Death of the Church Part 1

My local community newspaper recently ran a front page story about a local Anglican faith community coming to the end of its time. It was written predictably from the persepctive of needing to find "people who will join" so that the institution can be sustained. 


My response might seem a little caustic but I think we need to speak up about the view of church (and indeed community) that's inherent in such an article and so below is what I wrote in response.

I know that the people of St Stephen's Anglican Church Warrandyte are trying hard to be faithful, but I see this type of story through a different lens. After 140 years of faith development at St Stephen's, faith comes down to this - that local people be encouraged to attend "club like" so that an institution and buildings can survive. No wonder so called "traditional" Christian expressions are dying while emergent church and new forms of other faiths are the fresh forms of religion.