Mike pointed me to this article in the Vancouver Sun that has probably more or less affirmed what I have more recently thought, as opposed to shocking me, or causing me to raise an eye.

“There’s a huge gap between those who believe and those who belong,” said Andrew Grenville, senior vice-president of the polling firm Ipsos Reid.

“There are three times as many believers as there are regular attenders.”

Sixty-two per cent of those polled agreed with the statement that “through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God provided the way for the forgiveness of sins.”

So here are a couple big questions I gleaned from Mike and some others that wrote on his blog:

• What do they actually believe that would convince them that attendance/participation is not necessary or even important?
• Do many people who believe feel that they don’t or can’t belong?
• If many believe the wrong thing (believe and not practice), how did they get to this point, and how do they learn?

The article goes on to say:

“The church in a way is perceived as just another institution and people are shying away more and more from things institutional,” he said. “Often I’ll hear things like ‘I’m religious but I don’t go to church, I’m spiritual but I don’t go to church.’ There’s a clear difference to them between believing in God and the institution of the church.”

Perhaps that’s where our church chimes in…or at least that is our hope that God can transcend the institution.