Winnipeg ministry conference seeks the “spiritual but not religious”
WINNIPEG, MB—How can churches thrive in the 21st century and connect with people who define themselves as "spiritual but not religious?"
That was the main question at Holy Shift: Christianity After Religion, a conference for church leaders and lay people held in Winnipeg in early June.
"People who are working in a church context realize our churches are getting smaller and our churches are getting emptier and our churches are getting fewer, and yet while that's happening, the 'spiritual but not religious' demographic is growing," says Greg Glatz, minister at Westminster United Church, who organized the conference.
"We want to help churches connect with the spiritual but not religious demographic."
The conference featured keynote addresses by Diana Butler Bass, a speaker and author whose 2012 book Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening deals with the topic.
"Diana has done a good job of breaking down religious trends in the 21st century in a language everyone can understand," Glatz says.
The conference also included sessions led by six local speakers, including Jamie Howison of St. Benedict's Table, who spoke about his book God's Mind In That Music, which explores the intersection of spirituality and jazz in the music of John Coltrane.
Glatz says that in his current ministry context, one thing he has done to reach out to the spiritual but not religious demographic is organize a small group that met not only for reading and reflection, but also to share meals together as well as do service projects together.
"Connecting around food and putting action behind words are huge," Glatz says. "People want to have time for reading and reflection, but it can't just be that anymore."
"I think people want to feel like they're making a different world," he adds, "not just retreating from the world."
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