But to keep going, have you considered writing down the question that you’re most interested in answering? Keep reading and blogging until you’ve answered it to your satisfaction.

Recently I’ve been reading Kierkegaard. He writes that the revelation-fact of Christianity is actually offensive to those it encounters, rather than appealing. Note that his intended audience are those who had a prosperous life and who grew up in a “Christian” society. The gospel parallel is the rich young man. Nevertheless, he makes a great point that Christianity is not meant to be glamour, but will be a difficult experience.

I take your point about traditional liturgies not readily including children and families (although I think this can be done with effort). I have also seen churches that have bent over backwards to accommodate ‘young people’ lose the very ones they are trying desperately to keep, and have come to think that maybe there is a place for growing children into some of the more traditional rituals of the church; if for no other reasons than that they can provide time for contemplation and the comfort of familiar routine.

Lisa, the census data over the last few years does indicate that the fastest growing form of Christianity falls into the “other” category which typically means Pentecostal or Charismatic groups although the Catholics are at least growing as fast as the population (while all other groups are growing slower than the population growth if they are growing at all (and some rather vocal conservative anglican evangelical groups are not doing as well as they would like either)). I think the conservative moralism is a big part of it but there are consumerist factors too: Pentecostal churches tend to “sell themselves” and don’t shy away from marketing campaigns, and activities designed to make converts. The underlying mentality of saving souls by selling the promise of happiness and good times works. Traditional churches look on with a mix of distaste and jealousy I think.

We have made friends with some people who go to a charismatic church in our suburb and it does sound attractive the way they adjust their forms of worship to be inclusive of children and families in a way that traditional contemplative liturgies can’t.

We have some Catholic and, in some places, Anglican congregations tearing themselves apart over the role of women in the ordained ministry. So, if my memory of what I have read of the non-canonical gospels is right, it seems quite possible that women were among the original ‘ordained’ ministers, depending of course on what you take ‘ordination’ to mean and where in the gospels you take the basis for it.

This is just from one perspective, and I haven’t read enough to know what other themes an arguments arise once you start reading more widely, though I have vague recollections that the whole question of resurrection was quite contentious in some of the alternative writings.