Away From and Toward: Emerging Hope and the Dreaming of Dreams.

“…For all sorts of reasons, people are leaving the church. Some leave their faith behind as well, a number even find a stronger, more mature faith outside the church.

 

Paul writes - I’ve chosen to explore, in practice, what New Zealand Baptist Pastor and Sociologist Alan Jamieson terms “a churchless faith.” I’ve chosen to move away from particular types and experiences of church, and toward new possibilities, new hope, and new dreams.

For me, the choice to leave the congregation I had belonged to for many years was definitely not an easy or straightforward one. It was, in my case, neither a rejection of Christianity nor a “going back” on my belief that the Church, in all its forms and locations, is a vital and important part of God’s loving and redemptive purposes…”

The latest issue of EMERGINGCHURCH.info has published a therapeutic essay which captures some of the reasons why I’m exploring a “churchless faith.” Link is here.

Comments

[jonny]

paul thanks - great article... hope you are well.

[Gordon]

Thanks for the blog and the article. Having read Alan's book I'm fairly interested in this discussion.

Is there a correlation with the kind of feelings that you express and a particular model of church that centres its identity soley around what it does on a sunday?

Or does it also extend further into models of church that express themselves through community engagement?

[DangerMouse]

That really resonnates for me too. Especially at the moment the first part of the first bullet: "I reflected long and hard on the very conditional and utilitarian nature of relationships, the absence of genuine friendships, the absence of deep community, of shared interests, and of shared experiences."

I'm finally ready (I think) to leave properly and find something new. I probably will spend some time allowing myself to feel the loss of everything first though and take my time. Ironically I don't feel in a rush.

Good luck with your journey.

DM

[Paul Fromont]

Gordon. Good questions.Quick answer. For me, "yes" there was a strong link between how we were church, and the particular "diet" that I needed as part of my growth and faith-development. As my story hopefully reflects, there was more to my finding myself on the edge of belonging than just me-centred needs and the model of church. I can't comment on the second part of your question - that way of being church hasn't been my experience.

DM - May you find what you're looking for and needing too. May your journey be rich and deep.

[Fyfe]

Thanks for this article and your personal story. Reckon, as with Alan's research that in NZ as much as I see that would be truer for most as well and to be honest the ISM is killing the truer call of ecclesia. I also like your earlier blog re mission before community. Here in Dunedin we are wrestling these issues and our Caim and renewed worship formats are actually starting to allow people to respond and go deeper where they are at. But it is a hard road.

JAroslav Pelikan writes "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism, the dead faith of the living"

By the way, I will post something in response to your question of Charry book.