Challenges and Opportunities for Anglican Parishes and Missions
Canada is often characterized as a highly secular nation, where organized religion appears to have lost much of its cultural significance. However, this narrative is now profoundly changing. Recent trends point to the emergence of what many scholars term a post-secular society—a complex cultural mix in which secularism, religious pluralism, and a resurgence of spiritual searching co-exist. This new reality has significant implications for the diocese and Anglican parish churches and their mission, particularly in their engagement with diverse social groupings such as spiritual seekers and those who identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). For us as Anglican Christians, understanding and responding to these shifts is both a challenge and an opportunity to reimagine mission in a way that is faithful to our Anglican traditions while being relevant and accessible to contemporary Canadian society.
Understanding the Post-Secular Landscape in Canada
The concept of post-secularism highlights the ways in which religion and spirituality continue to shape public and private life, even in societies that were thought to be increasingly secular. In Canada, declining church attendance and the rise of religious “nones” (those who claim no religious affiliation) suggest a retreat from institutional religion. Yet, these trends coexist with a growing interest in spirituality, mindfulness practices, meditation, spiritual dialogue, and explorations of meaning beyond materialism.
Immigration has also contributed to a religiously diverse society, where Christianity shares the stage with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and other traditions. Additionally, Indigenous spiritualities are receiving renewed attention as part of the broader work of reconciliation. Meanwhile, many Canadians, including those who reject traditional religious labels, are engaging in personal spiritual practices, from yoga to meditation, while exploring existential questions of purpose, identity, and connection.
This fragmented spiritual landscape points to a key dynamic of post-secularism: the disconnection of spirituality from traditional religious institutions. For many unchurched spiritual seekers, Christianity is seen as a religion and not a spirituality, and many consider that Church does not have the resources or focus to assist spiritual seekers in their pilgrimage for significance. Rather than going to Sunday worship services, spiritual seekers explore individualized, eclectic forms of spiritual expression. This does not mean that religion is irrelevant; rather, it is being reconfigured in ways that challenge the established patterns of Christian ministry and mission.
The Emergence of New Social Groupings
In the post-secular context, social groupings are often defined less by shared religious affiliations and more by common questions or pursuits. Two key groups stand out in this landscape: spiritual seekers and the SBNR.
Spiritual Seekers: This group is characterized by a deep hunger for meaning, connection, and transcendence. They may explore a variety of spiritual paths, drawing from multiple traditions or none at all. Spiritual seekers often value experiential practices, such as meditation, dialogue groups, retreats, or pilgrimages, over doctrinal certainty. They are drawn to communities or practices that offer authenticity, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging.
Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR): The SBNR population represents a growing demographic in Canada. They distance themselves from institutional religion, often citing perceptions of dogmatism, hypocrisy, or irrelevance. However, they do not reject spirituality itself; rather, they seek to cultivate personal, often unstructured, relationships with the divine or the sacred. For the SBNR, spirituality is a journey rather than a destination, marked by fluidity and an openness to new experiences.
Both groups challenge traditional models of church engagement, which often assume regular attendance, doctrinal adherence, and accessibility of Sunday Worship services. Instead, they invite a rethinking of how the church might meet people where they are, offering spaces for exploration, dialogue, spirituality, and authentic community.
Implications for Anglican Parish Churches
In this context, Anglican parish churches face a critical question: How can they remain faithful to their identity while responding creatively to the realities of post-secular Canada? The answer lies in embracing a mission that is both rooted in tradition and open to innovation and missional engagement.
Reimagining the Parish Church as a “spiritual hub”
For many spiritual seekers and the SBNR, the church is viewed as an unfamiliar or even unwelcoming space. Anglican parishes have the opportunity to redefine themselves as “spiritual hubs”— places where people can experience accessible forms of Christian spirituality, gather for meaningful conversations and community. This might involve hosting events like John Main forms meditation groups, spirituality dialogues, art exhibits, or mindfulness workshops that appeal to those on the margins of institutional religion.
Focusing on Spiritual Practices over Doctrinal Certainty
Anglicanism has a rich tradition of spiritual practices, from contemplative prayer to compline. Offering these practices as accessible tools for spiritual exploration can resonate with seekers who are less interested in doctrinal debates but deeply drawn to experiences of the sacred.
Emphasising Hospitality and Radical Welcome
The biblical call to hospitality is especially relevant in the post-secular age. Anglican parishes can embody a radical welcome, creating spaces where people of all backgrounds and beliefs feel safe to ask questions, share doubts, and explore faith at their own pace. This requires a shift from seeing hospitality as mere friendliness to embracing it as a spiritual discipline that reflects the unconditional love of God.
