A few years ago, a friend invited me to a social event. I think the people who came to the meeting were from the same church. What I experienced was polite conversations with some nice people. The event would not qualify as a party, for most of us.

I enjoyed my time, but I tried to understand who these people were. You are probably wondering; They were conservative Roman Catholics. I think many of them had converted to that religion, or returned, as adults. My friend was raised as a Unitarian, and rejected that belief system as an adult, and converted to the Roman Catholic Church.

I didn’t ask why, but I believe my friend had sincere personal convictions.

Changing churches, and sometimes converting to a traditional group like the Roman Catholic Church, is a movement in modern societies. Possibly, you think about this for your own life, or you may have friends like mine.

On the other side, the country in this world that is considered to be the most Catholic, with the largest part of the population attending a Catholic church every Sunday, is the Republic of Ireland. Apparently, even that country is experiencing a revolution in spiritual and religious things, and society is changing rapidly.

Here is one news story:

So, the new churches are being built by immigrant groups like Romanians and Nigerians, and the traditional churches are becoming empty. That is a social revolution, or a spiritual one.

I think this is a picture of the wider world, and not just events in one country. People are leaving, or entering religious groups, and personal convictions are changing.

You know who Mel Gibson is. He is known as a sincere Roman Catholic, and he made a famous film “The Passion of the Christ.” Apparently, he is now concerned about his church:

I am not trying to target or criticize the Roman Catholic Church. I just find it interesting that the Christian groups that are the most stable and permanent, are changing, and possibly crumbling. This is different from the experience of older generations.

I was raised in a strict and religious family, and as children we were required to attend church three times a week. For me, that was two services on Sunday, and a boys club on a week night. As a young adult, I lived with my parents for a few months, while I worked to pay some bills. It all went well, until I found a piece of paper, with an invitation to attend a Christian group that was new to my city.

I went to a few group meetings, and I liked the people that I met. It was easy for me to make friends with good people there. It was all good, until that phone call happened. Remember, there was a time when most of us did not have cell phones. Someone from the new group called my parent’s home phone, and invited me to a meeting. My mother took the message, and then told the person on the phone “No one from our family goes to a church like yours!”

That new group never contacted me again, and when I was able, I organized my finances and moved to a small apartment, with my brother. Years later, my mother apologized to me, but I think most families, that we knew, had that old thinking.

We were supposed to stay where we were.

So, how are you finding your way in this new world? Is Christianity dying for you, either Catholic or Protestant?

Do you know, there was a time when there were no groups to belong to. At the beginning, among the first Christians, people lived in a society like the one we are moving into.

Everything old is new again.

You may know the story, in the Bible, of the jailer who was charged with keeping some of the first Christians locked up. You can read the story in the Bible book of Acts chapter 16. This man decided to make a spiritual change in his life, and he was serious:

And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

(Acts 16: 29 to 32)

We should notice that before there were institutions, churches and denominations to belong to, people only had their personal lives. As the man said “What must I do to be saved?”

Our spiritual life is personal, as institutions crumble.

I hope we can all learn that lesson.