Some time ago one of our visitors, an admitted "church shopper," set up an appointment to come and speak with me. When she came by the office, she said she wanted to know what we meant when we wrote "proudly progressive" in all of our advertising and brochures. Her mood seemed to be somewhat challenging and my first thought was that she was not comfortable with the word proudly.

Taken out of context it can seem so "unchristian" to be proud when we are called to be humble. (Of course, some Christians are very proud of their humbleness.) She patiently listened as I mumbled my way through the difference between being proud of an achievement or hard work or being proud of a stand or conviction, and being a proud person who assumes that they are somehow better than others.

As it turned out, however, her real question was what did we mean by "progressive." She wanted to know if it meant what she hoped it meant, that we were not locked into the often repressive, divisive, and judgmental religion she had experienced in her past. You see this woman is part of the fastest growing religious group in the United States today. Surprisingly for many, this group is not the Pentecostals, the evangelicals, or the fundamentalists, but is made up of those who identify themselves as "non-affiliated." In large part these are folks who have a hunger for spirituality and community but who cannot accept the dogmas and tired creeds that are often associated with Christianity.

This group is made up in large part of people who are educated, probably have had some western civilization classes, may have even had some comparative religion classes and can no longer accept the absolutes of what they recognize as ancient mythology. Certainly these people have a very difficult time with the idea that somehow Christianity has a superior claim over all other religious traditions in the world. They are seekers who recognize that the search is more meaningful than the absolutes of ancient beliefs.

I explained to this woman that "progressive" meant that we are not hesitant to doubt, to ask questions of our faith, and to apply the best scholarship and critical analysis we can find to our beliefs and understanding of God. In so doing we were free to allow God's spirit to inform and reform our thinking and our faith with new information, insight, and experience. We live in an information age. Every year our information and knowledge of the universe grows exponentially. It seems downright irresponsible to ignore that information or not to apply that information to our religious beliefs.

I told her how strange it seemed to me that so many people would still believe that all new knowledge and understanding of God somehow ended 2000 years ago with the political decision to codify a book of ancient experiences of God, and to proclaim it "Scripture." This is even more difficult to understand when one realized that these experiences came out of a patriarchal society that believed women were property and had no rights, slavery and multiple wives were ordained by God, fathers had the right to kill their child as a form of punishment, there was only one name for the Creator, one way to worship and speak to the Divine, and that a relationship with God required a broker-representative.

"Progressive" assumes progress or advancement or movement. It means that someone will find more grace in the questions rather than in absolute answers. It always means change. I cautioned my visitor that if people are afraid of change then they will always be uncomfortable with progress. She agreed.

She asked, "Pastor Plumer, what do you have faith in?"

I said I have faith in the path to God that Jesus and others have marked out for us and I have faith in an ever-present energy or power that continues to open us to answers that lead to new mysteries. I have faith in the God within when I take the time to listen.

Since she made no move to leave, I assumed that she still had other questions. She smiled, but with tears in her eyes and said, "What do progressive Christians do when they realize they have come home?"

We gave thanks.

Fred Plumer is pastor of Irvine United Church of Christ, Irvine, Calif., and a member of the Center for Progressive Christianity (TCPC) Advisory Committee. The TCPC was founded to "encourage churches to care about people who find organized religion irrelevant, ineffectual, or repressive."

To read this article and others like it, go to www.tcpc.org