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weekender june 21 1986 p19 markham churches defy newest stats by paul pivato it was not too long ago recalls rev alan embree of st andrews presbyterian when churches allowed dancing in the aisles and calisthenics in the pews in an effort to woo the faithful back to church but it didnt work said rev embree who watched attend ance sink to an alltime low and while churches may have abandoned dancing in the aisles attendance figures continue to plummet a recent gallup poll published last week shows that only 31 per cent of canadians now attend religious services on a weekly basis although most local pastors be moan the low statistics they all say that church attendance in markham is much higher than the national figure i think the statistics are a real sad commentary on our society but we havent experienced such a decline in markham said pas tor harvey peters at centennial baptist church perhaps thats because were a growing com munity other clergymen agree rev embree says his church is full every sunday rev brian pear son of st phillips anglican says his church has been averaging one new family per week for the last 2 years and rev benoit jobin of st patricks catholic says lots of people are involved in the church particularly young parishioners according to the gallup poll the catholic church suffered the largest drop in attendance fi gures only 40 per cent of catho lics said they attended church on a weekly basis down from 51 per cent in 1981 and 87 per cent in 1957 while most of the clergymen in terviewed agree markham has higher church attendance than the national figure they were di vided on whether attendance will continue to drop or rise i wouldnt be surprised if attendance goes up said rev jobin there is a renewal peo ple are looking for more than comfort money and popularity but rev pearson is less opti mistic i think were seeing a pri vileged picture of high church attendance in unionviue he said overall i dont think weve seen attendance bottom out rev embree whos been in the ministry for 34 years paints a much darker picture were fol lowing in the path of england where the weekly attendance fi gure is around 16 per cent in fact statistics place the english level of attendance closer to 5 per cent some of the pastors though see a good side to the plummeting attendance i welcome the low figures said rev pearson it means the church has to be more relevant it cant assume that people will come out of habit dr frederick a styles pastor of st andrews united thinks the low figures are just fine be cause the church doesnt have to carry the dead weight of people who are there only out of social pressures wed sooner have fewer peo ple who are committed than many people who are sitting on their hands said dr styles who points out that 50 years ago school teachers and company ex ecutives had to go to church or risk losing their jobs in the old days many people liked to worship because there was nothing else to do added dr styles the church was a place of entertainment dr styles argued that high attendance figures are a poor barometer of the number of reli gious people in a community morality doesnt equate with going to church he said there are many people outside the church who are moral and up right rev pearson also warns against interpreting low attend ance figures as a decline in morality i dont think our present socie ty is any less moral said rev pearson i believe people are still nurturing religious values but its no longer in the context of the church connies antiques giant warehouse sale of antique and old furniture june 23 july 1 in the annex front building dining room suites desks bedroom suites chairs tables cabinets etc also vintage clothing china glass 4300 steeles ave e connies 477 at kennedy rd restaurants n free parking 9 am 7 pm ext 260 markham agents discuss tour ban on south africa by paul pivato a voluntary ban on the promo tion and advertising of south afri can tourism will not hurt local travel agencies say most agents the ban announced last thurs day by the federal government was termed wristslapping and ineffectual by travel agents i dont think it will make a hill of beans of difference said saman- tha bates manager of samantha travel on main street she added that regardless of the ban she would advise against travel to south africa because of its dangerous market conditions the ban wont hurt south africa or travel agencies said denise hayes of thomas cook travel a businessman is going to go there whether theres a ban on advertis ing or not since south africa is a very spe cialized and expensive tourist mar ket most travel agencies have very little business there ex plained bella diffey of marlin travel in the markville shopping centre pointing out recent political un rest ms diffey said that south africa is not what youd call a vacation place heritage day saturday june 21 free oil lube filters first 50 customers domestic cars only havent met the new top guns in town well theres no better time than saturday june 21 to get a quality muffler job brake job coil and leaf springs mcpherson struts shock absorbers oil lube and filter service and custom pipe bending plus the new top guns are giving away free baseball caps tshirts key chains lighters balloons coffee and donuts to all those who drop by while quantities last so join in its a grand opening celebration you wont want to miss top ouns 3 mxtms open 8 am 5 pm 4601 hwy 7 east just west of kennedy road markham ontario 4790122