Giving Room for Intimate Small Events aimed at Spiritual Seekers
As is currently being promoted as the ‘Hamilton Well’ at our Cathedral every Thursday, there is an event called ‘Meditation and Beer’ which gives room for spiritual seekers to engage in a Christian form of meditation and community. Anglican churches can engage meaningfully in such events focusing on spirituality rather than religion, offering content that is both spiritually enriching and accessible. These can be promoted digitally in spaces where spiritual seekers are present such as the ‘Meetup’ social media application.
Drawing on the Contemplative
The Anglican Church is founded on the mystical and contemplative prayer resources and theology of monasticism. This is the origin and root of our liturgical and prayer traditions. Further, our Anglican theology draws on contemplative and mystical theology. In short, we all need to become far deeper Christians who practice deep contemplation which is sadly neglected in many places. If we are seeking to open up Christian spirituality to post-secular spiritual seekers, then this begins with us all becoming far deeper contemplatives. This will enable our parish churches to develop contemplative prayer groups and missional events such as meditation aimed at unchurched spiritual seekers.
Adopting a Missional Mindset
Finally, as Bishop Susan has been promoting for some time, Anglican parishes need to embrace a missional approach to ministry, understanding themselves not as static organizations but as dynamic community organisms sent into the world. This means prioritizing relationships over programs, focusing on listening to the needs and stories of the local community, and being willing to adapt traditional forms of ministry to meet contemporary realities. This may include activities aimed at enabling spiritual seekers to explore Christian spirituality through missional events such as a spiritual dialogue group and a regular missional meditation group.
I have recently written a book aimed at helping Anglican Christians and beyond to understand and explore a ministry with unchurched spiritual seekers published under the title of ‘The Seeking Heart’ with SCM Press and offer this as a resource for missional engagement.
Parish as Mixed Ecology Church
It is very difficult to use traditional Sunday morning services to meet the spiritual needs of all those who live in the neighbourhoods of parish churches. There has always been the tradition of having more than one service on a Sunday to relate to the needs of varying people hence why some churches have an early morning or BCP Service followed by a later family Holy Communion or Eucharist Service. Mixed Ecology stretches this tradition further in that it invites new missional initiatives to form relevant and accessible forms of ecclesial communities and eventual congregations for those who become Christians from being spiritual seekers fully integrated into the parish church. In this way, the parish church becomes a hub for different congregations made up of different people groups, and needs in the parish neighbourhood. In this situation, there may be a missional community as part of a parish where there are events and services that happen alongside traditional ministry and worship services. Such initiatives will begin in some form of contextual mission, with the hope that this contextual mission in time will evolve into an ecclesial community as part of a parish or mission. Here are some ideas for possible starting activities:
Setting up a Church contemplative prayer group as a first step.
It’s true to say that you can’t draw on Christian spirituality to reach post-secular spiritual seekers if you have not developed a contemplative prayer group. So, the first step in a parish or mission could be to set up a contemplative prayer group to then be able to use this as a medium for mission later.
Using event-driven social media applications to engage with spiritual seekers.
Applications such as Meetup, Eventbrite, and others are good ways of making connections with post-secular spiritual seekers to spirituality-focused events BUT NOT to try and invite de-and-unchurched people to attend an ordinary traditional worship service.
Setting up a silent meditation group in person in a library or other community space aimed at spiritual seekers.
This will need to be careful about Church and Christian language and jargon. I am going to run some short evening courses on how to do this well. Once you get into it, it is really not that complicated and very rewarding.
Setting up a spirituality dialogue group in person again in a community facility or room in a bar or pub for example.
This is slightly harder than the meditation group and needs careful facilitation to keep the conversation on topic and to be a learning environment. Again, I am going to be running some one-off evening sessions on experiencing this and how to consider setting something like this up.
Book reading groups in a neutral venue.
An exciting possibility is to use spiritually accessible books by authors coming from the Contemplative Christian traditions including the mystics and books about the mystics to explore their teaching in a missional context, with writers such as Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, Meister Eckert, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence of Taizé, Abbot Jamieson Worth Abbey, etc. Again, good to do this in a neutral environment.
Death Cafes.
An interesting recent development has been the gatherings of non-religious people trying to make sense of their impermanence, as there is very little opportunity for many to engage with this which is fundamentally related to people’s existential questions of life which are spiritual, see https://deathcafe.com.
Spirituality & mindfulness prayer walks and hikes.
Exploring spirituality isn’t just about meditation – it’s also about walking, pilgrimages, or the like. One great opportunity could be to organize a walk or hike where there can be spiritual stations as part of the walk where you can either pause and do something like contemplate nature or some other reflective activity.
