On the 8th of June, 2014, my best Argentinian friend gave a sermon at the Vatican, touching base on subjects that I have been very passionate about in recent months.
He preached, admitting that the church has found an "absence of contagious apostolic fervour… in communities which lack enthusiasm and thus fail to attract." – Pope Francis
bravo, my friend, bravo.
I've done a little research:
In 2007, Pew Research's Religion & Public Life Project did a Religious Landscape Survey whose results contained the following snippets:
Nearly 1/3 of Americans were raised Catholic…
Fewer than 1/4 describe themselves as Catholic…
concluding that roughly 10% of all Americans are FORMER Catholics.
Though this percentage is higher in the Catholic faith than in any other denomination, we are not alone in the struggs…
44 percent… that is NEARLY HALF of adults claimed to have switched their religious affiliations at least once.
#thestruggleisreal
WHY ALL THE MOVEMENT?
Why does one leave Southern Baptist to become Non-Denom, while others leave Non-Denom to become Southern Baptist? Why does one leave Catholicism for Protestant, while others leave Protestant for Catholicism? How did our congregations become decks of trading cards?
Some people swap churches due to doctrine…
The majority though (I believe), in the words of Papa Francis, due to an "absence of contagious apostolic fervour… in communities which lack enthusiasm and thus fail to ATTRACT."
How often do we hear "It just didn't speak to me…" "I didn't feel the Lord moving in my life until I swapped…" and are completely confused?!
There are other people in the former congregation that hear the Lord speaking there very clearly!
Something about the other church ATTRACTED the person… something about their former affiliation failed them in that attraction.
The undeniable truth is that everyone has different ATTRACTIONS…
This is, I believe, due to the fact that every one experiences God- experiences the Holy Spirit- in different ways.
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At training camp, we were privileged enough to hear words from a certain professor named Rob _________.
Rob gave us a list of the 7 most common ways people experience the spirit.
The list is as follows:
1) Aesthetics see and experience God through art tradition and culture.
2) Experientials chase after the "Jesus High." They experience the Spirit through worship, charismatic prayer etc.
3) Activists find God in doing things for him: leading projects, activities, volunteer work and missions.
4) Contemplatives find God in silence and alone time, meditation and prayer.
5) Student Instinct believers find their faith in adamant Bible and Scripture study.
6) Relationals experience Christ through other people. Their faith thrives in the religious community.
7) Naturalists experience God through nature, his very creation made to capture our attentions.
I am sure, while reading this list, one or more of the items caught your eye and related to you more than the others.
I am going to challenge you (as Rob challenged us) to quickly jot the list down…
then put check marks next to the places that you find God the MOST.
go on… DO IT.
… are you done?
ok.
Now… put an asterics next to the places you experience God the LEAST… where you find yourself WEAKEST.
…
…
Now evaluate your list…
appreciate your strengths…
but at the same time I would now like to encourage you to seek out your WEAKEST astericted areas… to find God there. That way, you can develop the habit of experiencing God in every area of your life and feel his presence at ALL times… not only in your strong areas.
Consider it spiritual weight lifting. Don't be all biceps… and DON'T SKIP LEG DAY.
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Similarly to a person… each CHURCH and DENOMINATION also has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
You can find most of your Catholics and Lutherans will relate to Aesthetics, and Contemplatives, your Penecostals among the Experientials, Southern Baptists among the Relationals, Missionary Alliance, Baptists and Non-Denoms in the Student Instinct and Activists and your Green Evangelicals among the Naturalists.
SO… just as I encouraged each PERSON to evaluate the list and work on their weak areas… I encourage each CHURCH and DENOMINATION to recognise their strengths… and take pride in them, but at the same time, to recognise their weaknesses… and to develop more in those areas.
Recognise that you have, in fact, been skipping leg day for years… and that it is time to do some lunges.
When any one of these areas are left out, a chunk of people in the Church are being denied the opportunity- in that Church- to experience God in the ways that would speak to them the MOST.
Though it is each persons responsibility to seek God on their own, I feel the Church could definitely aid in this search. If a church makes a deliberate effort to promote spiritual growth in all of these areas, the choice to swap denomination would be made based on doctrine… in stead of a disconnect.
When the congregation can begin to experience God FULLY, when each member can feel God's presence regularly … the flame will rekindle and the fire of the APOSTOLIC FERVOUR will indeed become CONTAGIOUS… The snores of the congregation will become AMENS, the church community will pour into each other on an entirely new level, and the churches retension rates will, I whole heartily believe, improve drastically… because the ENTHUSIASM will ATTRACT.
David was Experiential, worshiping with song and dance; Moses was a Naturalist, going for week long hikes up the mountain to be alone with God (he even found God in a bush); Aaron was Relational, a people person; Elijah was Contemplative, saying God's presence could be found not only in miraculous acts but in "a sound of sheer silence;" The Apostles were Activists, sharing the story of this one man, from this small town who died on a cross, with every corner of the Eastern Hemisphere.
How does God speak to YOU?
How, in each Church, can we ensure that each person has the opportunity the experience God in their own way… without having to seek it elsewhere?
stuff to ponder.
<3
AJAX
