There is hope for the church in Canada! No longer is the picture one of demise! These are encouraging thoughts I picked up from an interview with Reginald Bibbey, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge, that took place at the Canadian version of Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit at the end of September. Many of these thoughts and the related statistics are backed up by research found in Bibbey’s latest book, “Beyond the Gods & Back: Religion’s Demise and Rise and Why It Matters.”
According to Bibbey’s research, several encouraging signs are emerging on the horizon of Canadian culture: (1) what we call the secularization of our country has pretty well bottomed out; (2) the decline in participation in organized religion is no longer a fact and could potentially turn around; (3) significant numbers of Canadians raised in homes without faith, are over time embracing some sort of faith, discovering that they have needs that can only be answered by “the gods,” whoever they may be.
Bibbey sees two groups in Canada who are best positioned to work with this growing yearning in the next generation for answers that only faith can provide, namely the Evangelical and Roman Catholic faith communities.
Bibbey then shared what for me was an amazing statistic. He claims that 50% of adults and 40% of teens who do not regularly participate in any faith community, would engage with a faith community, if they perceived doing so would be more worthwhile.
And what would make a faith community more worthwhile? Bibbey gave two initial statements followed up by a third. So firstly that the faith community would actually address deep felt spiritual needs. What that might mean is all over the map, but what is clear is that there is a deep desire to connect with spiritual side of who we are on the part of Canadians.
Secondly, Canadians are looking for a faith community that can touch deep personal needs. We’re talking communities that can address hurt; communities that can help us figure out how to live our lives in a way that makes sense. Thirdly, and Bibbey saw this particularly among youth in Canada, if a faith community actually demonstrated love. If love was tangible in how we related to one another, as well as with people who are different than us. The thrust of the session included a call for us to demonstrate love to the marginalized, those with differing values, or those of varying ethnicities.
And it struck me as Bibbey was talking, that what he was saying is that there are three things that Canadians are yearning to get from a church family, those three things being FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. I was reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, “Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT).
FAITH that addresses the deep issues of spiritual yearning that is found at the core, the heart of every Canadian. HOPE that emerges from the ache that comes from living with so much brokenness and hurt in our world. And LOVE, crazy, forgiving, I’ll put your needs over my needs kind of love; love that embraces people far different than myself.
Faith, hope and love – that’s what Canadians are looking for. And if they can find it in our church community they say they’re willing to give it a try. So let’s rise to the challenge and allow Jesus to form us into communities of Faith, Hope and Love. All that Canadians are really asking of us, is that we be what we’re supposed to be! Imagine that!
