New workbook seeks to equip churches for a spiritual age
One of the authors of the recently published Equipping Your Church for a Spiritual Age shares his story of why this new publication is needed to equip the church to respond positively to the increasing tide of spiritual interest and soul searching going on in contemporary society.
“Although I was brought up with church I never felt either fulfilled or in a real relationship with God through the teaching and rituals I experienced in Church.” said Steve Hollinghurst , Researcher in Evangelism to Post-Christian Culture at Church Army’s Sheffield Centre .
Steve turned his back on all things church in his early teens and within a few years was into the occult, tarot, astrology and ritual magic. He explains, “When I turned my back on church I didn’t turn my back on God, but wanted to see if I could find Him through another route other than Christianity. I quickly found that I replaced one set of rituals with another, albeit different set, but things still lacked meaning for me.
“One day, I felt God calling me back to Christianity and read through the whole of the Gospel of Luke at one sitting and fell in love with the person of Jesus and knew He was what I was looking for. Over a period of about two years I shifted from my occultism to full, Christian commitment and eventually became ordained. This background gives me a valuable insight into those who seek enlightenment through alternative spiritualities and this is why I know the church has to take this issue seriously.”
Statistics show that New Age ideas or modern Paganism are increasingly becoming the major spiritual influence on the mainstream of our culture. We live in a country where there are more alternative therapists than GP’s and nearly half of those who believe in life after death believe in re-incarnation. Almost 50% of the population believe that life is determined in such a way that one can use fortune telling to understand it and around 20% of the population say they actually use fortune telling to help live their lives and take important decisions.
“Today a far more spiritual nation is open to many gods and is posing different questions. The Church desperately needs to be equipped for this new spiritual age and our workbook aims to help them achieve just that.” states Steve.
The workbook gives many practical ideas to suit every type of church with examples of authentic Christian responses to different cultures and mission challenges. Drawing on experiences from traditional evangelicalism to New Age experiences, the authors explore the key beliefs of those who do not attend church and suggests innovative ways of engaging with them. Topics covered include celebrating the Christian festivals, rites of passage, times and seasons, healing, witn ess in the workplace, and the church as the spiritual focus of the community.
You can order your copy of Equipping Your Church in a Spiritual Age for £9.99 (including p&p) from GfE book offer, c/o Evangelism and Church Planting, Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5JR. Cheques should be made payable to Group for Evangelisation
For more information check out www.churchinaspiritualage.org.uk and www.ciasa.org.uk
