Monday, June 24, 2013

Church of England Seeks to be Pagan-Friendly

Ministers are being trained to create new forms of Anglicanism suitable for people of alternative beliefs as part of a Church of England drive to retain congregation numbers.

Reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a researcher and adviser in new religious movements told the BBC: “I would be looking to formulate an exploration of the Christian faith that would be at home in their culture.” It would be “almost to create a pagan church where Christianity was very much in the centre.”…


Andrea Campenale, of the Church Mission Society, said: “Nowadays people, they want to feel something; they want to have some sense of experience. We live in reflective England where there’s much more of a focus on ourselves. I think that is something we can bring in dialogue with the Christian society.” 

("Church of England creating 'pagan church' to recruit members," news story in the Telegraph, June 24)

Wow. The Church of England takes the next wild and wacky step into apostasy.

And yet I fear that the trends which now dominate American evangelicalism -- entertainment, the insistence on being part of a popular and hep community, freedom from a careful study of (let alone adherence to) divinely revealed truth, and the continual quest for an emotionally intense, feel-good experience -- are taking us down the very same path.

"When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)

Related posts:

American Christianity: A Historic, Revealed Faith or Just A Feel-Good Experience?

The NAE Invites Me to a Ron Sider, Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo Party

As If He Wasn't Heterodox Enough, Rob Bell Comes Out for Same-Sex Marriage

The Inauguration Prayer: America's Old Heresy Is New Again

“I Don’t Like Those Bible Studies Where They Study the Bible.”