Clergy and delegates from across the diocese gathered in Regina for the 74th Synod of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle, which began Friday October 30 and concluded with a Solemn Eucharist on All Saints Day, Sunday November 1, 2009.  The business of the diocese was conducted; participants worshipped, listened and learned together; and celebrated the 125th anniversary of the diocese.

Kevin Martin - The Church in the Post-Christendom World

The Very Rev. Kevin Martin is Dean of St. Matthew's Cathedral in Dallas, Texas, and the congregational development officer of the Diocese of Dallas.  He spoke on each day of the Synod.  On Friday he described the changed world that the church finds itself in today.  Speaking of the U.S. situation, he described how the "G.I. Generation" came home from the second world war and built up most of the nation's institutions, including universities and churches.  That generation was 60% churched, but that generation is dying off and the new generation is less than 10% churched.

He said that for the past 40 to 45 years, there has been a steady decline in the Anglican and Episcopal churches.  He said the tendancy has been to attribute the decline to recent decisions regarding sexuality, but that is not the real cause.  It is primarily the change of generations; the increasingly secular society; and the fact that the main-line churches have continued to train ordained leadership in the old model of a Christian society.

"We are more like the church in the first three centuries, and that is very exciting," he said. "We need to become a missionary church, not a 'maintenance' culture.  We need to think in terms of discipleship, not church membership.  We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to pass on the gospel, to become the church for the future."