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CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Canadians still believe in God, but not in the church

Geoff Neufeld

Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada Reginald Bibby. Toronto, Ont.: Stoddart Publishing, 2002. 304 pp. $32.95. Hardcover.

In Restless Gods, Reginald Bibby makes some bold assessments from his extensive national survey of Canadian adults and youth. Bibby concludes that Canadians are not as “post-Christian” as many have said, including Bibby himself in his 1987 book Fragmented Gods. Religion in Canada has not been abandoned, but rather has moved underground to a private, hidden domain.

A large percentage of Canadians still believe in God, experience God, pray to God and see themselves as spiritual beings. Most still wrestle with the big questions in life such as finding one’s purpose, suffering and life after death. The hunger for God is apparently alive and well in Canada.

What is more implied than stated in the book is that Canadians have not stopped believing in God, they have just stopped believing in the church. Many have moved from being loyal worshippers to “casual attendees”. Bibby works hard to spin this trend into positive news, citing a few exceptions.

Still, there are signs that people are beginning to revisit the roots of their religious influence. He writes, “Large numbers of Canadians . . . think that at least some of the answers to what they are experiencing lie in the religious traditions of their parents and grandparents.” Hence, churches would be most successful in evangelism if they would focus their efforts on people who share their own religious tradition. In practical terms, this would mean Mennonite Brethren would reach people with a Mennonite/Anabaptist heritage, appealing to their nostalgia to awaken their spiritual senses.

Bibby also believes we should not be in a hurry to change our churches to look and feel like another tradition, for fear that we may lose the very thing that could attract those with a Mennonite memory. Most people coming to our churches from other denominational groups are most likely to stay a short while. Those who remain are the exception rather than the rule.

Bibby clarifies what people are looking for in a church. Quoting Stark & Finke, he states: “People tend to value religion according to how much it costs – and, because ‘reasonable and sociable’ religion costs little, it is not valued greatly.” Churches should create more ownership by involving people more, expecting more from them and tolerating less deviance when it comes to membership. People need to know that joining a church means something significant. Rather then making it easier for someone to become a member, we ought to make it a more costly step in order to increase its perceived value.

Bibby notes Canada is characterized by religious restlessness. Churches are restless, people are restless and there is a growing spiritual vacuum in the lives of Canadians. Yet mass revival doesn’t seem likely as people are skeptical of the church. Churches that thrive are those in touch with the spiritual, personal and social needs and interests of Canadians.

Geoff Neufeld is the newly appointed director of church extension for the B.C. MB Conference and is currently serving as senior pastor of Garden Valley Community Church in Kelowna, B.C.

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Last modified October 9, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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