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More spiritual than
religious
Pastors
face changing church population
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Pat Shannahan/The
Arizona Republic
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Echo Mountain churchgoers, the Kendall family, (from
left) Laura, Kristin, Joe and Tyler, began attending Echo
Mountain for the first time on Good Friday two years
ago.
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By Kelly Ettenborough
The Arizona Republic
March 30, 2002
On Easter Sunday, pastors will preach on the resurrection of
Jesus and the miracle of new life.
But, on this day that celebrates the foundation of
Christianity, they also will face a population that considers itself
more spiritual than religious, with less of an affinity to
traditional church teachings, according to two new national surveys.
That was Joe Kendall, a north Phoenix resident who works in
Scottsdale. Until last year, around Easter, his experience with
church included a stint at 5, when he colored pictures of Jesus,
made them into paper airplanes and flew Jesus around the room. He
and his wife, Laura, attended church for funerals and weddings.
"When I was a teenager and in my early 20s, I had my doubts
about God," Joe Kendall said. "Some things happened to me, and I
believed again, but still I didn't go to church."
Last year, they decided to try a church, and Joe Kendall
expected to go to 20 or 30 before he found one where he felt
comfortable. They wanted their children, 16-year-old Kristin and
8-year-old Tyler, to have a sense of something greater, Laura
Kendall said.
"We were not sure what kind of reception we'd get, not just
from the church, but from God himself," Laura Kendall said.
They found a church home and acceptance at Echo Mountain
Church, the first church they tried.
"You feel like you're going to be an outcast because everyone
knows more about the Bible than I do," Laura Kendall said. "Nobody
was looking and nobody was making judgments."
The church, with its rock music and relaxed style, attracts a
lot of people without church backgrounds because, the Rev. John
Covell said, people want acceptance and relationships, not pressure.
"The pastor wants us all to be as much like Jesus Christ as
we possibly can be. I love that idea. I wish that everybody was like
that," Joe Kendall said.
Their deeper faith sustained the family when Joe Kendall lost
his job as a construction foreman for million-dollar homes.
After Sept. 11, his previous company went from 22
construction crews to six, and he was out of work from November to
January.
"I put my faith in God that something would come along. I had
a side job and some savings, and now I have a much better job," he
said. "Before, I think I would have been stressing a lot more and
holding everything inside."
Laura felt comforted as well.
"Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're not
going to have problems or you're not going to get laid off," said
Laura, who works part time. "Even though we were struggling, we
weren't struggling alone. God was with us."
The 2001 follow-up to the 1990 American Religious
Identification Survey, reported the majority of Americans identify
themselves as Christian.
But, more people than ever are skipping traditional church in
pursuit of a more spiritual lifestyle, or they place their faith in
a different religion.
The survey, the most comprehensive and independent national
survey on religious identification, showed these changes:
• The proportion of the population classifying
themselves as Christian dropped from 86 percent in 1990, or 151.2
million adults, to 77 percent, or 159 million adults. The majority
in the Christian subgroup described themselves as Catholic, followed
by Baptist then Protestant.
• The growth of non-Christian religious groups was
about 33 percent, from 5.8 million people to 7.7 million people. For
example, 33,000 people in 2001 cited "Druid" as their religion, and
no one did in 1990.
• In 1990, 8 percent of adult Americans did not
specify a religion, and in 2001, the number nearly doubled to 14
percent, or 29.5 million people.
In starting Echo Mountain three years ago, Covell wanted to
make a place where people without a church background would feel
comfortable.
"I know what that feels like," said Covell, senior pastor of
Echo Mountain Church in north Phoenix. "I didn't know that Easter
was a religious holiday until I was 20."
On Easter Sunday, he will talk about how faith in God isn't
weird and how people put faith in a lot of things that they can't
see.
"When people feel that the pressure is off and no one is
going to force them into anything it frees them up and they believe
more than they realize," he said. "We've had people openly say that
'I don't really believe all this stuff' but they know they are
welcome to be here and that's OK. We're not making them feel that
they have to agree to be here."
The purpose statement is to meet people where they are on
their spiritual journey, he said.
"I tell people all the time that we're supposed to be a
hospital and not a museum," he said. "A museum is where you go to
admire examples, a pristine display. If you're messed up and broken,
you ought to be here."
Easter services at the church will be 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. at
Echo Mountain Church, 19051 N. 20th St., Phoenix.
Reach the reporter at kelly.ettenborough@arizonarepublic.com
or (602) 444-6916.
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