Ashoka
Bob Smietana: Why the decline of the church matters to everyone?
“In a world where polarization and fear often dominate conversations and relationships, Smietana says, people need what the church has. Sometimes that means skills such as asking forgiveness, admitting that you need help and understanding that you can dislike someone yet still see them as a person of worth and a neighbor. Churches also have the capacity and expertise to offer food to the hungry, shelter to the unhoused, and large-scale relief efforts. But as the number and the size of churches decline and fewer and fewer people are members of congregations, that is slowly disappearing. And it won’t be replaced, Smietana said. ‘It’s like religious climate change,’ he said. ‘What churches do right now will really make a difference long term. Because if you let it go, it isn’t coming back.’”
Ashoka insight
In many parts of the world, trends are similar: more and more people consider themselves “spiritual but not religious” and are seeking spiritual practice and community in new ways and new places – often unbundling the elements that have comprised the package of activities and support systems in established faith traditions. In the context of the United States, faith-based communities and organizations provide services to large portions of the population. As the interest in attending worship services in person or being part of a faith tradition is going down, the economics of that model may be threatened, and with it the countless organizations and people who depend on the support of faith communities. Bob Smietana points out the need for faith communities to identify new ways of serving society, providing spiritual belonging and a community supporting people on their inner/spiritual journey, and taking collective action.
If you are grounded in a faith tradition, what aspects of it contribute to your changemaking?
How does your spiritual community relate to the changes that Bob is describing?
Where are you finding spiritual nurture?