Church Signs
& Symbols - Church Services Signs
& Symbols - Church Services Look
around you in church this coming Sunday – what are
you all doing there? What
draws people to come to church, ever? Each of us has
different needs and enjoys different things, so what is
it that pulls us all together? For
some it's where we've always come on a Sunday; Sunday
wouldn't be Sunday without coming to church. 'Church'
becomes a way of living without us really thinking about
what draws us there or the reasons behind it. Are we
hypocrites? Do we just come on Sunday and then behave
badly the rest of the week? Do we use church to get our
weekly bucketful of forgiveness so we can start again? Do we
come to see our friends and make arrangements for
socialising with them, saving the money on telephone
calls? Or is it perhaps a chance to try out our new
outfits? Do we
come to feel better? To get a weekly 'fix' of happy high? Or is
it because it's our duty to come, and by doing that, no
matter how good or bad the service is, we at least feel
we've done our bit. Do we
come to bring our troubles and worries and give them to
God so we leave less anxious and more comforted? It's
amazing that church congregations work so well together
when the basic reasons of our actual being there are so
often poles apart - if not in actual conflict with each
other! So,
you may be wondering, where do the signs and symbols come
in? Well it's fundamental: we could all stay at home or
walk in the countryside but we choose to come to the same
place at the same time. Presumably if we had warm weather
and not many articles needing to be stored between
services, we could meet outside rather than in a building.
As it is, we meet in a church building, and we
deliberately plan to meet at the same time rather than
have a larger time into which we all 'drop-in' for our
own chosen shorter periods. So
'church services' are about meeting together; together
with each other and with God. The expectations we each
bring with us about God, ourselves and other people help
to shape the results of that coming together. This
month Have a
think about your own expectations – from God,
yourself and from other members of the congregation. What
do you think your part is in helping the other members to
meet their expectations? Fresh
Expressions continues to grow One
year on, Fresh Expressions continue to grow at an
extraordinary rate, according Dr. Steve Croft,
Archbishop's Missioner and leader of Fresh Expressions. "All
across the country I am hearing the soul of the Church of
England as people stand up and tell remarkable stories.
There is momentum everywhere," he has said. Fresh
Expressions was launched in February 2005 by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, and is a
joint initiative between the Church of England and Dr.
Croft said that the report, More
than 330 fresh expressions have so far been registered
representing more than 25,000 people: "But the
numbers are much higher nationwide and the true extent of
the growth of fresh expressions is, as yet, unknown,"
said Dr Croft. Church
experts now believe that such a 'mixed economy' church is
the key to future growth. Citing
the "importance of fresh expressions policies, the
renewal of vision, the support of growth and the extent
to which church leaders are backing fresh expressions,"
Dr. Croft urged the churches to continue to respond in
faith. He
added: "There is not a desire amongst people doing
fresh expressions to be separated from the church as we
think of it. Fresh expressions of church want to be
connected and to be part of the church as we know it." The
world Christian population continues to grow. It stood at
2,140 million people in the middle of 2005, the latest
published figure, some 140 million more than five years
earlier. This is one-third, 33%, of the world's
population, which stood at 6,450 million in 2005. Furthermore
the increase in Christian numbers is growing slightly
faster than the population generally, 1.3% per annum
against 1.2%. This is because of the huge continuing
growth in However,
although they have smaller numbers overall, the Muslims
and the Hindus are growing faster than the Christians.
There were 1,310 million Muslims in 2005, growing at 1.9%
per year, and 870 million Hindus, growing at 1.5% per
year, but it will be many decades before these overtake
the number of Christians! The
charismatic independent churches are growing the fastest
(2.4% per year), something which is also seen in the
growth of the charismatic black churches in the From
Dr Peter Brierley, Executive Director, Christian Research. |