Precipitating the Death of the Mainline

David Henson says, Bring It On!

I do not fear the death of the mainline church.In fact, as a postulant for the priesthood in the Episcopal church, it excites me, and it is the precipitous decline of the mainline that, in part, draws me to ministry.Death can be a fertile ground for the Gospel. Indeed, it has always been so. The specter of death can make people willing to do things they might otherwise be too comfortable to consider, like that a food pantry does not a social justice ministry make. And death can make people less afraid to fail and, as a result, more apt to try something new, something frivolous, something that won’t bring in moneyed people. It can make us more willing to experiment with creative ways to seek justice and the presence of God in houses outside those in which we worship. Death might just shake us up enough so that we can get out of the pews and on with the work of God!

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