G I V E B A C K . M O V E F O R WA R D .
HOPE FOR THE CHURCH:
Wor ke r s Ha r ve s t FOR THE
DR. GARWOOD ANDERSON Dean
The state of the Anglican tradition and our churches is a source of a seemingly never-ending discussion – not to mention some handwringing and blaming. Much depends on how one chooses to look at things or which things one chooses to look at. The Western and Northern hemispheres are one thing; the Southern and Eastern something else. Statistics tell us something – not everything – and I would not put a lot of stock in any analysis painted with a broad brush. While it doesn’t change the statistics, my vantage is a bit different than the graphs which chart membership, average Sunday attendance, and “pledge and plate,” valuable though these are. What I see – and this is a privilege of working at a seminary – are people. Not only, but especially, young people. Bright people. Faithful people. People leaving their nets to follow Jesus and fish for men.
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THE MISSIONER
One of the subplots of the decline in religious affiliation especially among the younger generations is that the religiously affiliated have very little social compulsion to identify as Christians, to go through the motions, to spend Sunday mornings in church. That being so, what is left is the genuine article. If being a “none” is a perfectly acceptable option and the path of least resistance, the “somethings” are going to be really something! Secularizing social pressures and the antagonism toward “organized religion” are the refiner’s fire of our generation. And while nostalgia might have us longing for a bygone era, God might have us accept the fruit of his discipline as just what we need. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 ESV).