Tag: Churches

TRADITIONAL CHURCHES ARE DYING

On By Everald ComptonIn Ageing, Community and Values, History, Population, religion

Census 2022 reveals that only 44% of Australians believe in God.

Back in my school days, it was 90%

Even less identify with a mainline Church.

In particular, the Uniting Church, of which I am an Elder, has had a significant drop in membership, 22% since the previous Census in 2016, with most now being over 70 years of age.

This means that the death of the Church is about a decade away.

Looking at the short history of the Uniting Church, it reveals a performance which is nothing less than a disaster.

45 years ago, I was one of the team that worked nationally to organise a union of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches and was present in Melbourne when all three Churches gathered to vote to create the Uniting Church of Australia.

We were able to announce that the new Church had 2.5 million members.

Census 2022 now reveals that the Uniting Church has only 670,000 members.

This means that 1.8 million members have been lost over a period of half a century even though the population of Australia increased by more than 25% during that time.

So it is that I regard my work in helping to create the new Church as being the greatest failure of my life and I cannot deny the fact that, as an active Elder for all of that time, I bear a share of the unavoidable responsibility for the disaster.

Why and how did it happen?

Many theories abound, but here are my thoughts on the main ones.

*The prime activity of most UC members has been to keep their local churches alive and viable no matter what the cost. There has been negligible effort to take the Church and its message out to the community even though our historical mentor, John Wesley, had set a very clear example of spending minimal time in church buildings. The world has simply passed us by as our local churches are steadily closing despite our faithful efforts.

*The outreach of the Uniting Church through its hospitals, schools, aged care, Blue Nurses, Lifeline etc was once powered in service to the community by Christians giving their time and money in huge quantities. Sadly, their involvement has been phased out as more and more government funds became available. Now, very few Christians work in those institutions. It really is stretching the truth to claim that they are faith based.

*The theology of the Uniting Church is predominantly based on words spoken 2000 years ago and fails to acknowledge that God has constantly spoken in far more meaningful ways through the lives of great Christians ever since. Most people now believe that ancient theology is irrelevant to their lives whereas personal Christian example is powerful.

*All churches, not just the Uniting Church, have a negative image in society. They opposed Same Sex Marriage, Voluntary Assisted Dying and Abortion as well as having a hideous record of Child Abuse and its illegal cover up. The advocacy of the prosperity gospel also repels millions of decent people.

So it is that most marriages and funerals don’t happen in Churches anymore as too many people simply do not want to identify, nor do they want to involve ordained clergy.

So, what do we do about it? We cannot sit around doing nothing.

We can stop living by ancient creeds and dogmas and holy attitudes and spend quality time walking with Jesus of Nazareth to create a more compassionate society. Millions of people can be successfully challenged to have Jesus as their role model and live a life based on what they believe he would do in meeting their daily challenges.

They cant see any point is giving time and money to keep Church doors open , especially when Churches like Hillsong regularly present a less than honest and decent image.

But people do want a code of values and ethics and compassion that can be the cornerstone of life.

The so-called ‘happy clappy’ Churches are only a tiny percentage of the population and have a significant turnover of members as many stay for only five years, but they have missionary zeal and constantly go out to actively enlist new members, whereas traditional churches just put up a sign saying ‘You are welcome.’

So it is that, while I still attend the Aspley Uniting Church every Sunday and chair ACTS, its community service arm, I rarely identify myself by the title of Christian or Church member.

However, I do openly and regularly raise the basis of my faith in speeches by saying,

‘I am a Partner of Jesus of Nazareth. We work together to make the world a better place.’

I welcome your company along the pilgrim way.

Sincerely

Everald

My novel, A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET, sets out my personal theology in a positive manner, expressed through the life of a man who is terminally ill.

I am happy to talk about it if you invite me to your church or club.

You can buy a signed copy on my personal website

EVERALD@LARGE

or online from any major bookstore.

BRIGHTLY FADES ELIZABETH

On By Everald ComptonIn Ageing, Good Books, Government, History, religion

The Platinum Jubilee of the longest reign in British History is over.

Despite the physical frailty of the Queen denying her the ability to attend most of its premier events, it has been a memorable success and the British people appear to have enjoyed it immensely.

Now, the monarchy will slowly fade away and in a few generations it will be no more, an historical memory of the grandeur of old England.

Indeed, the royals of all the nations who still have them will slide into obsolescence.

After all, why should the descendants of families who gained places of privilege centuries ago continue to hold a place of authority in any nation.

All leaders of whatever rank must always be chosen by the people. No one is entitled to inherit authority or entitlement.

Having said this, it would be unjust and ungracious to fail to acknowledge that Elizabeth is as fine a monarch as anyone is ever going to find in the long histories of the monarchies of the world.

She admirably represents justice, stability, decency and a total commitment to service.

