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A Belfast Presbyterian minister has warned that what churches offer worshippers on a Sunday morning often fails to connect with the rest of their lives from the time they leave a service until they come back the next week; if they ever do. 'It is not that churches aren't trying to be relevant and helpful,' says Rev Norman Hamilton, minister of Ballysillan Presbyterian Church, 'it's just that we have built church around structures and activities that no longer work properly in today's world.'
Mr Hamilton's report entitled, 'Reconnecting with a Missing Generation,' was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church's Board of Mission in Ireland and the North Belfast Presbytery and is launched today, Wednesday 8 November, at 12noon in Malone Presbyterian Church, at the junction of Balmoral Avenue and Lisburn Road as part of a conference looking at Churches in the Urban Environment.
'We are facing up to the realities on the ground and church leaders, ministers and elders are now prepared to make difficult choices and set new priorities. This report is designed to sharpen our thinking and encourage us to radical yet Biblically faithful action.'
The report is based on a detailed analysis of ten Presbyterian congregations in Belfast and recent similar research in England. It looks particularly at the 25-44 age group which is hugely under represented in the church population compared to the census figures.
'Tentatively we are suggesting that people in this age group are looking for, but not finding, meaningful relationships or community within our churches,' says Mr Hamilton. 'Being made to feel welcome and at home in a church is a very important factor in continued attendance. We are good at providing an initial welcome but that needs to extend beyond the church door and be seen as the beginning of a worthwhile relationship.
'Very much connected to belonging is acceptance. The perception among this age group is that church is for 'good people.' Being 'not good enough' to attend church arguably stems form the teaching on 'good living' which emphasises a strict regime of minimum standards of lifestyle and this mindset renders relationship building very difficult. There seems to be a theological bias in our churches that teaches of the awfulness of sin but under emphasises grace, mercy and forgiveness. Instead of preaching at non-Christians, and reinforcing their view that there is a necessary minimum standard even for church attendance, church leaders need to put a greater emphasis on the church as a place of restoration for broken and hurting people, to God and to one another. This needs to be expressed explicitly (in words) but also in action, and in tone and emphasis,' continued Mr Hamilton.
The report also suggests that worship needs to be attractive and relevant with many respondents considering teaching as an important reason for church involvement. However the sermon attracted many negative comments, particularly irrelevance. 'We should be prepared to make changes to our worship and our sermons so that people can relate much better to them ' concludes Mr Hamilton. 'We should be prepared to change things that those of us in the church are comfortable with for the sake of those outside who are not.'
While the full report runs to 68 pages, a 28 page summary including 15 conclusions is available from Presbyterian Church House or on the internet at www.presbyterianireland.org/statements
Issued by Stephen Lynas, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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