The forms of worship in the Protestant churches, the attitudes
and responses of worshippers; the emphases on prayer, Bible
reading and preaching are “the same only different.”
The same in their devotion, exhortation, petition and intercession,
whether the form is liturgical, of set order, or spontaneous
and momentary. Different in how they express themselves as
churches in a society increasingly secularistic and irreligious.
There is the solidity, predictability, of the older churches
which have patterns of behaviour in faith and practice, proven
by experience and acceptable as proper and pertinent in their
witness to Christ. A changelessness that evokes loyalty in
their people who have a sense in history, and of gratitude
for a heritage to be passed on to their children and their
children’s children.
They teach the faith conscientiously in the ways they receive
it from parents, teachers and preachers while leaving the
reception of it to the person to whom it is addressed. There
is little or no persuasion or pressure on anyone who hears
it. He knows where the church stands on belief and behaviour
and he responds as he pleases. There is the quiet, comfortable,
contentment of the ‘main’ churches.
We generalise, of course, some of them are outgoing, adventurous,
in their approach to people and it shows in their worship
and work in the community.
They involve themselves in activities that could be described
as rescuing people from their sins and weaknesses and encouraging
them to turn to Christ for strength and purpose in their lives.
While these attitudes are shared by the Protestant churches
there is a gulf fixed between them. That is best illustrated
by comparisons made between the main, older, churches and
the younger churches in this society. Where the older are
usually introverted, with a concentration on their own people;
the younger are extroverted with an outreach to “all
sorts and conditions of men”.
To attend the services of the churches is to be made aware
of the differences in people, their attitudes and appearances.
There remains a Sunday-go-to-meeting look that is shared,
but styles of dress and types of people are different. There
is the feeling that those who are deeply committed to the
one will not be found in membership of the other. Certainly
not until there has been a conversion experience. When that
happens it is often from the older to the younger churches.
Many of the churches in the older denominations are finding
it hard to maintain their strengths. Losses by natural causes
are not being filled by new people, for in our secularised
society very many young people, whose parents are committed
church members think religion undesirable and unnecessary,
to them. Whereas in the younger churches there is growth,
phenomenal in some cases, and that of all ages and the young
markedly.
Studies have been made on the reasons for a situation that
is becoming more and more apparent, and their findings are
worth examining. The first question has to be why is there
stalemate on the one hand and growth on the other, it would
appear to some that the answer lies in the different emphases
on the fundamentals of the faith. Where the older are agreeable
to have, and to allow, personal and preferential interpretations
of scripture, creeds and doctrinal statements, the younger
are adamant on the necessity of believing in and holding on
to the accuracy of scripture, the acceptance of the reality
of the Virgin Birth, the resurrection and divinity of Jesus
Christ. The liberalism of the older churches, and the questioning
of these beliefs, makes the differences, older and younger,
divisive and with consequences which must account to an extent,
for the weaknesses from the uncertainties of the one and the
strength from the certainties of the other.
We live in a society of contradictions, for while there are
many who find they can live without a religious faith, there
are those who want the dogmatism, fundamentalism, of a Christianity
which has the truth which is not to be doubted or doctored.
Because these are the deliberate choices of people we accept
their effects on a Protestantism which is individualistic,
separative, and sometimes competitive with unhappy consequences.
The differences between time older and younger churches are
to be found in their attitudes to ministry. While they are
alike in their high valuation on ministry their requirements
for it are dissimilar in that the older churches expect academic
qualifications from their ministers, pastors in time younger
churches are chosen with or without such distinctions. Previous
experience of life, and of church worth and witness, are regarded
as first essentials. Because ministers and pastors, whatever
their academic status, have been faithful amid fruitful in
their ministries there is no one way that is the only way.
A difference, too, could be their attitudes to pastoral ministry
and Christian fellowship. Older churches which had a reputation
for their valuation on these appear now to put less value
on house to house visiting, person to person contact in the
homes of the people. Younger churches have a concentration
on this so that the sense of belonging, of being a member
of the family of the Church is a felt experience to them and
a source of comfort and pleasure, especially to those who
would be lonely and alone without that care and attention.
And language distinguishes the churches. The use of scriptural
words and phrases by the younger, seldom heard in the older
such as saved, born-again filled with the Spirit. Words that
are in the everyday vocabulary of those of the younger churches.
They are used in what is declared to be the supreme task of
the church, winning souls for Christ. There is the expectation
that by the preaching of the Word and the prayers and persuasion
by word and example of the faithful, souls will be saved.
The strong sense of the effects of evangelism apparent in
younger churches is not obvious in the older churches. It
was not always so.
Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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