In the United States, certain trends have been observed throughout the majority of Christian congregations over the last decade. For example, the Barna Group has noted that: “Regular Bible reading dropped over the last decade from 45% to 37%. Volunteering at church declined from 27% to 20% over the same decade. Church attendance has slipped from 49% to 42% percent. 40% of Christians do not attend church or read the Bible in a typical week 70% of Christians are not involved in a small group that meets for spiritual purposes There are more than 10 million Christians who are un-churched” (According to the Assoc. for Religious Data Archives (ARDA), there are 55,000 un-churched and religiously unaffiliated people in Laramie County) What do you think these trends imply? Could they be the result and/or the cause of our declining relationships with God and one another? But not everything is declining: More of people - especially young people are seeing the Church as irrelevant More people are volunteering and giving to charitable organizations...but not to the Church! More and more people might not be doing anything! (No source available!) We all have a great need to engage one another in a loving way as a result of the love that God provides for us. Is it any wonder that we live in conflict with one another, and even ourselves when we are not obedient to our responsibility to love one another as God loves us? We have a purpose and a mission as Orthodox Christians - to know Christ and to make Him known. But we cant give to people what we ourselves do not have. As the parish family of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, do we see ourselves in any of the above mentioned trends? Many of us have taken the ONCD surveys. Some of us have also participated in, or plan to participate in the focus groups in the months to come. Thank you all for your participation and concern for our parish health! Remember, if our spiritual health was not important, God would not come into the world to save us. Furthermore, if our spiritual health was not a priority, He would not have given us the tools to improve it as we pursue our salvation in Jesus Christ. The most important trend is the momentum that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is guiding us on as we walk with Him in our lives. He will heal us and save, and have mercy on us always! Yours in Christ, + Fr. Jason
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 17:58:13 +0000
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