[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 30/Aug/2026]
I imagine most of you will have heard last week that the singer and songwriter Dolly Parton died at the age of 80, following a short battle with cancer. This larger-than-life character dominated the music world for more than 60 years and never shied away from speaking about her faith.
Raised in a poor Pentecostal family in rural America, Dolly’s church gave her a spiritual foundation for life, as well as her first opportunity to develop her musical talent. Yet although faith remained important to her, her relationship with the church was more complicated.
The fire-and-brimstone preaching she heard as a child left her frightened and insecure. She struggled to understand why she should be afraid of a God who was also described as a loving Father. Also, her deepest spiritual experience came not during a church service, but while praying alone in an abandoned church near her home. Away from the fear and pressure, she experienced the peace and presence of God for herself.
Dolly later described herself as “spiritual rather than religious”. When asked how she practised her faith, she replied, “I don’t practise it. I live it”.
In recent years, I have met a number of people who retain a sincere faith in Jesus but have rejected – or perhaps feel unable to contemplate – being part of a church. It is easy to throw Bible verses at them, reminding them not to give up meeting together. But perhaps, before doing that, we should take the time to ask why, because people step away from church for all sorts of reasons.
Sometimes other priorities have gradually taken over. But others find it difficult to fit within the structures of church life. Some have experienced controlling leadership, judgement or even spiritual abuse, leaving wounds that run very deep.
That raises an important question for those of us who remain:
How can we bring church to them?
After all, church is not simply a building, an organisation or a service held on a Sunday morning. Church is people sharing life and faith together in the presence of Jesus. For some, that may begin over coffee, around a meal, or through friendship, kindness and honest conversation. It may never develop into attending a formal Sunday service – and perhaps that should not always be our measure of success.
People still need Christian community, but that community may not always take the form we expect. Perhaps our calling is not simply to persuade people to come to church, but to be the church wherever they are.
With this in mind, perhaps, then, our benchmark for a faith-filled Christian shouldn’t simply be how often they attend church or how many rotas they serve on, but how their everyday life – their time, resources, finances and attitude towards others – reflects the work of the Holy Spirit.
Whatever the complexities of Dolly Parton’s relationship with the institutional church, the generosity, kindness and grace evident throughout her life offer us much to reflect upon. She will be sorely missed.
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Last Sunday’s reflection: Those Pesky, No, Those Blessed Interruptions by David Makanjuola
Contributed by Martin Shorey; © Martin Shorey