Wheatley's United Church of Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As with all interviews, the interviewee (me in this case) does not get to control what is finally reported. Longer conversations are shortened to the sound bite; context is lost; etc., etc. But I can say I enjoyed the conversation - which also covered topics not included in the final article, and that on the whole Margaret did a fair job reporting on it. Of course, I am not the only source for her article, I don't always agree with her opinions in the article, and I wouldn't frame the discussion about membership the way she has.
But the decline of volunteer membership based organizations, and the decline of liberal organizations in particular is, in my not so humble opinion, a topic that I wish had a higher profile in our United Church.
If the decline - and aging - of our membership had occurred in 5 years instead of five decades, I'm pretty sure there would be a more widespread awareness that our decline in membership is a mission-critical crisis (as in, without members, we have no mission).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/the-collapse-of-the-liberal-church/article4443228/
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca