mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) (05/29/90)
>I would make my guesses the other way: _Most_ people [Protestants, Catholics, >Hindus, Muslims et al.] choose their "church" [fill in appropriate substitute] >because they are born into it. They are what their parents are. Historically, somewhere over 50% of Epsicopalians come into the church either as adult converts or from other denominations. -- C. Wingate + "The peace of God, it is no peace, + but strife closed in the sod. mangoe@cs.umd.edu + Yet let us pray for but one thing-- mimsy!mangoe + the marv'lous peace of God."
morrow@uunet.uu.net ( config) (06/05/90)
In article <May.29.03.41.32.1990.2540@athos.rutgers.edu> mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) writes: >>I would make my guesses the other way: _Most_ people [Protestants, Catholics, >>Hindus, Muslims et al.] choose their "church" [fill in appropriate substitute] >>because they are born into it. They are what their parents are. > >Historically, somewhere over 50% of Epsicopalians come into the church >either as adult converts or from other denominations. The Presbyterian Church in Canada, of which I am a Ruling Elder, recently stated that the last census in Canada produced a number in excess of 250,000 indicating that they were Presbyterians. The membership rolls of the church's congregations identified approximately 80,000 active members (on the rolls, having attended Communion at least once in recent history). The question here is "Where are those other 170,000+ Presbyterians?". The Presbyterian Church in Canada isn't alone in this situation. The Anglicans, United Church, Baptists, and even the Roman Catholics noted the same (though different span) difference in numbers between the census and parish/congregational records. On the topic of "choosing" one's denomination, I find, tlaking to my friends (of many different denominations) that they really look for a congregation first. With the Roman Catholic and Anglicans this is harder to do given dogmatic and theological differences. I found that between the "Protestant" denominations, there are less restrictions since quite often, it's the congregational practices which are important. (My wife and I prefer traditional ...i.e. Scots Prebyterian/Calvinist Reform..... liturgy with conservative music (16th C. Anglican, Bach, Wesley etc.) It is our choice, naturally. This is not to say that the Roman Catholic and Anglican rites are the same wherever one goes. I've attended a Sunday mass at a local RC church in my hometown of Montreal (I was brought up Anglican and was a choirboy... I literally "sang" my way through university) where the liturgy was so close to the Anglican service I was brought up on, the only difference I could detect was that the wafer only was distributed. Likewise, I've sung in Anglican churches which were so "high" the vernacular in the service seemed inappropriate. Now, being a member of the Presbyterian Church, I find myself in the position of having a clear understanding of the similarities and differences between the denominations. We're not that far off, you know. We all know and love Jesus Christ and accept him in our lives. BOB