Dissatisfaction of Faith...

To many, any idea that there may ever be a time of dissatisfaction in faith would be to warrant an anathema. To others there is a reality that in the development or maturing of their faith an individual may have a sense of dissatisfaction that left unacknowledged can be disturbing and ultimately debilitating.

Alan Jamieson looks at this dissatisfaction and suggests that it can include a very strong sense of two or more of the following.
  • Disenchantment: this is the sense of not enjoying activities of faith that have previously been very personally rewarding.
  • Disillusionment: this is the sense that for different reasons they feel let down , sad, perhaps cynical, and often quite destructive in their view of their faith, the faith of others and, maybe, church.
  • Disengagement: this is the sense that they feel they are no longer connected, interested or involved in what is going on in the church, its structures and its direction, or within the church community.
  • Disidentification: this is the sense that they no longer identify with the church, the activities, the worship and the people there and begin to observe as an outsider would.
  • Disorientation: this is the sense that they don’t know where they belong any more. This is often coupled with a sense of having lost their bearings, their anchor, and, perhaps, even their identity.

Jamieson, A. (2008:22). Chrysalis: The Hidden Transformation in the Journey of Faith. Carlisle: Paternoster.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an...
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play...
Read more