Spiritual Sustainability

John writes about the form and content of New Church worship practiced today and explains why he feels these must change if the church is to grow and thrive in the next century. What would the church need to look and feel like for you to enthusiastically invite acquaintances to come? Here is one response. -Editor

Author's Note: This paper contains references to and supports Derek Elphick’s articles entitled “What is Our Message” in the Jan/Feb and Mar/Apr 2011 issues of New Church Life.

There is an acknowledgement of the Lord from wisdom and there is an acknowledgement of the Lord from love. Acknowledgement of the Lord from wisdom, which in its own right is only a kind of knowing, comes from a belief system. Acknowledgement of the Lord from love comes from living what that belief system teaches. This latter brings about union, the other brings about presence. (Divine Providence 91.2)

The current global interest in ‘sustainability’ centers on the physical environment with concerns about population growth, water and food security, climate change, biodiversity etc. These issues are not going to be resolved unless the current cults of materialism, political extremism, and science based atheism are replaced by a belief in God. This paper is concerned with spiritual sustainability related to the Judeo/Christian tradition, without which the world will be rudderless. It is more specifically concerned about the lack of sustainability in the current New Church organizations.

The General Church (GC) and other New Church organizations have struggled to sustain their membership numerically during the twentieth century and there is little prospect of this changing without a radical rethink of our current forms of worship. The world’s population doubled between 1970 and 2011 from 3.5 billion to 7 billion. General Church membership rose from 3238 to +/- 5500 during the same period which is disappointing bearing in mind the large size of many GC families and that the New Church is arguably the most radical religion on earth. It appears that other New Church organizations have fared no better.

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