Ministering in a Post-Christian Context

According to the most recent census, the metropolitan area near our church is the least religious area in all of Canada. And our Province of British Columbia, as it has been, is considered the least religiously affiliated Province in Canada.

I minister in perhaps the least religious place in North America

Because of this, often the next generation’s exposure to the Christian gospel has been next to nothing. Here's just a few recent stories that illustrate the point:

1. "Tea-ology?"

While on a plane recently to Atlanta to present at a conference, I sat next to a young Asian Canadian with a PhD in beef engineering, who was also on her way to a conference on beef (and you thought theological conferences might be boring!).

She was a graduate of a fairly prestigious Canadian university, well-educated, and was working as a research fellow now at this university. In other words, she was quite smart!

As we were talking, she learned that I also have a PhD, and of course she asked in what, and I responded Theology.

She looked at me kind of blankly and repeated back to me “Tea-ology, like tea?”

So I clarified “theo-logy” assuming she just misheard me, but it quickly became apparent that she had no idea what I was talking about. I actually had to explain to this PhD what theology was. She seemed surprised that one could even get a PhD in such a thing (I guess I feel the same way about beef engineering!).

That’s certainly not the first time I’ve had to explain what theology is to someone; it actually happens fairly frequent. 

2. "The Plus Sign"

A fellow pastor recently had a neighbour over for dinner. While sitting on the back deck the pastor pointed to his church, which can be seen in the distance, particularly the cross on top.

The pastor told the neighbour, "that building over there is the church I go to" and the neighbour responded, completely serious, "Oh, the one with the big plus sign on top? I always wondered what that building was.”

3. "What's the Bread For?"

A few months ago I was at the store picking up the communion bread as I often do on a Friday or Saturday before Communion Sunday. The store was out of unsliced bread, and so I asked the young university-aged woman in the bakery if they had any unsliced bread in the back.

She said they didn't, but told me about some other bread options. She could see I was really only interested in unsliced bread, and so, responding to my continued look of desperation, she finally asked "what do you need it unsliced for?"

I answered communion bread for church on Sunday, but she still looked puzzled. So I explained some more, "you know, the bread that's sometimes up front at a church for . . ." and attempted to explain the Lord's Supper to someone who apparently had never heard of such a thing.