How is the Church responding to shifting culture?
New book seeks to understand how the church is adapting to cultural upheaval
Canada is home to one of the most multi-ethnic, multicultural, multi-religious populations on the planet and we’re facing some of the most significant cultural upheavals in our nation’s history. So, what does this mean for the church?
World Vision set out to uncover what the Canadian local church is doing to answer this very question as they release the stories of 40 dynamic churches (of 25 denominations) in Shifting Stats: Shaking the Church, co-authored by Patricia Paddey and Karen Stiller.
In 2014, World Vision Canada’s Church Engagement team hosted forums for church leaders in 10 Canadian cities, engaging over 800 leaders from a variety of denominations. Using current statistics and church research, the book paints a clear picture of Canada’s Shifting Stats – a new cultural and religious landscape.
In an interview with 100 Huntley Street, Connie denBok lead pastor at Alderwood United Church explains the shift.
“Are we scared? Well we’re not scared for the Gospel, because that’s eternal. But what’s becoming evident is that the way of doing church, to which we’ve become accustom, we’re really very good at it, what worked brilliantly 50 years ago institutionally isn’t working now,” denBok says. “We masked that decline for a number of years… By putting on brilliant programs and by staffing we could keep people so entertained we didn’t realize we weren’t really deeply engaging them with God in a way that they would sustain when we weren’t doing our programs.”
With input from the 2014 forums, World Vision gathered great stories of churches creatively and effectively responding to the shifting stats – feeding students, coming alongside immigrants and refugees, building bridges with single parents, and reshaping tradition.
Veteran journalists Paddey and Stiller then connected with churches nationwide to collect and tell these 40 stories of hope to those wondering how they might respond where they have been placed, from Newfoundland to Yukon Territory.
You can purchase Shifting Stats: Shaking the Church here.
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