Trust, Pyjamas and the ‘Why’
DO YOU remember this childhood rhyme? Your fingers contorted to facilitate the hand origami: This is the church; this is the steeple; open the door; here are the people.
At this stage my fingers would fail me, and every time I opened the church doors there wouldn’t be fingers wiggling as people, just my empty palms:
This is the church; this is the steeple;
open the door; where are the people?
Obviously, I’ve changed the ending, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s closer to the truth now. As I travel around our island of Ireland, too many churches are empty. Where have the people gone? Where has the church gone?
Nicky Gumbel once said, “An empty church building is like an empty palace of a long-forgotten king – people walk past and think that the king is dead.”
There is no doubt that our hillsides and streets are still full of church buildings and that many good things are being done in the name of God and through the church; but statistically, in attendance, there is a drought. Some say this is the way it has always been and forever will be, or alternatively that it is just a season. Young adults, older youths, young professionals - so the argument goes - they come as kids and return as parents. If so, it appears that their most formative years are spent disconnected both by name and heritage to the body of Christ? Why?
* Full article available in printed copies.
Greg Fromholz
is the Young Adults Co-ordinator for Dublin and Glendalough, co-founder of Holy Trinity Rathmines’ New Expressions and Rubicon, and author of Broken: Restoring Trust between the Sacred and the Secular.