The discussion is heated. Most people tend to agree that there is no way the established Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland (in this text: "Church") can turn the tide and stop people from leaving its ranks. Registered Church membership is still amazingly around 82% but Helsinki is showing the way to the future with a mere 66%. There are projections that say membership in Helsinki will reach the 50% milepost by the year 2012.
The official Church strategy is to fight for the status quo. Defeat will not be admitted but it will be expected. The heat of the discussion revolves around who is to blame: the conservatives, the liberals, or the bureaucrats. The liberal Helsinki parishes (total registered membership over 400.000) are spending hundreds of thousands of euros on a marketing campaign that is basically saying "honestly, we are cool but the conservatives are ruining it for us". At the same time, active Christians flock in services where preaching is strong and theology is traditional. Those who appreciate more liberal views do not even bother. By staying home they send the message that it is ok for the Church to be for true believers only.
But there are other voices, those that are seldom heard and often neglected. It seems that the national agenda in the Church does not recognize these voices as being different. They are voices that are ecumenically orientated, globally informed and spiritually inspired. Pirjo-Liisa Penttinen is the general secreatery of the YWCA in Finland. She was the only official delegate from Finland at the Global Christian Forum in Nairobi in November. Returning from Nairobi she has been talking about this new wave within the ecumenical movement. Theological issues are not forgotten but they are put aside for a while to allow for true encounters in prayer. In these encounters, common focus on Christ as the hope for humanity is easily rediscovered.
And there are those who say that the Church in Finland can never give up its original mission to make all nations followers of Christ. The visions of languish should be replaced by visions of rejuvenation. Strategies of survival should be replaced by strategies of revival. And the production of self-flagellating publicity should be replaced by the joyful celebration of the Good News. And that all this can be done without ever dividing people into liberals and conservatives, if we just agree on Christ as the center of the Church. It is all just a matter of respect and giving a little space.
No wonder these voices are neglected. They sound too optimistic, too naive, and way too spiritual. And I would like to be one of them.
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