IN THE beginning there was the Church. And people liked to dress up in their best clothes and go there on Sundays and they praised the Lord and it was good. But it came to pass that people grew tired of the Church and they stopped going, and began to be uplifted by new things such as yoga and t’ai chi instead. And, lo, a spiritual revolution was born.

this is the start of an article in the times spirited away that si linked to which looks at the growing spirituality in the uk and suggests that christianity will be eclipsed by it. i partly took notice because gordon lynch was mentioning the book/research (the spiritual revolution) by woodhead and heelas from the university of lancaster and their contrast of the religious and holistic milieu. these things are always overstated – remember the theory of secularisation that was going to eclipse christianity? but even so it is very interesting. at the heart of it is the quest for personal meaning – not much surprise in a consumer culture that spirituality is framed around personal choice. people trying to find and better themselves. it is of course gnosticism with a few different disguises. the irony of course is that in terms of finding yourself, bettering yourself, and finding spiritual practices to do so, the christian tradition has a wealth of resources to draw on. but these tend to be marginal or engaged in on retreats. maybe it’s time to stop singing banal choruses and preaching dull sermons and re-introduce the ancient practices of the church to meet this growing hunger. this is certainly a growing trend in youth ministry – see tune in chill out, and alt worship has been fishing in this pool for a long time…