A Future for the Church?

 

 

 

‘You could say I lost my faith in science and progress
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church
You could say I lost my sense of direction
You could say all of this and worse’

From  ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith in You’ by Sting (from the Album ‘Fields of Gold’)

 

 First a warning and then a clarification.

 Warning: this Advent there may be a few posts in which I express my fears, disappointments and disillusionment with certain aspects of the church as a human organisation, including the Church of Scotland. In spite of the quote from Sting’s song (above) that should not be read as suggesting any cynicism about the Church of Jesus Christ, ie - ‘the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church’.

 Clarification: and (again!) in spite of the quote from Sting’s song, I have not completely lost my faith in science and progress, and I am especially grateful for what medicine and science have achieved in the face of the current ongoing pandemic. Nor have I lost my belief in the ‘holy church’ if what is understood by that is the community of faith instituted by Jesus Christ and constituted by God’s Holy Spirit. I am not sure whether or not I have lost my sense of direction… and while I don’t think so, I do sometimes wonder…

What I may be losing is a belief that the church as currently organised is capable of being reformed and renewed.

 Of course, I am aware within the Church of Scotland of all the proposed changes that are being discussed, the plans that are being made, the (supposedly) ‘radical’ new approaches being pursued.

But, truth be told, it all sounds like the same old same old. For how many years has there been talking and thinking and discussing about groupings of congregations, team ministry, reformed Presbyteries and so on? The answer is counted in decades! I have been part of it and even at some points quite deeply involved in these discussions. And what has really changed? Not a lot, except for the ongoing decline in membership.

All this talk has been accompanied by a resistance to change, and desire to hang onto all that is familiar, and a determination to cling to long irrelevant principles and practices.

And, anyway, is this approach to our crisis really the answer?

Alongside the seemingly unrelenting decline of membership (and vitality) in the Kirk there has been another phenomenon (now well documented) of large numbers of previously committed church-goers ceasing to attend and be involved. Many (not all) of these have not ceased to believe. In fact, many of them continue to meet with other Christians in homes (or cafes, or pubs etc). I have personally witnessed this apparently growing phenomenon amongst some of my own friends, including some who were once in Ministry.

Another interesting (and possibly related) observation is the number of people who attend worship in settings where they can more easily remain anonymous and not be drawn into membership, involvement, weekday activities, groups, committees and so on. When, on occasion, I have been on leave but have been in or near a Scottish city, I have, over the years, chosen to attend a large church, often a cathedral style building, and not always of our denomination. It has often appeared to me from the behaviour and attitudes of my fellow worshippers that there have been lots of people who are also visiting or who at least are not deeply involved in the life of that community.  This has been more marked in recent years when I have observed the surprising number of younger adults attending in such settings (many more than you might expect to see in your average parish church). But what has been most interesting is the number of fellow Ministers of the Church of Scotland I have bumped into in these worship services! In some cases they have, in retirement, made these churches their home. But often they are ‘just visiting’ and tell me they move around from church to church (that is, on those Sundays they choose to go anywhere!). Others are those Ministers who have another church appointment that does not involve regular Sunday duties and who have gravitated to this style of worship, while others are – like me – enjoying a Sunday off.

This apparent appeal of ‘cathedral’ worship to people has been observed for a long time in England. I find it interesting that it now seems to be increasingly observable in Scotland even though there may be fewer options for such worship north of the border.

All of this raises many questions, and perhaps not so many answers.

But, were it up to me, I would be making it a priority to talk with those who have drifted from church but not from faith, those who have chosen meeting in small groups over involvement in a congregation, those who seek out the anonymity of cathedral-style worship, those who were once in Ministry and who now eschew close involvement in a local congregation of the Church of Scotland, or – indeed – the many colleagues still in Ministry who say that even though they preach, and lead, and celebrate the sacraments faithfully, they are not sure that they would bother to come to church if they didn’t have to!

Maybe I would ask all these folks some questions and be ready to listen to some uncomfortable answers rather than assuming that I know the answers, or that ‘top down’ solutions are bound to be successful.

And perhaps it is even more important that we bring ourselves into God’s presence and allow him to ask us some questions, such as the question he asked Ezekiel ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’. Now, where might that lead us?!?