The Positive Opportunities of Post-Secular Mission
Photo: Unsplash/Jessica Da Rosa
While the reality of post-secular Canada poses challenges, it also presents Anglican parishes with a remarkable opportunity to rediscover their spiritual and missional identity. By engaging authentically with spiritual seekers and the SBNR, Anglican parishes and missions can offer something unique: a vision of faith that is both rooted in tradition and alive to the questions of our time. This requires humility, creativity, and a willingness to let go of old assumptions about what church should look like.
In the end, the post-secular context is not a threat to the Anglican Church’s mission but an invitation to embrace its core calling: to proclaim the gospel in ways that speak to the deepest longings of the human heart. By stepping into this new reality with courage and grace, Anglican parishes can become places of hope, healing, and transformation for all who look to encounter the living God.
The Reality of Post-Secular Canada
Challenges and Opportunities for Anglican Parishes and Missions
Canada is often characterized as a highly secular nation, where organized religion appears to have lost much of its cultural significance. However, this narrative is now profoundly changing. Recent trends point to the emergence of what many scholars term a post-secular society—a complex cultural mix in which secularism, religious pluralism, and a resurgence of spiritual searching co-exist. This new reality has significant implications for the diocese and Anglican parish churches and their mission, particularly in their engagement with diverse social groupings such as spiritual seekers and those who identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). For us as Anglican Christians, understanding and responding to these shifts is both a challenge and an opportunity to reimagine mission in a way that is faithful to our Anglican traditions while being relevant and accessible to contemporary Canadian society.
Understanding the Post-Secular Landscape in Canada
The concept of post-secularism highlights the ways in which religion and spirituality continue to shape public and private life, even in societies that were thought to be increasingly secular. In Canada, declining church attendance and the rise of religious “nones” (those who claim no religious affiliation) suggest a retreat from institutional religion. Yet, these trends coexist with a growing interest in spirituality, mindfulness practices, meditation, spiritual dialogue, and explorations of meaning beyond materialism.
Immigration has also contributed to a religiously diverse society, where Christianity shares the stage with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and other traditions. Additionally, Indigenous spiritualities are receiving renewed attention as part of the broader work of reconciliation. Meanwhile, many Canadians, including those who reject traditional religious labels, are engaging in personal spiritual practices, from yoga to meditation, while exploring existential questions of purpose, identity, and connection.
This fragmented spiritual landscape points to a key dynamic of post-secularism: the disconnection of spirituality from traditional religious institutions. For many unchurched spiritual seekers, Christianity is seen as a religion and not a spirituality, and many consider that Church does not have the resources or focus to assist spiritual seekers in their pilgrimage for significance. Rather than going to Sunday worship services, spiritual seekers explore individualized, eclectic forms of spiritual expression. This does not mean that religion is irrelevant; rather, it is being reconfigured in ways that challenge the established patterns of Christian ministry and mission.
The Emergence of New Social Groupings
In the post-secular context, social groupings are often defined less by shared religious affiliations and more by common questions or pursuits. Two key groups stand out in this landscape: spiritual seekers and the SBNR.
Spiritual Seekers: This group is characterized by a deep hunger for meaning, connection, and transcendence. They may explore a variety of spiritual paths, drawing from multiple traditions or none at all. Spiritual seekers often value experiential practices, such as meditation, dialogue groups, retreats, or pilgrimages, over doctrinal certainty. They are drawn to communities or practices that offer authenticity, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging.
Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR): The SBNR population represents a growing demographic in Canada. They distance themselves from institutional religion, often citing perceptions of dogmatism, hypocrisy, or irrelevance. However, they do not reject spirituality itself; rather, they seek to cultivate personal, often unstructured, relationships with the divine or the sacred. For the SBNR, spirituality is a journey rather than a destination, marked by fluidity and an openness to new experiences.
Both groups challenge traditional models of church engagement, which often assume regular attendance, doctrinal adherence, and accessibility of Sunday Worship services. Instead, they invite a rethinking of how the church might meet people where they are, offering spaces for exploration, dialogue, spirituality, and authentic community.
Implications for Anglican Parish Churches
In this context, Anglican parish churches face a critical question: How can they remain faithful to their identity while responding creatively to the realities of post-secular Canada? The answer lies in embracing a mission that is both rooted in tradition and open to innovation and missional engagement.
For many spiritual seekers and the SBNR, the church is viewed as an unfamiliar or even unwelcoming space. Anglican parishes have the opportunity to redefine themselves as “spiritual hubs”— places where people can experience accessible forms of Christian spirituality, gather for meaningful conversations and community. This might involve hosting events like John Main forms meditation groups, spirituality dialogues, art exhibits, or mindfulness workshops that appeal to those on the margins of institutional religion.
Anglicanism has a rich tradition of spiritual practices, from contemplative prayer to compline. Offering these practices as accessible tools for spiritual exploration can resonate with seekers who are less interested in doctrinal debates but deeply drawn to experiences of the sacred.
