The Spire
Noroton Presbyterian Church
n
2011 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820
n
203-655-1451
T
en years
ago, one
of the first
presentations
I made to lead-
ers at Noroton
was based on some demographic
data from a religious survey compa-
ny. It said that 40% of the people
within five miles of our church had
no church “home.” I remember one
member challenged the veracity of
this data since “all of her neighbors
went to church.” She was older and
I don’t doubt that her generation was
more involved than the younger in-
habitants of our town. But would she
doubt these statistics now? Where
are our neighbors on Sundays these
days? I’m not asking us to make any
judgments here, just make a few ob-
servations about what we see.
Sunday morning used to be for family
worship at a local church. Time for
worship, Sunday school for children, a
visit to the relatives, reading the Sun-
day paper - this was the order of the
day in many homes. Not any more.
Hockey, soccer, lacrosse, baseball,
basketball have crossed over from
Saturday morning to all hours of the
weekend. There’s only so much time,
and families now face so many more
choices about what to be involved in
on Sunday mornings. The major long
term study of American habits called
the General Social Survey (the “gold
standard” study of our habits funded
by the National Science Foundation)
found that in 2014 we reached an
all time high of folks never going to
church – 34% of us or 1 out of 3.
This is a 10% increase in just a few
years. Those who claim “no reli-
gious preference”, referred to as the
“nones”, are now standing at 21% - 1
in 5 Americans. Faith is waning in
American life.
Now attending church will not guar-
antee a personal faith any more than
sitting in a garage guarantees that you
are an automobile! It takes more than
attendance to activate faith. But at-
tending a church does mean that you
like to be around people of faith and
gives one a chance to deepen their
faith. And if you aren’t involved with
a church – where will you hear about
God’s love, truth, justice, and redemp-
tion in Christ? Not in our schools or
through our modern media outlets –
that’s for sure.
So this Easter, let’s be aware that our
friends and neighbors need a loving
invitation, perhaps even a “tug”, to
join the faithful at church Easter Sun-
The New Challenge and the
Opportunity on Easter
continued on page 2...
April 2015
Worship Schedule
Chapel - 8:00 a.m.
Sanctuary - 9:00 & 10:30 a.m.
Open Doors - 5:00 p.m.
Upcoming Preaching Schedule:
4/2/15 - Maundy Thursday
8:00 p.m. Communion and
Tenebrae Sanctuary service
Pastor Jimmy McPherson
4/4/15 - Easter Unplugged
,
5:00 p.m. Pastor Brandi
4/5/15 - Easter Sunday
6:00 a.m. Weed Beach,
Pastor Jimmy McPherson
8, 9:30, 11 a.m. Sanctuary services
Pastor Sam Schreiner
4/12/15 -
Pastor Sam Schreiner
4/19/15 -
Pastor Sam Schreiner
4/26/15 -
8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Interim Associate Pastor
John Seiders
9 and 10:30 a.m.
JAM Musical - “American Ideal”
Table of Contents
3
5
7
-8
13
-14
17
