Jamaicans turn away from ritual, boring worship

Boring, predictable and a ritualistic style of worship have been noted by one Pentecostal pastor as the main reasons why people are moving away from traditional churches in droves.

According to the Population and Housing Census 2011, membership in the traditional churches was experiencing a drastic decline as persons head to more charismatic, vibrant denominations, with the Church of God, Seventh-day Adventist and Pentecostal denominations claiming the higher numbers.

"Persons are no longer interested in ritual, boring worship that does not connect with them. They want a church where they can connect with themselves on a spiritual level and feel alive and vibrant. The Pentecostal Church offers them that," stated Pastor Charles Francis of the Faith United Church of God International.

PULLING POWER

"The baptism of the spirit being practised in the Pentecostal churches, which deals with the spiritual man and allows him to be more connected to one's self, is one of the major things that draw a lot of persons."

In the 2011 census report released last week, 2,050,771 persons were spread across 21 various religious associations. The combined Church of God denominations had 689,868 members, Seventh-day Adventists claimed a membership of 322,228, while Pentecostals followed with 295,195.

In contrast, the Anglican Church recorded a membership of 74,891, Roman Catholic had 57,946, Methodist numbered 43,336, and Moravian noted a figure of 18,351.

“We are now living in a time when persons are searching, and they are searching for a doctrine that is more realistic. The Holy Mary Mother of God thing seems to be out of style and people are now realising that confessing your sin to Mary or a priest is not scriptural,” said Francis.

He also noted that the many sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church was another factor that turned off persons.

With figures showing that more women were in the churches, with 1,139,625 rel igious females, compared to 911,146 males, Francis said this was a result of females being more spiritually conscious than men.

“The sad reality is that females do more soul-searching than men. And men tend to be more sceptical of the gospel, maybe because they are more attached to their African heritage and don’t fully buy into the European type of Christianity they see,” he stated.

NOT APPEALING TO MEN

Addressing the issue that the census showed that 572,008 had no religious affiliation and of that number, 382,400 were men, Francis said men were more attracted to what was happening in the world and so church does not appeal to them.

“Another turn-off was that persons were now seeing pastors as businessmen rather than addressing their spiritual needs. Unfortunately, to them Christianity does not offer what they are seeking,” he said.

“Churches need to stop practising making money from the gospel and get back to the roots of fulfilling the spiritual and physical needs of the people. Yes, the Church needs money to operate, but some pastors are using the Church for their own personal gain to live a luxurious life, and people are wising up to that. It is a sad reality that Church has become a mega business for some pastors.”

In the island’s 14th Population and Housing Census, which revealed a population of 2,697,983 persons, contact was made with 95 per cent of the population, with responses from 82 per cent.

anastasia.cunningham@gleanerjm.com