Down the years, some of her family have acted like alley cats, but she coped with it with considerable grace.

But, much of her heritage is wrong.

Why should any monarch require four huge castles in which to live – Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham and Balmoral, plus several large income earning estates – when there are countless people in her nation who are homeless.

Why is she also be the spiritual head of the Church of England, when there should always be a clear separation between Church and State.

So there it is.

We can prepare for a world without Elizabeth (and her tribe).

Young 4 year old Prince Louis caught it all superbly well when the relentless media caught him yawning and groaning with boredom that most kids of his age do quite naturally. They roasted his parents for not exercising discipline. I am pleased they did not chastise him. Lois represented us all. He was thoroughly bored with all the nonsense and let the world know about it.

Your un-royal friend who gives Elizabeth a well earned cheer.

Everald.

PS. Order the book bargain of the year. Go to my website

EVERALD@LARGE

and click on books to get my 3 good reads

THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES

DINNER WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

for the total bargain price of 50 dollars, plus 15 dollars postage and packaging.

A great birthday present for a friend. I will write their name in each book and sign them.

THE YEAR THAT NEVER WAS

On By Everald ComptonIn Ageing, Community and Values, Elections, Government, History, religion5 Comments

2018 has been the most pointless of my 87 years.

Nothing dreadful happened to me or Australia. It was just a boring time of decadent politics and absent ethics in which not one inspiring thing happened and there was much to lament.

There are many regrettable issues that deserve a mention, but I will talk about just three.

The Royal Commissions on Child Abuse and Aged Care.

The Royal Commission on Banking

The demise of Malcolm Turnbull.

I write, not as a lament, but in the hope of working out how we can make sure they are never repeated. There simply has to be a better way to run our country. Continue reading “THE YEAR THAT NEVER WAS” →

TRUST FADES AWAY

On By Everald ComptonIn Business and Enterprise, Community and Values, Government, religion, Seniors8 Comments

The Royal Commission on Banking has stirred Australians to the very core of our being.

It has convinced us that TRUST no longer exists in our nation. Our sense of security is severely diminished, particularly among Senior Australians.

This is understandable as, once upon a time, our local bank manager was a highly respected citizen. He was trusted to give solid advice and not give us loans we had no hope of paying back or credit cards we do not really need.

He was also heavily involved in community life in a high profile way.

Then, he disappeared from public view.

Now, it is almost impossible to find a local bank manager even if we go to a bank. We enter an atmosphere where the message is that they don’t want us there. We must phone a ‘friendly’ relationship manager whom we track down after have pressed about a dozen buttons. We get a different person every time we call and she is only interested in our number, not our name.

It’s very sad that this grand old asset of Australian life has passed away, a killer culture having replaced it. Continue reading “TRUST FADES AWAY” →

ASSISTED DYING – A SIMPLE CHOICE

On By Everald ComptonIn Ageing, Government, religion, Seniors8 Comments

I am grateful for the gift of life that has been mine and I hope that I have managed to make a good contribution to the society in which I live.

This being so, I don’t want to live if a time arises when I have no quality of life. At this point, I want out immediately, and if there are no laws authorising Voluntary Euthanasia in Queensland where I live, then I fully intend to do everything I can to bring on a good heart attack.

I do not want to lie in bed like a vegetable and cause my family to make endless visits to my bedside to see someone who is simply not me, just an object of pity.

I want them to remember me as an active and happy achiever who enjoyed their company. Their last sight of me must not be awful.

And I want to save the nursing home fees so the money can be used to give my grandkids a great start in life.

Clearly, the best outcome is for the Queensland Government to make it legal for me to voluntarily take a tablet. Continue reading “ASSISTED DYING – A SIMPLE CHOICE” →

Future of Marriage

On By Everald ComptonIn Community and Values, Government, History, religion9 Comments

I voted YES because I do not believe that heterosexuals like me are finer human beings than homosexuals, nor are we entitled to any special privileges.

So, I cheered mightily when YES won decisively and have now set out to play my part in healing the deep rifts in society caused by having a totally unnecessary Survey when Parliament had the power, but not the guts, to pass legislation without it. As a result, we have experienced an awfully vindictive and divisive time in the life of Australia as a nation that has destroyed goodwill.

Sadly, I note in the social media that some ‘Christians’ have stated that the institution of marriage has now been trashed to the extent that it has absolutely no value for humanity. They intend to get divorced, but still live together, so they are not ‘shamed’ by being married in the same manner as gays.

My only observation on the plight of these sad people is that in October next year, Helen and I will celebrate the 60th Anniversary of our wedding and we can confidently say that, while the piece of paper we signed on our wedding day has had nothing whatsoever to do with us living happily together for 60 years, it is a treasured document that we are not going to tear up. Continue reading “Future of Marriage” →