Church Tomorrow interviews “nones and dones”—people who do not attend church—about their spirituality, as well as their sources of community and meaning. I found it illuminating. I share their desires and understand the reasons behind their frustration. They want more participation with less rigid institutional structure.
This book highlights the fact that spirituality is alive and well among those that don’t go to church. It just cannot remain confined within it. So if we are interested in keeping church relevant, it must expand to be more inclusive and engaging, as well as less prescriptive. We need to be in the community more instead of expecting the community to come to us. We need to honor and cultivate people’s natural indwelling spirituality, instead of offering a top down approach.
You may also desire to get the insights this book offers. I give it four stars.
Re the book “Church Tomorrow”: When I was a teenager I went to church with a friend. At the end of the service they had an “altar call” and some lady came up to me and said I needed to go up front and they would pray for me and I could confess my sins. I didn’t feel that I had any sins to confess, so church was done for me. Then in my fifties I read a book by Shirley McLaine called “Out on a Limb” and that started my spiritual journey. Since then I have found great peace in my own practice of meditation, prayer and just knowing that God loves me no matter what, and that all is well. No fire and damnation, just love. My soul lives on forever.
Exactly! Only Love.
Looks like a MUST READ for the few of us left at our church!! Thanks for suggesting this Polly