Reinventing church
Does that topic title get your attention? Maybe it makes you a little stressed thinking, "what's this guy going to say?" Or maybe you're sitting there thinking "I'm all for that!" I don't mean to freak anyone out...but it's something that we are asking ourselves pretty much daily lately...how does the church need to change in order to reach the unreached??
You see, in Poland we have a pretty serious situation when it comes to the state of the evangelical church. Some people, unknowingly, might think that this country is a Christian nation simply because there are a lot of people going to mass on Sunday mornings. [Poland is not like most of western Europe where churches remain empty...in Poland it's standing-room-only at many Catholic churches on Sunday mornings.] But when you get past the religious-looking exterior you will find that people maintain their connection to Catholicism most often because it is so tightly woven into the fabric of their culture. In other words, to be Polish is to be Catholic....period.
Why the state of emergency? Poland is starting to go the way of western Europe. Especially with younger generations, youth and young adults are wanting less and less to do with organized religion. They are sick of being forced to attend religious events: religious education class (mandatory in Polish public schools), 1st communion requirements, mass every week -- or at least on major holidays, etc. They are tired of being told that they need to submit to some personally unknown authority -- the priest, the church in general, and especially the authority of God. All of this leads to a complete disconnect from spiritual things.
Does any of this sound familiar...close to home? Our website is being featured this week by student.org. It would be interesting to know if any of the students who frequent that site are familiar with these kinds of attitudes as seen in so many of the young people in Poland.
More on this soon...
You see, in Poland we have a pretty serious situation when it comes to the state of the evangelical church. Some people, unknowingly, might think that this country is a Christian nation simply because there are a lot of people going to mass on Sunday mornings. [Poland is not like most of western Europe where churches remain empty...in Poland it's standing-room-only at many Catholic churches on Sunday mornings.] But when you get past the religious-looking exterior you will find that people maintain their connection to Catholicism most often because it is so tightly woven into the fabric of their culture. In other words, to be Polish is to be Catholic....period.
Why the state of emergency? Poland is starting to go the way of western Europe. Especially with younger generations, youth and young adults are wanting less and less to do with organized religion. They are sick of being forced to attend religious events: religious education class (mandatory in Polish public schools), 1st communion requirements, mass every week -- or at least on major holidays, etc. They are tired of being told that they need to submit to some personally unknown authority -- the priest, the church in general, and especially the authority of God. All of this leads to a complete disconnect from spiritual things.
Does any of this sound familiar...close to home? Our website is being featured this week by student.org. It would be interesting to know if any of the students who frequent that site are familiar with these kinds of attitudes as seen in so many of the young people in Poland.
posted by Michael Shattuck at
8:43 AM
2 Comments:
shattuck-i am a rookie blogger too--so i hope i am within the boundaries to respond in the method I am. That said, has the Catholic church in Poland indentified these same issues (the ones you described of younger generations detaching)? Are they making any changes to address these issues?
There is no doubt these same issues are a a part of American culture. Every generation sees less attendance in church and even the participation in the outwrd disciplines. However, they are searching, so spirituality in the geneal sense, does seem to be on the rise.
So Poland has the same issue suburb churches have in America--how do we engage people who want nothing to do with what they consider the "traditional church"? How can we make Christ attractive and not water down the tenets of following Christ?
Of course you're "within the boundaries" to reply like that!
The Catholic church is I'm sure aware of the problem as they've been trying to revamp some things of their own, doing some ad compaigns pumping up the "quality" of Poland's Catholic church scene (as compared to esp W. Europe). But if any specific studies have been done it is extremely unlikely that they would ever fall into the hands of evangelicals.
Your last paragraph was exactly what I was implying...the problems are much like that of suburban-US. That's exactly why this can be interesting to dialogue about all of this b/c likely folks there aren't aware of the similiarities we are facing.
I'll write up another main post in the next few days that asks addresses the questions you asked. I would love to hear more peoples' opinions on this. I have some theories that come from life/ministry in the US and now the same here (for 2+ years anyway). But at this point, they're just that -- theories.
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