Tuesday 31 March 2009

Am I part of the problem?


Once again I have to apologise for not blogging sooner, but Easter has been a very busy time although last week was much lighter for some reason and I had some time to reflect on what I am trying to do. Trouble is that I am starting to wonder what impact I am having. Hopefully it's positive! But I have recently encountered two more people who have fallen or who are falling out of church. One was a man in his thirties - well educated and well schooled in church but said to me that he was struggling with the idea of church and finding it less and less relevant. I fear in a few years he will stop going and will struggle with what it all means. I then had a 'phone call from someone who I had never met. She said that she had heard what I was doing (starting a meeting for people to be much more honest about the way they feel about church and to express their fears about their dwindling faith). She lived hundreds of miles away and had been a life-long church member and had heard of our group. She too was fed up with church and wanted a safe place to say what she felt without being told to pray harder or read her Bible more. As a Methodist minister I questioned whether I am becoming the problem. My prayer is that I am showing people the way to the solution. It made me stop and think; if people who have been part of church for many years are starting to question their faith in this way, how many more people in our own churches are doing the same but don't feel they can voice their fears? If so do I ignore them and hope things will right themselves or do I do something expressly for them but risk opening Pandora's box? I'm still thinking. Will I be able to close the lid on the box if I open it?

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