All around the world, church leaders lament the reducing number of people attending church. Anecdotally I see the same with Hinduism. To understand this phenomenon, we need to look at the role of the church in our communities. Two generations ago, it was rare for a person to leave his place of birth and move away in search of work. For women, it was a part of marriage; but apart from her father’s place and her husband’s place, a woman hardly moved to a third location. Social lives were built and lived around the church. Your friends and relatives attended the same church as you did. If you didn’t go to church, people would come to enquire after you, to see if you were okay. Not attending Sunday mass meant that you were noticed. This is what kept people coming to church. So let’s do away with the premise that people were more pious two generations ago.
Today as we move jobs, the chances that we move location too is quite high. In a new location, there is no pressure on us to attend church. Even if the building you live in has Christians who go to the local church, the chances that they will come enquiring after you for not attending church are slim. Even if they did, you can always brush them off. Losing their friendship is not a huge price to pay since they do not form the core of your social circle.
Typically, your social circle is built around your colleagues. This is quite different from how they were built in previous generations. I for one hardly know any of my parents’ colleagues. My children, on the other hand, know all my colleagues.
However, over the past two years, there is a new addition to my social circle – my cycling mates. These are people I would never have met or if I did, I would not have thought of adding to my social circle. But now, we have a WhatsApp group and we keep each other informed of our plans for the weekend. In fact, they know more about my weekend plans than my regular social group.
The interesting thing about this new group is that they are all youngsters – typically in their late to mid-thirties. While people their age are sitting up late and partying at pubs, bars and their homes, these guys hit the bed early so that they can start riding at 5 in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday. They plan and train for endurance rides round the year. They push each other, support each other, and basically stay out of trouble. They also stay healthy – added bonus.
Through pan-India and international cycling clubs and through apps such as Strava, these cyclists find like-minded people in the cities they move to; giving them an instant social circle where ever they go. A social circle that is not built around drinks, drugs and movies but around cycling. These groups are performing the role the church did a few generations ago – giving people access to a social circle wherever they go. This without the threat of hell and damnation. So is it any surprise that cycling clubs seem to have better attendance than churches?
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