This is an interesting article about faith, church and spirituality in the Pacific North West. Here are two of my favorite quotes from the article:
"Killen had some advice for church leaders in the region: Don't let others (including the denomination leaders "back East") define what it means to thrive, since a thriving religious community in the Pacific Northwest will likely exist on a small scale. Integrity and authenticity matter more than any inherited office or formal title, and people want to know what God and any church has to do with their neighborhood and their everyday life."
"And she wonders about spiritual maturity. "You can't be a grown-up in any tradition until you can endure frustration, negotiate conflict and get to the other side of disillusionment with the capacity to hope."
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I really enjoyed this article. I'm forwarding the link to other people that I think might enjoy it as well. A paragraph that hit home with me was this:
The biggest challenge for mainline churches is dealing with the tentative nature of people's commitments. One pastor told Killen, "It takes forever to get people in the door. If they stay, it takes people forever to be committed enough to become members. And then people will leave for any reason—a reason like preferring a 9 a.m. service to a 10 a.m. service." The pattern of reaching new churchgoers, Killen said, drawing on a fishing metaphor, is "catch and release." People will wander into a sanctuary or adult education program, but few will stay.
Is that true to life or what? It's good to know that it's not isolated to just one church, though, but is a prominent condition throughout the region.
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