More, following the Pastor's letter in our church newsletter, Covenant Call, on SBNR.
A growing category of North Americans are classifying themselves as SBNR. The “I’m spiritual but not religious” community is growing so much that some compare it to a movement, even though there is no center or central spokesperson. In a 2009 survey by the research firm LifeWay Christian Resources, 72 percent of millennials (18- to 29-year-olds) said they’re “more spiritual than religious.” [USA Today quoted Oct 14, 2010] The phrase is now so common that it has its own web presence and a Facebook page. BJ Gallagher, a Huffington Post blogger who writes about spirituality, says she’s SBNR because “organized religion inevitably degenerates into tussles over power, ego and money.” Gallagher says there’s nothing wrong with people blending insights from different faith traditions to create what she calls a “Burger King Spirituality – have it your way.” June-Ann Greeley, a professor of theology at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, has said “People seem not to have the time nor the energy or interest to delve deeply into any one faith or religious tradition. … So they move through, collecting ideas and practices and tenets that most appeal to the self, but making no connections to groups or communities.” http://www.usatoday.com/video/index.html#/Saying%20no%20to%20religion/34339656001
Some people are impatient with what seems like the navel-gazing, self-centeredness inherent in this approach. Lively discussions have popped up all over the blogosphere about the meaning of SBNR for mainline (increasingly old-line) Christian traditions. See the article by UCC Pastor Lillian Daniels and the comments at http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-08/you-can-t-make#.ToNhKev0So4.facebook
A congregation like Church of the Covenant lives right in the middle of this tension. The generational difference between our members and their grown children is striking. I hold the opinion that conversations like this are a movement of the Holy Spirit. God can and does hold us accountable to the way “church folks” are perceived. Still, it takes a living, breathing community to embody the living Jesus. That’s what we mean by the church being “the body of Christ.” How do you think the phrase “spiritual, but not religious” affects us? Let’s talk. Pastor Beth
