Letter to the editor : Stop signs on the road to spiritual growth

Notes: "To grow or not to grow ? That is the question. And rightly so." "The church is drifting in a trichotomy: the traditionalist, liturgical, local, priest-centred gatherings; the congregations with a vicar who has only one vote on how the services and outreach are conducted; and the bishop-led hierarchy with all the trappings, traditions and ceremonies of the Middle Ages". "The first and the third groups will die out, as they ought to. The other assemblies will grow, not because they want to, but because they want to serve the world, not themselves. They will reach out and strangers will shake their hands and find a welcome and a fellowship that makes sense to them. People who do not offer sweet, inane answers to serious problems but just 'are there' to comfort and genuinely befriend. The first and third won't be able to keep people in; the second won't be able to keep them out".

Subjects: Church growth - Anglican Church of Canada; Anglican Church of Canada - Forecasting