Hello Everyone. According to Statistics Canada, in recent decades “… religious affiliation, the frequency of participation in group religious activities, the frequency of engaging in religious or spiritual activities on one’s own, and the importance placed on religious and spiritual beliefs in one’s life, have all tended to decline … Compared with individuals born in Canada, those born outside Canada were more likely to report having a religious affiliation, to consider their religious and spiritual beliefs important to how they live their lives, and to engage in religious activities in groups or on their own.”
Why the decline? Could it be that with an increase of more than 120 denominations in Canada since 1980, people are wondering who to believe?
Maybe with so many Bible translations – some literal “word-for-word”, some functional “thought-for-thought” and some modern language updates – people can’t decide which translation to trust.
Might people be longing for love that accepts them; joy in their relationship with God; peace that passes all understanding; patience when they make a mistake; kind, gentle words when someone corrects them; actions embedded in goodness; faithfulness to the word of God; self-controlled leaders; and not be finding these characteristics in a church? (Galatians 5: 22-23)
Maybe it’s because church leaders are guilty of doing what Jesus spoke against, specifically, “… they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matthew 23:4)
Maybe it’s because people live in a world of distractions that have caused them to lose focus. Might life-threatening illnesses, the wars and the rumours of wars have caused them to lose hope, to stop believing that God is love and that He personally cares for them?
Many people, not just seniors, are being left behind by social media and new technologies. Many families are displaced from their homelands; some families are splintered by separation and divorce. Might these factors be contributing to the decline that is showing up in the statistics?
May God help us find the reasons for the decline and the wisdom to address them. Amen.