The biblical call to hospitality is especially relevant in the post-secular age. Anglican parishes can embody a radical welcome, creating spaces where people of all backgrounds and beliefs feel safe to ask questions, share doubts, and explore faith at their own pace. This requires a shift from seeing hospitality as mere friendliness to embracing it as a spiritual discipline that reflects the unconditional love of God.
As is currently being promoted as the ‘Hamilton Well’ at our Cathedral every Thursday, there is an event called ‘Meditation and Beer’ which gives room for spiritual seekers to engage in a Christian form of meditation and community. Anglican churches can engage meaningfully in such events focusing on spirituality rather than religion, offering content that is both spiritually enriching and accessible. These can be promoted digitally in spaces where spiritual seekers are present such as the ‘Meetup’ social media application.
The Anglican Church is founded on the mystical and contemplative prayer resources and theology of monasticism. This is the origin and root of our liturgical and prayer traditions. Further, our Anglican theology draws on contemplative and mystical theology. In short, we all need to become far deeper Christians who practice deep contemplation which is sadly neglected in many places. If we are seeking to open up Christian spirituality to post-secular spiritual seekers, then this begins with us all becoming far deeper contemplatives. This will enable our parish churches to develop contemplative prayer groups and missional events such as meditation aimed at unchurched spiritual seekers.
I have recently written a book aimed at helping Anglican Christians and beyond to understand and explore a ministry with unchurched spiritual seekers published under the title of ‘The Seeking Heart’ with SCM Press and offer this as a resource for missional engagement.
It is very difficult to use traditional Sunday morning services to meet the spiritual needs of all those who live in the neighbourhoods of parish churches. There has always been the tradition of having more than one service on a Sunday to relate to the needs of varying people hence why some churches have an early morning or BCP Service followed by a later family Holy Communion or Eucharist Service. Mixed Ecology stretches this tradition further in that it invites new missional initiatives to form relevant and accessible forms of ecclesial communities and eventual congregations for those who become Christians from being spiritual seekers fully integrated into the parish church. In this way, the parish church becomes a hub for different congregations made up of different people groups, and needs in the parish neighbourhood. In this situation, there may be a missional community as part of a parish where there are events and services that happen alongside traditional ministry and worship services. Such initiatives will begin in some form of contextual mission, with the hope that this contextual mission in time will evolve into an ecclesial community as part of a parish or mission. Here are some ideas for possible starting activities:
It’s true to say that you can’t draw on Christian spirituality to reach post-secular spiritual seekers if you have not developed a contemplative prayer group. So, the first step in a parish or mission could be to set up a contemplative prayer group to then be able to use this as a medium for mission later.
Applications such as Meetup, Eventbrite, and others are good ways of making connections with post-secular spiritual seekers to spirituality-focused events BUT NOT to try and invite de-and-unchurched people to attend an ordinary traditional worship service.
This will need to be careful about Church and Christian language and jargon. I am going to run some short evening courses on how to do this well. Once you get into it, it is really not that complicated and very rewarding.
This is slightly harder than the meditation group and needs careful facilitation to keep the conversation on topic and to be a learning environment. Again, I am going to be running some one-off evening sessions on experiencing this and how to consider setting something like this up.
An exciting possibility is to use spiritually accessible books by authors coming from the Contemplative Christian traditions including the mystics and books about the mystics to explore their teaching in a missional context, with writers such as Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, Meister Eckert, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence of Taizé, Abbot Jamieson Worth Abbey, etc. Again, good to do this in a neutral environment.
An interesting recent development has been the gatherings of non-religious people trying to make sense of their impermanence, as there is very little opportunity for many to engage with this which is fundamentally related to people’s existential questions of life which are spiritual, see https://deathcafe.com.
Exploring spirituality isn’t just about meditation – it’s also about walking, pilgrimages, or the like. One great opportunity could be to organize a walk or hike where there can be spiritual stations as part of the walk where you can either pause and do something like contemplate nature or some other reflective activity.
The Positive Opportunities of Post-Secular Mission
While the reality of post-secular Canada poses challenges, it also presents Anglican parishes with a remarkable opportunity to rediscover their spiritual and missional identity. By engaging authentically with spiritual seekers and the SBNR, Anglican parishes and missions can offer something unique: a vision of faith that is both rooted in tradition and alive to the questions of our time. This requires humility, creativity, and a willingness to let go of old assumptions about what church should look like.
In the end, the post-secular context is not a threat to the Anglican Church’s mission but an invitation to embrace its core calling: to proclaim the gospel in ways that speak to the deepest longings of the human heart. By stepping into this new reality with courage and grace, Anglican parishes can become places of hope, healing, and transformation for all who look to encounter the living God.
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