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Church attendance in the UK- on the rise?

February 13, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | No comments

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Well I never.

There has been a bit of a buzz around that church attendance figures in the UK are on the up! This after decades of dropping like a stone. These are the sorts of stats we have become used to (from here)-

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Of course, the picture was never simple- some individual churches are growing- the odd American imported super church, Black Pentecostal churches, and Orthodox churches- these have all been on the increase… albeit from a low base.

But statistics- they can be very misleading, so I did a bit of searching to see if I could find specific details of the studies.

The first one concerns a study done by Tearfund- mentioned in the Telegraph here.

A survey of 7,000 people by Tearfund found that 26 per cent say they went to a church service in 2008, up from 21 per cent the year before.

In addition, the proportion who say they attend church every month has risen from 13 per cent to 15 per cent, while one in 10 claim they go at least once a week, up from 9 per cent.

These are the highest figures recorded by the development agency for more than three years, contradicting research that has claimed churchgoing is in steady decline across Britain.

Young adults and pensioners are said to have taken up churchgoing in the greatest numbers, with a 10 per cent rise in attendance reported among the over-75s. Geographically, the biggest increase was seen in Wales (12 per cent).

It would mean that 7.3million adults now go to church – excluding weddings, baptisms and funerals – once a month. Official figures show that only 1.7m people attend Church of England services every month, while a further million attend weekly Mass at a Roman Catholic church.

The full details of the Tearfund study can be found on their website- here.

Another Telegraph articles makes the link with the deepening economic crisis- here.

Numbers of people attending Cathedral services have been on the increase for a while- see here and here.

So what are we to make of this? One swallow does not make a summer, but the numbers quoted in the Tearfund study are significant- as is the year on year 4% Cathedral attendance increase since 2000.

I think we people of faith should pay little heed to these figures. Let us instead remember some lessons learnt when church attendance figures looked like the charts above, which I think should include some of these-

  • We can no longer expect ‘attractional’ models of church to fill the pews.
  • Church is not about sacred buildings, but about letting loose the people of faith into the towns and cities about us.
  • The new context requires new ways of interpreting the gospel, and a re-examination of how the enculturalisation of church has contributed to a lack of relevance.
  • But the old mystical/contemplative traditions have much to teach us too.
  • Faith is discovered through action and interaction, not through didactic teaching.
  • Doctrine is not the most important thing.
  • Love is.

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On being grateful to those who walk in the other direction…

January 31, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | No comments

A friend told me this story recently…

Inside Victorian prisons, a regime of order and control regulated every aspect of the lives of the inmates. There was a way of doing everything- eating, sleeping, talking/not talking, working and…exercising. In this way it was hoped that people would find redemption and restoration to the society that the grew from.

Exercise was important- to escape the harmful miasmas lurking in the damp prison air- to fill the lungs with clear clean (but regulated) air. Exercising was done in in the exercise yard, and like all things, there was a right way to do this.

Men walked in clockwise circles, one behind the other.

Apart from the lunatics. For prisons then, like now, contained many folk who had mental health problems.

The guards discovered that trying to control these folk was a waste of time, and so they were allowed to walk in the direction that suited them- even anti clockwise.

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I have been thinking a lot about change recently.

How do things change? How do we take something that seems like it has just always been- and move on to something new?

Perhaps most of us are like me- we simply do not change things easily. Stability is our goal- a maintenance of what is, lest the future bring a feared but undefined consequence. Better to walk in the circles that are trod by others, and leave the wandering to the lunatics.

Except that as much as I worry about change, I am also drawn to it.

I am tired of walking the same circles, and long to wander free- to adventure…

So it occurred to me again how grateful I am to those people who dared to defy convention, and show another way.

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I have to confess that the image of prison described above brought to me the image of institutional church. Not bad- well regulated in fact, well thought through, run by fine upstanding people in the pursuit of a worthy goal.

But somehow stuck. Held in by walls- made of stone and doctrine. Built on a solid foundation of faith and fervour, but now somehow set in cold stone. An organisation that grew in reforming zeal, and remained anchored to the culture that formed it whilst the world drifted away…

And let us not kid ourselves that only traditional ecclesiastical forms of religion fall into this category- because I would dare to suggest that almost any organisation (perhaps especially faith based ones, for all sorts of complex reasons to do with the mixing of organisation and ‘election’) will concrete itself into an exercise yard within 30 years of its inception.

I have walked those circles for too long. Time to find a road that goes somewhere else…no matter how uncertain.

And that is where I still find myself- on the road. It does not come easy to me, as I am happiest at home with the people I love, and love me in return.

But there is this thing that draws me onwards.

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But back to the point of this post- those folk who walk in other directions.

I confess to doing this reluctantly myself, and with considerable caution. And so I am very grateful to those others who first broke away from the circle, in the face of approbation and punishment. Risking the label of the lunatic, or worse, heretic (they still burn those don’t they!)

Because where would we be without our agitators, our eccentrics, our malcontents? Where would we be without our lunatics (if you will forgive the use of such a pejorative word?)

So thanks Rollins, Maclaren, Bell and Pagitt. Thanks too those countless others who stand up and say that there is MORE. There is a better way to be in this place we find ourselves in.

We can follow after Jesus.

But I suppose the lesson to all of us is that in about 30 years, it will be time for others to break down the walls we erected.

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The legacy Church left in the lives of children of fundamentalists…

January 25, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | No comments

I met with some friends yesterday as part of our on-going attempt to get a supportive network for people who are interested in emerging/missional stuff in Scotland (details here for those who are interested- I will post an account of our meeting later.)

It was a great day- with many interesting conversations, and capped off with a visit to Glasgow to see some live music (Welsh language band 9Bach and The Broken Family Band- brilliant both.)

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One conversation we had was about kids and church. Like me, quite a few of my friends have grown up in church situations in which narrow belief systems and codes for living were espoused. For me it was to be part of an evangelical/Charismatic tradition, in a difficult family context. For a couple of other friends, their history comes from Lewis, and the stern austere, almost puritan, Free Church of Scotland. Then there are a few Baptists, or Pentecostals, and Catholics.

For many of us, the journey of faith ever since has contained an attempt to come to terms with some aspects and attributes of God- and what he expected of us- that were given to us by our backgrounds. When I say ‘given’, I include things we were told, and a wider way of seeing things that we just internalised though socialisation, if not indoctrinisation.

Some of my friends came to a point where they rejected church, because they could no longer live with some of the narrow and judgmental views that it represented for them. In losing church, it was difficult not to lose God too- at least for a while. Add the abusive actions of some of  the servants of Jesus in churches we are familiar with, and it perhaps makes it all the more difficult for people to find church again, or even to hold on to faith at all. (There is some more stuff about abuse in churches here and here and here.)

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But my friends and I- we remain drawn by the wonderful person of Jesus- and he leads us back to God the Father, God the Spirit- and the ecclesia- the collectives of the agents of the Kingdom of God.

As previously mentioned, yesterday, the discussion turned to children in Church. We all grew up with Sunday schools, and weekends regulated by attendance at a series of mostly boring services. The question concerned how much of this we felt we could inflict on our own kids?

Can we protect them from our experiences?

Where our experiences actually bad?

If so, in the balance of things- was there more bad than good?

The interesting thing was that all of us came to the conclusion that despite the difficulties, our church backgrounds, with all their guilt-and-confusion-inducing narrow viewpoints, brought to us mostly good and positive things.

Perhaps this was because we are a limited sample- people who still try to follow Jesus, rather than the many who have lost him entirely. These people are the prodigal lost sheep the Church may never return to the fold. My prayer is that Jesus will still bring them to him…

But I wonder if there is also something of a generational passing of the baton towards the new post-modern generation. We represent a punk generation, who later find an ironic pleasure in prog-rock, whilst also being drawn to Madrigals and Gregorian chant. There has been the necessary rebellion- but ultimately, there is nothing new under the sun, and the next generation will need their points of departure from ours!

Time will tell whether what they inherit from understudying the whole missional/emerging experiment equips them for their own journeys of faith more than our own childhoods.

For their own children’s sake- I hope so.

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Underground railway

January 23, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | No comments

The term ‘underground railroad’ was first used in relation to an organisation of people who helped slaves escape from the American south to the northern states who had declared against slavery.

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In the dark days of the Third Reich, when the whole of Europe was under the heel of dictatorship, still there was a remnant. There were men and women who were uncontaminated by circumstance, and emboldened by passions born of a different Kingdom. Sleeping now like spring in winter were memories of better times now gone. And with the sleep came dreams of justice for the oppressed, liberation for captives, and ministry to the sick and the lame and the alien in a conquered land.

Ordinary people - just like you and me, in an extraordinary situation, performing simple acts of heroism, in the face of certain prosecution and possible death. At first they were loud in their outrage, but hard lessons taught caution and subterfuge, and so they went underground.

And quietly, in the shadows, they grew bolder, and found that they were not alone. Many people opened up their lives and their homes, and began to gather the unlovely and the unloved, to give food, and warmth and shelter. They found others who still kept the light alive. And so they formed a network. No-one knew the whole of this network - the overall plan was less important than the simplicity of saving those immediately at risk. But almost by some hidden hand, Jews, gypsies, gentiles, escaped soldiers, political undesirables - all were passed down the line - closer to freedom, closer to the other Kingdom.

So was born a time of heroes.

And the Underground Railway…

I think that we are called to live what we believe.

And to believe in how we live.

It sounds simple, but so few do. Jesus said that when we are born again in him, we become new creations. The old parts of us are dead and gone, and the new person is made in His image. This means that we become more like him.

More passionate
More compassionate
More holy
More real
More loving
More merciful
More open
More hungry for justice
More whole
More like a child
More willing to go for it!

Less selfish
Less concerned about earthly security
Less proud
Less jealous of what others have
Less carnal
Less judging of others
Less earthbound
Less empty.

