Meet Rev. Josephine Inkpin, Trans Minister In Australia

[Carolyn Marie]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2022/dec/27/revisited-australias-first-transgender-priest-on-breaking-ground-and-a-bruising-political-debate

 

 

Carolyn Marie

[Trans22]

Churches in Australia are suffering at the moment, attendance has fallen dramatically.  The church that my family and I attended when I was young used to pull in well over 100 parishioners with multiples services per week, it now struggles to get 20 attend it's once a week service - there is no longer has a minister/priest.  It was nice to hear that a transgender priest has been appointed in _a_ Uniting Church.  I very much agree with his statement that "we are in a ceasefire right now" near the end of the audio.  There has been quite a bit of media attention on transition-gone-wrong stories (pre-adult) recently.  I cannot relate to these stories of encouragement and fast-tracking of transition - not my experience.

[Marcie Jensen]

1 hour ago, Trans22 said:

Churches in Australia are suffering at the moment, attendance has fallen dramatically. 

Sadly, this is a near world wide phenomenon.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

16 hours ago, Marcie Jensen said:

Sadly, this is a near world wide phenomenon.

 

It is, at least in mainline denominations.  Church mirrors the culture and doesn't stand out.  I also suspect that back when the church was a dominant force in Western society, a great many attendees weren't true believers...just "cultural Christians.". 

 

Meanwhile, groups that are more fervent and identity-based are growing rapidly. 

[Marcie Jensen]

6 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

 

It is, at least in mainline denominations.  Church mirrors the culture and doesn't stand out.  I also suspect that back when the church was a dominant force in Western society, a great many attendees weren't true believers...just "cultural Christians.". 

 

Meanwhile, groups that are more fervent and identity-based are growing rapidly. 

Very true.  On all points. And yet, the church gave classical music, kept th4e arts alive in Europe, sponsored science through such people as Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, Leonhard Euler,Gregor Mendel, Isaac Newton, Mary Anning, George Washington Carver and Charles Townes to name a few.  In fairness, the church also gave us the 30 Years war, the Spanish Inquisition (and no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, with apologies to Monty Python) and so on. It's a mixed bag. Like everything else humanity touches.

 

My thesis in seminary was about church growth and decline in membership. Without going into excruciatingly boring detail, it boiled down to several factors. In no order these were: a feeling of cultural irrelevance; scandals among church leaders; hypocrisy within congregations and failure to preach the gospel combined with poorly planned and executed evangelism. It all adds up when you stop and think about it.  And nothing filled the gap as church populations declined. As a r4esult, there are now ath4eist churches springing up in such places as Seattle, Austin and over 230 locations in the US. This speaks volumes about the need for church as well as the point many have made that atheism is in fact a religion.

 

Sorry. I didn't mean to go off on a tangent. My excuse is that I'm not fully caffeinated yet and there's a whole lot of stuff to ponder in this thread.

[Carolyn Marie]

I believe this thread has gone off track (as many seem to do lately).  The thread is about the life and work of an Australian pastor.  If any would like to begin a thread in the Religion Forum on the rise and fall of faith, you're welcome to do so.  Thank you.

 

Carolyn Marie