What’s happening in the church in New Zealand?

Alan Jamieson writes – Three events last week have left me wondering about the degree of diversity and change in the church today. On Tuesday (21^st June) Prof. Peter Lineham of Massey University hosted a conference on Church attendance in New Zealand. Drawing on census data, telephone polls and an extensive analysis of the 2001 National Church Life Survey key trends were highlighted.

Here are a few:

• Bringing together four recent telephone polls it would seem around 13% of New Zealanders attend church each week and up to a total of 24% monthly. The Catholic Church represents approximately a third of these attendances.

• There is currently little research on church life in New Zealand and less denominational money is being invested in research.

• The average age of New Zealanders is 38 years. The average age of Pakeha protestant church attenders is between 52 and 62 years      

• Around a third of Auckland’s population were born outside of New Zealand. This makes the Auckland situation unique and this immigrant growth represents a sizeable proportion of the buoyancy in Auckland churches – especially Pacifica and Asian churches.

• The most likely age group to visit a church and try a service are 20-24 year olds. They are also the most mobile church attenders    

• The most unstable attenders (likely to leave) are 20 to 30 year olds          

The day was fascinating and left my head spinning with numbers and graphs. 

The second event was the first Facilitator training day run by Spirited Exchanges. Twenty people were involved coming from Christchurch, Nelson, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Auckland and Wellington to be part of the training.  In fact it was over subscribed and others were put onto a waiting list for next time.  The weekend was rich with people’s stories and struggles.

During the weekend material on church leavers, personal journeys of faith, facilitation techniques, Spirited Exchanges ethos and faith stages were covered. A mock spirited exchanges discussion group was created on the Saturday evening and then debriefed and analyzed on Sunday morning. A very rich weekend. There appears to be a growing interest in faith beyond the church and groups that can facilitate people’s ongoing exploration of faith and life together.

Finally, the last edition of Reality magazine came out last week. Reality has served a large sector of the Christian community for many years and it is huge loss to see it cut.  For many writers and readers interested in developing face of the Christian church the loss of Reality will be keenly felt. I wonder if it is possible to keep Reality going without Bible College backing it?