How to leave the Protestant church?

bambooman2

Another thing I didn't like about my parish was that the COI community had a sense of superiority and tended to look down on the RCs. Our family actually got on better with RCs than COIs and when I was about 3 or 4 I asked could we go to church in our neighbours' (RC) church because the people were nicer! I didn't understand the religious differences then. Out of the mouths of babes...[/QUOTE]

Hi Emme, I hope you don't feel I am raining on your parade here but I have heard the superiority thing coming the other direction as well. The propensity to look down on others exists as well in the RC camp and I have come across it directly on several occasions. Unfortunately this kind of stuff is about ignorance and prejudice and in some limited cases it actually is a form of racism. I attend diocesan synod on behalf of my parish and to be honest I am actually very happy with the open mindedness of our clergy whom I have met a lot of and their commitment to inclusiveness. Indeed there is quite a deal of sympathy for the current plight of our RC brothers and sisters at the moment and what they are going through at the moment. There is also a lot of admiration for Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and his efforts to fix things.

Emme

bambooman2 wrote: »

Indeed there is quite a deal of sympathy for the current plight of our RC brothers and sisters at the moment and what they are going through at the moment. There is also a lot of admiration for Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and his efforts to fix things.

I'm sure there is and many COI people who were through the same thing themselves would be well able to sympathise. Have you heard of Derek Linster or read any of his books?

Tim Robbins

Excelsior wrote: »

i'm in a presbyterian church and the primary reason is that because our denomination works as a democracy, voting membership must have some meaning beyond "joe off the street wants to have the sexy blonde as the next minister in the local proddie church"

at the same time, you don't want to be stupidly exclusive so we set the bar low: attend communion once in the last 2 years and at least 1c donation to the freewill offering

a good secondary reason for us in my local church is that we're growing. we're going to need to find a new building in the next year or two. that will take a lot of clever intricate planning and generous donating but we also want to time it right. weekly head counts help us chart this growth.

and third, as jackass says, keeping track of this kind of thing, especially today when people travel so much for work, is very helpful as we seek to meet pastoral needs of the community.

Are you growing because of the South Africans living over here has increased or where are you getting your members from?

AS a matter of interest. Thanks.

bambooman2

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Are you growing because of the South Africans living over here has increased or where are you getting your members from?

AS a matter of interest. Thanks.

Its a while since posting was active here but I thought I might follow up here with an answer on this. The various Protestant denominations have been experiencing growth in recent years most particularly the Church of Ireland.

However immigration isn't as big a factor in the growth of the C of I as people think. This is because many African immigrants prefer an evangelical style of worship which is not really available in most of the C of I parishes. African immigrants often tend to prefer Methodist parishes where the style of worship is a bit closer to what they want.

In the C of I the real growth in numbers is coming from the Roman Catholic Church. There are a variety of reasons for this including the various abuse scandals but a big factor is the fact that 'changing horses' is seen as less and less taboo these days. The rise in numbers is most pronounced in middle class parishes in urban areas.