Faced with declining enrolment and revenue that will force it to shutter churches on Vancouver Island, the Anglican Church is turning to the social medium where millions of followers already flock: Twitter.
The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia last weekend voted to close seven churches outright and move those congregations to “hub churches.” The meeting, during which several members tweeted updates to followers, came on the heels of an ominous recent report that predicted that the once powerful church was headed for extinction unless dramatic changes occur.
In addition to recommending that churches close, the report described Canada as a post-Christian society and urged a change in attitude to attract new members, including embracing modern forms of evangelism.
There is enormous growth in Ghristianity if you know where to look.
Yes, Pb (#1), that’s true even in Canada, “if you know where to look.” Unfortunately, that usually means looking somewhere other than the Anglican church (with some glorious exceptions).
The headline was cute, but I thought the story was fairly balanced. The closing of seven small churches in Biritish Columbia (mostly on Vancouver Island) is an ominous sign that, as one source rightly siad, “the status quo hasn’t worked in years.” But I strongly doubt that the real problem is merely that a new, more modern FORM of evangelism is needed, ala Twitter-based. The more likely problem is the usual Anglican allergy to evangelism in any form. Most Anglicans in Canada, like those in TEC, simply don’t have a contagious faith or the ability to share that faith in any convincing or informed way with nonbelievers.
However, I would strongly disagree that Canada is already a “post-Christian” country. Instead, I’d call it a “post-Christendom country,” which is a very different thing. Christianity has gone from being socially privileged and dominant to now being culturally disfavored and socially suspect. But it’s not like all the Christians have totally disappeared. Rather, the old European marriage between Christianity and the mainstream culture has broken down and ended in divorce, with all the difficult challenges that brings in its wake in terms of evangelism.
But I agree with Archdeacon Page’s comment, although I’d go a bit further. The archdeacon said, [i]”The hope lies in the reality, I believe, that people do have an abiding hunger in their hearts for something beyond themselves, some kind of transcendent reality.”[/i]
Yes, quite right. As St. Augustine said so well long ago, [i]”O Lord, you have made us for yourself. And our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”[/i] Or as C. S. Lewis put it, we all have a God-shaped hole inside that only God can fill.
But the longing for connection with a “transcendent reality” unfortunately doesn’t always lead to faith in Jesus Christ. There are lots of alternatives out there these days, and plenty of people now openly claim to be “spiritual, but not religious.” Or even attracted to Jesus, but not at all to the institutional church (in any form).
What is needed is not some new gimmick, like utilizing Twitter. The problem goes much deeper that that. God himself must give new life to the Church, and the Spirit must rekindle a contagious love for Christ among his people, who must be willing to repent of their wicked ways and turn back to God in faith and obedience. Evangellism must begin within the Church, and then moves out from there. Then, whether you use Alpha, or Twitter, or any other technique to reach people doesn’t really matter.
What matters is having a lively, contagious, genuinely life-transforming faith in Christ and a true love for others. All else is secondary.
David Handy+
One Priest decided to opt out of the DTT process and plant an ANiC church on the Saanich Peninsula. Rev. Mark Davison (DWS Cand)was the Rector of Brentwood Chapel which was the last homogeneously evangelical parish in the Diocese of BC. You can hear his resignation message to his congregation at http://www.brentwoodchapel.podomatic.org. Mark will be working with the Rev. Dr. Michael Pountney who is the former Principal of Wycliffe College in Toronto.
Hmmm…I guess we could update the old saying: “they twittered while Rome (Anglican Church) burned.”
Okay, I guess it is twitter and light even more fires to help Rome burn faster!