Dear Rowland and friends

I wish to respond to Rowland’s article on church growth/decline. 3 years ago I decided to leave the Protestant Church. I had had a particularly bad experience as a pastor and this did not help. But I persevered for a year or two after this (and after the breakdown of my marriage) until I gave up. The Protestant church no longer met any of my spiritual needs. I began to feel that it was chatty, and entertainment focused and far too talkative.

For some reason I stumbled into the Russian Orthodox Church, and on my very first visit I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness; it brought tears to my eyes. I began to attend on a semi regular basis and I now call myself Russian Orthodox. The Orthodox Church that I attend certainly defies the church decline trend. It is usually packed with believers of all ages, and both sexes. And the devotion is remarkable. Orthodox believers are deeply devout and have a profound sense of the spiritual world.

Three weeks ago I was in Almaty in Kazakstan with my Russian fiancee. We wandered into the great Orthodox Cathedral of Almaty one week morning, in the middle of their morning mass. It was a most wonderful experience for me. A choir was singing, and it was the most beautiful music that I had ever heard. Their voices resounded throughout the great cavern of the cathedral singing those great Russian Orthodox melodies which you may be vaguely familiar with. To one side a priest was listening to the fervent confessions of an old lady, whilst the believers gathered in the centre for the administration of the sacrament. It was such a holy experience. It seems to me that what we all yearn for is an experience of the holy, and when we experience it we instantly recognise it.

The issue for churches is how to provide a genuine, uncontrived experience of the holy. Orthodoxy certainly does and I think that is why I have joined them.

“In an interview not long before his death, Sir Steven Runciman, a British diplomat and scholar, said: ‘Sometimes I feel great disappointment with Western Churches. However, I am happy in the thought that within 100 years, the Orthodox Church will be the only historical church that will be strong. I believe it offers people genuine spirituality, which other churches can no longer provide.’ “

Recently I wrote an article on “Why I am unmoved by Bishop Spong”. The essence of my argument is that while Bishop Spong is attempting to face the dilemmas of the modern church he is in fact simply adding fuel to the bonfire with his demolition of so much that Christians have believed. In my article I give a broader picture of what is happening in the Orthodox Church and why I believe that Runciman (quoted above) is probably right.

You can find my article at http://www.possumpages.com.au/bbc/arkive/spong.htm David Bell Drouin (former UCA minster) — “Possum Pages”..The Dinkum Australian Internet Directory. http://www.possumpages.com.au or email:

Reproduced here with David’s permission

August 2001