Days 273-274 – 2/21-22/12 – Church Attrition (poignant)

Williamsburg to Russellville; Distance = 30 Miles; People Met = 8

We met a very kind man in Russellville, a faith-based version of John Nicholas.  Jim Potts is one of the elders for the Russellville United Methodist Church where we are staying for a few nights.  He came over bearing gifts:  fruits, hot chocolate and New Testament books.  The latter gift bears witness to his deep faith, which he relies on heavily these past six years with his physical problems (we didn’t ask).

Jim took us to the sanctuary where he prayed with us.  Nothing unusual there; people have prayed for us all across the country.  More unusual was what Jim did when we went down to the kitchen to finish cooking our supper.  While we ate, Jim sang us a hymn from the hymnist he adores, Frances Jane Crosby.  The hymn was Safe in the Arms of Jesus.  His rendition of the hymn was subdued, as if engaged in prayer rather than a hymn.

You get the sense that in addition to his physical pain, Jim is sad.  His faith is his comforter, yet even in this regards Jim’s church is confronted with the attrition plaguing many faith-based groups across the country.  Indeed, he asked us to pray for his church, which now numbers 15-20 at a Sunday service, and for churches everywhere.

The plight of churches is not quite as bad as Jim laments.  Yes, there has been steady attrition for faith-based groups over recent decades, but also for community organizations and for town meetings.  In my mind, as I share in my talks across the country, there are similar roots for all these forms of attrition.  Households are working too long to involve ourselves with many social activities, including church, and we are part of a “marketing culture” that fosters antisocial beliefs and behaviors in us.  Address these root causes and attrition for community organizations, faith-based groups, etc. would be curbed.

For that matter, some churches are doing well.  They often have “nondenominational” or “community” attached to their names, instead of Methodist, Catholic or UCC.  This provides further hope for faith-based groups in general, though disconcerting for some specific denominations.  Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned there.

My opinion:  as long as there is kindness in the world there will be faith, and vice-versa.  That’s not implying anything negative about people without faith, also capable of abundant kindness as we have witnessed on our journey.  Yet faith in something that transcends us and faith in each other fit together well like a favorite pair of jeans.  In both cases such faith is fueled by kindness.

I’m sure none of this would provide much consolation to Jim Potts.  All this abundantly kind man has is his faith; all this abundantly kind man has known and experienced in regards to his faith is his church, now dying.  Asking him to consider the larger picture does nothing for his immediate concerns.  There are many people like Jim across the country, weary yet everlastingly kind.  My heart and prayers go out to them; that they might find themselves “safe in the arms of Jesus.”

Photos

Gloria and Alberta of the Russellville public library let us take a movie out

Christy and Shel treated us to sodas at their deli in Ardheim

Jennifer at the Family Dollar in Russellville

No garage is complete without one

I always thought Snoopy was a Beagle