I'm Kay Drinkwitz and I attended our first adult education session during the 10:30 time. This past Sunday, on October 1st, Faith had its first discussion in a series called, “Brewed Theology." Brewed Theology is a place to have further discussions about Christianity in a larger, more worldly context outside of our limited personal experiences and to invite members of the congregation to engage more actively in the discussion.

This first discussion in the series was entitled, “Nones and Dones: Losing Our Religion”. The statistics presented for us to initially ponder are that around 30%, or roughly 60 million, American adults claim “none” when asked about their religious affiliation. The percentage is higher among young adults and this number has risen 1% each of the last seven years, with the steepest declines in the Roman Catholic Church and Mainline Protestants, which includes Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, but not including evangelical or non-denominational groups. 

In tabled groups, we discussed our reactions to these statistics and attempted to understand why we are seeing these declines in numbers and then shared with the group as a whole what we identified as causes or contributing factors. We had a great turnout (around 65 people) and it evoked a lot of constructive, compassionate, and thoughtful discussion in a safe, respectful manner. 

This discussion is important. It is not about fearing the decline, it’s about diagnosing and understanding it. We can’t fix what we don’t acknowledge. How do we invite people back into the word of Christ, to see the beautiful unconditional love and grace He has for all of us? How do we break down walls and build a longer table? How do we repair what has been broken and remedy traumas the church has perpetrated on groups of people? To me, the answer is surprisingly simple in ideology but more complex in execution: we love like Jesus does, without exceptions, exclusions, or boundaries. We need to be better stewards, especially for our marginalized siblings who are so incredibly worthy of love, acceptance, and a place at the table and who are so incredibly and immeasurably valuable to this world, to Jesus, and to us.