Church The surprising opening of the Helsinki priest: The church can rise to a whole new prosperity precisely because of the huge loss of membership

The priest of The Hague, Marjut Mulari, and the priest of the workers, Piia Klemi, believe that people should not go too far in the church to become members of the church.

Lutheran The number of members of the church in Helsinki has collapsed to a record low.

Helsinki Parish Association fresh statistics by the end of 2021, less than half of the city’s population, 48.9 percent, belonged to the church.

The number has been steadily declining in recent years. For example, in 2006, 67.8 percent of Helsinki residents still belonged to the church.

It is partly about migration, but it does not explain everything. The city’s population has been steadily growing and the church has failed to keep up.

Helsinki bishop of the diocese Teemu in Laajasalo reduced membership raises three kinds of ideas.

First, it makes sense to look in the mirror and humbly and critically ask where you have failed when so many people have not experienced their church relationship to be significant.

Second comes the desire to explain and break down the numbers. Laajasalo highlights the great regional differences in Helsinki. In the parishes of Pakila and Munkkiniemi, for example, the proportion of members is growing to well over 60 per cent, while the membership of Mikael and Vuosaari in Helsinki, in the eastern part of the city, has already collapsed to close to 40 per cent.

“This is also an opportunity and a place of self-criticism, which is why we have not been able to invite immigrants from Christian countries, for example,” Laajasalo reflects.

Thirdly, he raises the question of whether 48.9 per cent, or about 322,000 members of the Church in Helsinki, are few or many during this period. According to Laajasalo, if the number of people is compared to the membership registers of associations or political parties, for example, it is an “insanely large number”.

According to Bishop Teemu Laajasalo, the increase in resignation from the church can have many serious consequences for the church’s operations.

The most Last year, young people aged 18–29 left the church in Helsinki. Women differed more than men.

According to Laajasalo, the church has long had challenges reaching out to young adults. Although the work in children, youth and the elderly is strong, the church has not been as successful in becoming part of everyday life for students, for example.

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“Here, too, one has to look in the mirror. We know how to build great piers but not bridges, so we do good youth work, but often there is no continuum. ”

The Hague parish parish pastor Marjut Mulari instead, there are no gloomy statistics to worry about or sad about.

He says he appreciates people making their own decisions about their beliefs as well as the rest of their lives. Therefore, he says, it is not worthwhile for the church to try to force everyone to please or to infuse what he is saying.

“Belonging to a church is a personal choice that no one should interfere with, not their own family or the surrounding culture.”

The declining membership, he said, could in fact be a good opportunity for the Evangelical Lutheran Church to reflect on its own identity and how the rather old-fashioned institution will survive for decades to come.

The fewer Finns belong to the church, the fewer grounds there are for the church’s status under public law, for example. If this special position were to be relinquished, it would be better to focus on the basic task of the church, namely the realization of the spiritual life and the service of the people, instead of bureaucracy, Mulari ponders.

According to him, ideally, the church tax could be turned into a general tax on views, through which small denominations and other religious communities could also collect membership fees.

“I hope that the church will gradually move into an organization as a third-sector organization-type actor rather than the current‘ state second ’. It terribly defines our identity, and the idea can push younger people out in particular. ”

Pastor Marjut Mulari believes the reduction in membership could be an opportunity to reform the church as an institution.

Number of members the decrease is, according to Mular caused troubled conversations within the church, but panicking doesn’t help now.

“Of course, I sometimes think about it, that I might have to come up with a new profession at some point in my life, but then it happens.”

Mulari hopes that in addition to cutting red tape, the church will be able to communicate in the future better that the church is a community of love and justice.

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“Pretty many have a different picture and often for a good reason. Younger people in particular prefer to belong to a church that truly lives up to the message of love and equality when it comes to marriage, for example, ”she says.

I’m at work parish tourist and shopping center priest Piia Klemi is in the same line with Mular that people should not go too far in court to become members of the Church under any circumstances, for they can easily instill it.

“The church may be trying too much at times, there is a service design idea and more. However, few join the church because they see a good advertising campaign. ”

Instead, according to Klem, people should be allowed to come when the time is right. This can occur, for example, at the time of the loss of a loved one, a difficult life situation or loneliness caused by a corona pandemic.

Piia Klemi, pastor of the Töölö parish tourist and shopping center

Through her work, Klemi meets a lot of young people. Specifically, the increase in church exits has been noticed, for example, by the fact that it is increasingly difficult for young parents to find godparents for their children. It is not always possible to say how many people belong to the church from his own circle of friends, he says.

However, Klemi wants to point out that the church does a lot of good for the common good.

“The church’s diaconal work, for example, can be the last straw in a difficult situation when no more money is available from other hatches.”

From the church spikes in resignation may be caused, for example, by negative issues related to the church or religion in public, Klemi estimates. Such have been known, for example, by some MPs Päivi Räsänen (kd) comments, although this does not represent the Lutheran Church.

Also, various inequality issues and traditional values ​​associated with the church may make people vote with their feet. Klemi also points out that leaving the church has been made very easy through the eroakirkosta.fi website.

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However, like Mular, he does not care about the increase in the number of people leaving the church. It is, according to him, the spirit of the times and in the sense that the church is no longer as strong a social institution as it was a few decades ago.

“I appreciate people thinking about things themselves. And if you are interested in returning to church somewhere, you are always welcome here. ”

Bishop LAAJASALO in turn, the widespread separation from church sees many serious consequences. First, the church is said to be a community and a congregation made up of people.

On the other hand, it is also a great service provider that supports people’s lives at different stages. Laajasalo wants to emphasize that the church does this work despite the number of members. But if the number of members and funding decreases, the volume and scale of operations are also in danger of shrinking.

“It’s important to understand that we do this work anyway. But how extensively and well it can be done depends on resources, ”he says.

“The church doesn’t produce services to get money, but it raises money to provide services.”

Laajasalo somewhat disagrees with the idea that the church should not try to please everyone. According to him, the church should belong to everyone.

“The essence of the church is always a global and mixed church, never an inner circle or a club of like-minded people.”

Laajasalo hopes that instead of leaving the church, people will find a suitable church relationship and, if they wish, also challenge the church.

He also hopes that membership will grow, for example, by highlighting the often invisible work of the Church.

Another way is simply to keep people happy in their church relationship, which is done by both church staff and the entire congregation.

“If we are interested in people, people are interested in us. You should not squat with these statistics, but move forward boldly. ”

Read more: One map shows how severe the loss of Church membership has been this decade: “Tricks or sermons will not change this development”

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