Trying for a Spiritual Connection
When it comes to a religion, more and more Americans are choosing none of the above.
A recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life analytic study, “Nones on the Rise,” shows that today 1 in 5 Americans (19.3 percent) claim no religious identity. This group, called “Nones,” is now the nation's second-largest category trailing only Catholics, and outnumbering the top Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptists.
And 1 in 3 (32 percent) are under the age of 30 and unlikely to age into claiming a religion, said Greg Smith, Pew Forum senior researcher.
Butler County churches have noticed this disaffection.
The Rev. Sam McNamara, youth pastor at First Baptist Church, 221 W. New Castle St., said, “I am sure that the answer to this question is multifaceted, and (neither) I nor our church claim to have all the answers.”
“As far as the individuals who claim to be unaffiliated, there seems to be a skepticism toward organized religion as a whole. There also seems to be a growing doubt regarding the complete authenticity and authority of the Bible,” McNamara said.
Matt McCarrier, youth pastor for Dutilh United Methodist Church, 1270 Dutilh Road in Cranberry Township, and pastor of the church's New Day campus at 525 Pittsburgh St. in Mars, said, “People under 30 are searching; they're looking for something. They're not happy with the mainline church. They are looking for something different.”
McCarrier said millennials — those reaching adulthood around the year 2000 — “don't feel a connection with the church. They don't understand its rituals or they don't feel any kind of spiritual connection.”
“So, a lot of these mainline Protestant denominations are losing people. There's nothing wrong with their traditions. They are good and solid, but if people don't understand them, they are useless,” said McCarrier.“Millennials don't connect with traditions and they don't want a show, and because they are not connected, they choose to go to nothing,” McCarrier said.“They want a deep spirituality but they don't want to feel like they are being lectured,” he said.Some say the churches themselves are to blame for their thinning and aging congregations.“The churches have tried to mass-produce their followers. The church as a whole has tried to mass market its message the same as in years past,” said Chance Kelosky, youth director at First United Methodist Church, 200 E. North St.“Jesus' ministry was specific as to who he picked,” Kelosky said. “He spent years with his disciples.”“I believe that churches have also played a part in the drop-off. When people see hypocrisy, legalism, and self-righteousness in the church, they are quick to turn away,” McNamara said. “Sometimes churches become known more for what they are against than what they are for.”Local churches have taken different steps to counter such alienation.The Rev. Kevin Fazio, parochial vicar for the Catholic parishes of SS. Peter, Paul, and Michael the Archangel in Butler, St. Fidelis in Meridian and St. Christopher by the Lake in Prospect, works with Chris Williams of St. Fidelis and the Jesus Alive and Living youth group for sixth through 12th graders“She and I get together and try to decide how we can keep the youth with us,” Fazio said.“We want to give them a good experience with Catholicism that remains with them. When they finish high school, if they do leave the church, they will have that positive image in their memory bank that will make it easier for them to return,” he said.
In addition to mission trips to West Virginia and local work, Fazio said the group tries to have at least four Masses a year “where all the ministries are done by youth group members: they sing, play instruments, are greeters, altar servers.”“We have good music and liturgy,” said Fazio. “We have something to eat afterward. We have a discussion afterward that is faith-related and usually we try to do a fun activity.”For McCarrier, less is more when it comes to attracting people.“There's been a rise in what they call 'home churches.' There's not a whole lot of tradition. They meet in homes. Members feel something genuine, an ownership,” he said.McCarrier said the New Day church is modeled on the home church idea.“We want to give it a home church feel,” he said. “We want them to feel like they are a part of this.”“We have fellowship, worship and good teaching,” McCarrier said.For instance, McCarrier said New Day serves Communion but does so differently with bread and wine distributed at tables where the congregation sits as opposed to congregants lining up.“It's the exact same Gospel, just repackaged,” he said.He added even megachurches are now breaking their congregations into small groups. For instance, some churches have divided their sanctuaries into individual sections each with its own pastor.
As a youth pastor, he said, “It's not enough for our kids to show up on a Sunday and I'll teach you a lesson. You have to be interested in their lives.”For McCarrier, that means attending band and dance recitals, basketball games, anything to spend time with younger church members.“The ability to spend time with them, to just listen. To talk with them, but not give answers” is the key, McCarrier said.“People want to see the church as not being self-centered. They want to see the church out in the culture, working with the people,” said McCarrier, whether it's providing free baby-sitting services once a month for married members or teaming up with businesses in the community.McNamara said First Baptist sponsors a weekly youth basketball league in Cubs Hall but, he said, “To be honest, our concern is less about how many people are in the pews and more about how many of those in the pews who are proclaiming to follow Christ are actually living like Christ all week long.”“We do believe that loving Christ and loving the people that he redeemed go hand in hand. Therefore, to not be involved in a local church would suggest either a lip-service only relationship with Christ or else an ignorance about what the Bible teaches about the importance of partnering with other redeemed people in a local church.“With that said, our church specifically has its emphasis in a few things that all work together — not necessarily to attract people to come to our church but to see them get their heart right with God so that they can be plugged into a local church,” McNamara said.“I think to draw them back,” Kelosky said, “you have to make the church unique to that culture. For instance, practices unique to Butler are not unique to the nation. When you pull people in and grow them in their discipleship, you teach them how to share our faith.“We feed people up (spiritually) and send them out like Jesus fed his disciples and sent them out two by two,” he added.“Making the church an attractive place to come to is not the answer to our problems,” McNamara said. “What makes a church most relevant to people outside the church is when the truth of Jesus Christ is proclaimed unashamedly and when young and old, conservative and traditional, black and white come together in unity because of what Jesus Christ has done.“This coming together in unity is not a once-a-week ritual, but rather, it is a way of life,” said McNamara.
