SpokaneFāVS
Congregations are shrinking as more and more people are practing their faith independently, rather than in community.
Our panelists will tackle this subject at our next Coffee Talk at 10 a.m., April 6 at Revel 77 Coffee.
What do you think? Do you need spiritual community?
Tracy Simmons is an award winning journalist specializing in religion reporting, digital entrepreneurship and social journalism. In her 15 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti.
Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas and Connecticut. Currently she serves as the executive director of SpokaneFAVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Wash. She is also a Scholarly Assistant Professor at Washington State University.
I wanted to vote yes and no on this poll. At various times in my life, I’ve yearned and needed to be present at church — backside in the pews, together with others. And sometimes I just want to walk with God alone, in the woods, next to a lake, whatever. Is it okay to say that my needs for community change all the time?
I think it’s OK to say that, yes 🙂
I do need spiritual community. Community that is connected to something besides material gain and/or commercialism is essential to my sanity. Simply hearing that there are compassionate people out there that focus their thoughts on spiritual things gives me hope. I understand that many in our society do not regularly engage in things spiritual, but that’s because they are not having pain at the moment. The old “no atheists in foxholes” concept is dated but I think it still applies. I have encountered many people in the “none” category who, when faced with pain and uncertainty, find themselves in need of comfort that generally winds up coming from a spiritual source. We are all connected on this planet, all 7 billion plus, and pretending to be independent is an illusion at best and criminal at worst.