Stick in the mud

OK. So there was this article in the Jerusalem Post the other day about the declining Christian population in Jerusalem. This is part because this is not the easiest part of the world to live in for minorities and many Christians who can are emigrating. Nearby Bethlehem used have a healthy majority of Christian citizens, but the economy has tanked since the big wall went up and the Natzrim (Christian in Hebrew) are leaving in a steady stream. As well, the birth rate amoungst Christians in Jerusalem is low (makes sense with all those monks and nuns and priests running around, whom I would hope aren't reproducing).
The Christian Community is described justly as "divisive" but the article also had this to say:

" 'The main fear of the church leadership is that local Christian communities will disappear, and that the holy sites will be turned into museums with no supporting communities,' said Dr. Amnon Ramon, an expert on the Christian community with the [Jerusalem Institute for Israeli Studies]."

Really? The churches are worried about losing the local communities? I find that hard to believe.

My skepticism is not because the Jerusalem congregations are large. The last time I went to the St. Andrews Memorial Church, the congregation could have been out numbered by the one in Dorset, my hometown and great metropolis of 500 people.

Check out this website for all of the church services in J-town. I linked to the protestant ones but the Catholic and Orthodox ones tell a similar story.

How many Sunday services are in the evening? Blessed few.

The local Christian community has jobs and Sunday is a regular workday in Israel. Very few Jerusalem churches actually choose to accommodate the needs of the local christian community. They seem to be ignoring the fact that for the last sixty years, they have been in the middle of a Jewish state. And no surprise here, the few evening services listed are with relatively new evangelical sects that are not locked in by their own stodgy unaccommodating self importance and traditions. Not only is it difficult culturally to be a Natzrim in country dominated by Jews and Muslims, but the churches themselves make it difficult to even practice the faith.

All over the world, the traditional Christian sects have declining numbers of congregates. They are attempting all sorts of ploys to draw people in and, more importantly, making changes in how they worship (not what they believe) to make themselves relevant to the modern world.

After a few months here and seeing what goes on, it shouldn't really surprise me in the old world, where showing no weakness and bluffing reigns supreme, the churches are as flexible as a wooden post. I guess if there is any place to leave christian traditions unchanged, it would be here. Regardless, it still seems like a shame that in J-town, 'crucifix' is nearly synonymous with 'stick-in-the-mud'.