Greetings Friends,
When I return to divinity school in the Fall, it will be time to begin my master’s thesis on some contemporary problem of religious life with the goal of offering some constructive contribution toward the issue. My project will be centered around the rapid decline of church participation, particularly within the Mainline traditions, with the hope of emboldening these traditions to more clearly state what they have to offer this weary world: the ability to shepherd uncertainty.
With this in mind, let’s just say when I’m not tending to church work, I’m doing A LOT of reading! This week, I’ve been engaging with the book The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham which offers a sweeping sociological look at who’s leaving the church, why they’re leaving, and what it will take to bring them back. The biggest takeaway from the book so far is that we are experiencing a crisis of belonging. People don’t feel like they fit in with their communities of faith and cite not feeling loved by the congregations from which they were a part.
To put it simply: church has become cliquey. Churches feel like country clubs or sports leagues, and if you could spend your Sundays engaging with the latter, what makes the former special and worthy of your time? Davis and Graham’s solution to this problem is that we need to learn how to be quiet, calm, and curious — to extend a posture of care to the rest of the world just as God extends care to us. That is where belonging is found: the knowing that someone cares for us deeply and truly. It’s how a community shows up for one another in the midst of profound tragedy. How a simple gift to someone says, “I see you.” How a hug can relax the whole body. In these ways and in so many others, our sense of belonging is entangled with how cared for we feel, and this is what the church needs to offer the world in this season of profound uncertainty.
There are many ways in which we can participate in this care at FCC Loveland:
- Our July Community Kitchen volunteer opportunity is this Saturday from 2-5pm. Come out and care for our wider community through the blessing of a meal.
- Next Tuesday, July 15th @ 7pm our Sacred Belonging Bible Study will begin in the fellowship hall. Come explore further what it means to belong to God, to one another, and to the whole of Creation.
- A reminder that my office hours are Wednesdays from 9am-1pm. Come stop by if you’d like to chat about anything and everything!
- Worship on Sundays! Yes, the most obvious, but consider extending a welcome to a friend, neighbor, or colleague. You never know who may just be waiting for an invitation.
In care and love,
Delaney (they/them)
Interim Pastor
