Decoding Culture part 3

Belief strong in Canada, but the pews are empty: Poll shows 'there is a thriving privatized faith'

This was the headline in the online version of the National Post for April 15,2006. The article quoted Andrew Grenville, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid which conducted a Canadian religious survey weeks leading to Easter this year as saying, "There's a huge gap between those who believe and those who belong." Reginald Bibby, a Canadian sociologist and former Baptist pastor in Canada and the U.S. has claimed that 25% of Canadians attend church on a weekly basis. However, religioustolerance.org says differently. The site claims that Canadians (and Americans) are lying to pollsters. The real figure is about 10%.

But I think one thing is clear in decoding Canadian culture. There is a definite bias towards a private faith. How does the church engage a culture that strongly believes that one's beliefs are best kept private? It behooves churchplanters to demonstrate the benefits of allowing one's beliefs to impact society. Churchplanting in Canada will be even more of a challenge because of this.