{"id":1114,"date":"2009-01-22T22:17:20","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T06:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/01\/22\/state-of-the-canadian-church\/"},"modified":"2019-10-20T14:39:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T22:39:44","slug":"state-of-the-canadian-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/01\/22\/state-of-the-canadian-church\/","title":{"rendered":"state of the Canadian church"},"content":{"rendered":"
canadianchristianity.com is publishing a series of articles describing the state of the Canadian church. This must be an annual thing, because they published a series of seven articles<\/a> last year. Today’s article is called "Protestant realignment<\/a>". I thought I’d highlight a few paragraphs that struck me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First of all, the third point of the writer, Jim Coggins:<\/p>\n Third, there is an increasingly large number of people who are unconnected to any organized religion. This group probably constitutes the largest group of those leaving mainline Protestant churches (and includes some leaving Roman Catholic and evangelical churches as well). These are people who often consider themselves spiritual without being religious, and who are determined to define their own beliefs rather than accept the doctrine of any religious authority.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This is what we have been dealing with in 23 years of ministry. It is very frustrating to make many efforts to reach lost people in our almost totally (and deliberately) secular society, only to see the gospel simply dismissed. Coggins captures our frustrations with one sentence:<\/p>\n\n
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