern part.

Is it the same where you live?
 

No, the very old church here [Church Of England] is quite popular, the vicar even holds court in the local pub once a week, and there are lots of church based activities and meetings for different age groups.No church has the packed houses they used to get of course, when church going was more or less compulsary, but that's all to the good, as only those that actually want to go, do go.
 
I was raised a catholic (in the US) but rebelled in my teens and stopped going to church. In my area of Scotland - Cowal and Greenock areas there seems to be a large pocket of catholics. My husband is catholic but doesn't mind that I'm not one. The catholic church here is quite busy (Dunoon). As for other churches, I believe there are 9 or 10 other churches in the Dunoon and Kilmun area. No idea how well-attended they area.

It was a breath of fresh air to move to Scotland after living for 10 years in Tennessee in the bible belt. Nobody thinks it's their business to know if/where you go to church, nor do they care.
 
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Some churches & cathedrals have made copies of the brasses for people to take rubbings..

Heres a photo of Dornoch 'Cathedral' where Madonna's child, Rocco was baptised. It's not really a cathedral as the Church of Scotland, being Presbyterian, doesn't have cathedrals. It is just a rather grand parish church.

cathedral.jpg
 
Church buildings in our area are everyother block in town and many country churches. Went to church not because I had to as a child. A neighbor was kind enough to take us. Remained so until I was 18. Stopped for the most part when my children were almost grown. Started again about 10 years ago and have been a steady, but not faithful as in every meeting, since. Our local church has Sunday Morning, Sunday Night and Wed. night services. One of the few in this area which continues with Wed. night services. Our local church is family orientated, Bible Preaching, Bible beleiving group of Christians.. The church is "The Bride of Christ" and was what Jesus Christ died on the cross for. But the church itself is not a building, it consist of those who have accepted Christ as their Saviour. From every denomination. Our job here on earth is to tell people of Jesus and to point the way to salvation. This is our only job. It is the Holy Spirit job to call and convict people.
 
This is what my church looks like

Revesby Uniting Church web.jpg

It is a multipurpose building rather than your typical god-box. The block of land on which it sits is battle axe shaped and behind the church building we have a 60 place long day care centre and eight self care units for seniors.

The section at the front of the building is an extension and consists of a foyer, a large kitchen and a meeting room. We added them some years ago to allow the building to be used any day of the week and not just on Sunday. And it is.

On Mondays and Wednesdays we host children's playgroups in the foyer, kitchen, meeting room and the front lawn. Parents, grandparents pre-schoolers and volunteers from the congregation all take part in the activities. We do not prosletyse because in the 21 century in Australia that is completely unacceptable. Our mission is to serve families from the community, not collect scalps in the form of souls. Word of mouth is all that is needed and some mothers travel across several suburbs to participate. Sometimes our building hosts an Aboriginal play group from another suburb because their facilities don't allow for outside play.

On Tuesdays we have a knitting group and the output of this group is prodigious. Most are older women and we knit for many different charities.

Every other Thursday we have a seniors Coffee and Chat session which is really just an extended morning tea. Again, conversation, fellowship but no preaching.

Sunday is more traditional (at least traditional for a non conformist denomination). The morning service suits the families and the elderly. I teach the kids in the meeting room during the sermon and afterwards there is a lengthy period of hanging about in the foyer having tea, coffee and morning tea. Then some of us meet up again at the local club for lunch.

Those in between the families and the elderly prefer Café Church in the evenings which is held in the meeting room and consists of a very informal gathering around tables, with a light meal and where everyone can have input in the form of discussion of the theme and scripture passage. People can and do speak freely, expressing feelings, experiences, thoughts and doubts. Other than this, we do not have any bible study unless we decide to do one during Lent.

We share our building with a Samoan congregation who use it on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and occasionally we hold kiddies' discos and family movie nights in the main hall. In the Summer months there is an indoor bowls group who play on Monday evenings.

We can only just afford to pay for our full time minister and the costs of the buildings. We have to do some fundraising to make ends meet. We hold two Market Days (sort of jumble sales with lots of food) each year and next Saturday we are hosting a fashion show. The worship space is only a worship space on Sundays and at other time the furniture can be rearranged to make it anything you want the space to be. We have no hang ups about that but we don't allow alcohol on the premises.

I love this model of being church in the 21st century. It's relaxed and real. The preaching is progressive. We are passionate about social justice issues. I think Jesus approves.
 
I have written off the church as being revelant to anything useful or spiritual other than a social environment.
 
Capt Lightning said:
Reading an earlier post about the Pastor who was not very interactive, conjured up unhappy childhood memories about being forced to Bible class & church in the 50's & 60's. As I recall, the bible classes were run by laymen who were not very articulate or able to argue their case. I don't recall seeing the minister there except on rare occasions.

By my teens I had lost any religious beliefs and by the time I finished university and moved to England, church attendance was falling rapidly. Churches were being sold and converted to houses, cafes etc- and in my village here, it was an auction house. In places where churches remained, it was common for one minister or vicar to be responsible for 3 or 4 parishes, so I can imagine that they had little time for things like bible study which had become a fringe activity for a small devout minority.

Today, this part of Scotland would appear to be very secular - which suits me fine. Christmas is fairly low-key and Easter is barely recognised. Hogmany and Burn's Night - that's different.
One hundred or so years ago, my village had 2 churches. Now I am only aware of 2 residents who attend church regularly. The only exception is a nearby village that has the highest ratio of churches per head of population in Britain. The village is fairly well divided by the everyday people who live in the old part, and the wealthy, very evangelical folk who live in the modern part.

Is it the same where you live?
Click to expand...


What are Hogmany and Burn's Night? Never heard of those before.
 
Hogmanay (excuse earlier spelling error) is the last day of the year - New year's eve. It is probably the most celebrated day throughout Scotland. Burns Night. January 25th marks the annual celebration of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns - special meals, dancing, drinking and poetry recitals etc...
 
Capt Lightning said:
Hogmanay (excuse earlier spelling error) is the last day of the year - New year's eve. It is probably the most celebrated day throughout Scotland. Burns Night. January 25th marks the annual celebration of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns - special meals, dancing, drinking and poetry recitals etc...
Click to expand...

Do you ever go to the Hogmany celebrations in Edinburgh? Burn's Night? I've yet to go to either and would love to go to a local Burn's Night but nobody wants to be the designated driver!
 
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