What a surprise.
From here:
The paper’s authors state that by “conservative,” they mean views that are typically held by conservative Protestants, such as a high regard for the authority of the Bible, a literal belief in teachings such as the deity and resurrection of Christ, and a belief that Christianity is true to the exclusion of other religions.
The article summarizes the results of a recent study done of 22 churches in southern Ontario, drawn from the Anglican Church of Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Church of Canada. Seeking to identify the possible reasons for growth and decline among mainline Protestant churches, the authors looked at both churches that had gained and lost congregants over the previous 10 years. It surveyed 2,255 regular attendants and 29 clergy on their theological views, religious practices and other matters; the study also involved interviews of clergy and selected congregants.
I think this is one of the most telling parts of the study:
The survey found that both congregants and clergy of growing churches tended to score highly on a questionnaire intended to gauge their theological conservatism. For example, asked to agree or disagree with the statement, “Jesus rose from the dead with a real, flesh-and-blood body leaving behind an empty tomb,” 93 per cent of clergy and 83 per cent of parishioners from growing churches agreed, versus 56 per cent of clergy and 67 per cent of parishioners from declining churches. Asked to respond to the statement, “The beliefs of the Christian faith need to change over time to stay relevant,” 69 per cent of clergy from shrinking churches agreed, compared to zero per cent of clergy from growing churches.
“56 per cent of clergy” from declining churches do not believe Jesus rose bodily from the dead. As far as I can see, these clergy fail to meet one of the minimum requirements needed to claim to be Christian, which means their “churches” are not churches. What else could an organisation that poses as an imitation of the real thing do other than decline to the point of extinction? It doesn’t truly exist in the first place. Welcome to the Anglican Church of Canada.
Should that not be 44% (100-56)? Either way close to half of those clergy are non-believers of a central belief of Christ’s power.
The correct term for the so-called “Liberal” denominations is “apostate” and the ACoC and the other apostate churches are really not churches at all. A true Church is one that acknowledges the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and accepts the full authority of Scripture. Within the ACoC candidates were at one time obliged to accept both conditions but the apostate so-called bishops including the primate either do not require candidates to accept these conditions or consider such action as “window dressing”.
Good article.
But as these churches fail even them most crude definition of Christian (there is, after all, a bit more to it than belief in the resurrection), it is likely that those who still do retain a vestigial shred of symbolic orthodoxy are heterodox at heart.
It is difficult to understand how any orthodox, Bible-affirming, Christ-exalting Christian could long be content with the “leadership” offered by liberal bishops who seem more interested in political matters and probably should have run for office in the wing of some leftist political party than joined a church.
It seems that there is change in the air, however. I try to stay optimistic and travel in hope of cultural and spiritual repair after the long post-War shadow we may be emerging from. The old guard who were edgy and radical and boundary pushing in the 60’s and 70’s have reached the apex of their power and their ideological progeny are so manifestly twisted and awful that they are increasingly de-legitimising themselves.
The Church might end up being smaller, but it will be purer, and a pure Church will be able to witness more boldly to the world without the encumbrance of a large number of unbelievers pretending to be Christian while espousing the very things that St. Paul tells the Corinthians makes one not a Christian.
Even the most optimistic of clergy in the ACoC and ELCIC know neither denomination will exist in 25 years.
When I was a twenty-one year old first year seminary student in 1981 at the LTS in Saskatoon, we have over 100 students in all programmes; M.Div, STM, Bth and about 25+ on internship, with 9 full-time faculty members and at least 2 part-time lecturers. Now there are about 25 students in all programmes, including internship and 4 faculty members (with one currently on sabbatical and no hired to take over for him). The numbers are so embarrassing, the registrar will not even tell you what the enrollment even is if you phone them up and ask. The party line is “that is a difficult question to answer accurately.”
I guess the skill I learned as a 3 year old called “counting” is beyond them.