So what gets in the way? Why is it that the old habits drag me down? It is almost as if the old man, who is dead, rises in me like a corpse and fills me with the smell of death.

And somehow this becomes normal. It becomes culturally acceptable. We see it all around us, in both the secular and the so-called sacred. Jesus told us to enter through the narrow gate, because the alternative is broad and easy, but leads to destruction. Narrow is the way to life, and only a few find it (Matt 7: 13-14).

He was never much into going with the flow.

What would it be like to live what we believe? It would mean loving God, and loving others. Simple.

Unlearning lots of layers of stuff that get between us and Him, between us and people.

I believe it is possible. Because I have seen it. I have seen men changed. I have felt it. I am not the same.

And I am not my own - I belong to a different kingdom. This kingdom has different rules and has a different culture.

So I decided to set myself again to live what I believe. I became less tolerant of the smell of death and instead went for life, and laughter, and freedom. Like Lazarus, I walked to the mouth of the tomb and looked out.

And I began to see a world full of different colours. It brought me to tears, but still I wanted to sing redemption songs, songs of freedom.

But also, I saw again the people all about me through new eyes. Some were broken almost beyond repair, at least in this world. Others were hungry, others were homeless. And here and there were people captured by addictions and close to death. Many of them had been inoculated against God by their experience of religion. It was almost as if he was giving me a window into their souls. And my heart broke open.

I decided that it was wrong, and something needed to be done. But it is hard to go against the culture, to swim against the tide.

What is needed, I thought, is an underground railway…

(From ‘Blue Dark’, 2006.)

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Church crisis

January 20, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | 3 comments

This post was originally posted on the Aoradh website.

In Britain, all Church denominations are seeing decline in attendance figures. All are asking questions about what it is that we are doing, and what needs to change. Words like Postmodern and Post evangelical are used, and usually there is a suggestion that the new social context requires new expressions and practices from Church.

There is a feeling that Church is in crisis. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as we usually need crisis to create change. Crisis can be very creative. It can also be very scary and threatening, however, leading to the erection of defensive positions, and even to an Alamo mentality in some.

There is an interesting discussion in one of Brian McLarens books (The secret message of Jesus) where he talks about the crisis facing the Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus birth and early life. Jewish culture and history had been overwhelmed by an invading force. The Roman Empire had annexed Israel, and set up its headquarters in Jerusalem, the city of God. All good Jews awaited the coming of Messiah, who would overcome this evil empire and establish a new Kingdom.

But Messiah seemed to be taking his time, and in the waiting the different stratifications and sects within Judean society adopted fixed positions, partially in response to the crisis. Here are some of them

Essenes. The Essenes all but gave up on Jewish society. It was too sinful, too decadent. They withdrew to the desert, where they sought to establish new communities based on austerity, religious observance and piety. The trappings of Jewish society were spurned, and the Essenes focused their effort and attention on the study of scripture, and the coming Kingdom of Heaven.

What their response to Jesus was, it is not clear. They may have been scandalized by his engagement with ordinary life and ordinary people. They may have been appalled by his apparent party-going, feasting and drinking with unclean and debauched individuals. They may have struggled to understand what he meant by statements like The Kingdom of God is here.

Pharisees. The Pharisees were the evangelicals of their day. They espoused the strict observance of rigid religious codes and laws. They evolved complex legal systems to give shape to every situation, built from the raw material of the Laws given to Moses. Ritual purification through sacrifice and attendance at synagogue and temple was expected of all Pharisees. They also eagerly awaited Messiah, who they saw as heralding a new pure and glorious Jewish Kingdom.

For these Pharisees, the reason that Messiah did not come was because of the sinful state of the nation. Every where there was impurity. Sexual immorality, political compromise and accommodation with the enemy, unclean and unworthy people. So they set out on a mission to clean up society.

Jesus seemed to have no time for the Pharisees at all nor they for him. He seemed to be prepared to hangout with these impure and unworthy individuals, and to break all sorts of religious laws. He taught a perversion of correct doctrinal law, and kept going on about love and forgiveness.

Jesus suggested a radically different path. A radically different New Kingdom.

Herodians. The Kings Herod (there were quite a few different ones) were puppet rulers of a Roman province. Their power came from compromise and political maneuvering. They also had a dreadful reputation for debauchery, incestuous relationships, and murder. Their followers were largely the Jewish ruling class. They were pragmatic realists who may not have liked the situation that the nation found itself in, but recognized the futility of struggle, and the need for peace and stability.

Jesus threatened this stability, because people said he was Messiah. But confusingly, he did not seem to be setting himself against the Romans. He told people to continue to pay taxes, and even HEALED family members of Roman soldiers.

But there was all this talk about the NEW KINGDOM.

Zealots. The Zealots wanted the nation to rise against the oppressor. They lived with the stories of David and Jonathan, who fought in the power of God. If but a few would rise up, surely this would herald the coming of Messiah? After all, was this not the PURPOSE of Messiah?

Jesus invited a Zealot into his inner circle. A man called Judas Iscariot. He seemed to have many of the attributes of a revolutionary. But his message of peace and the loving of enemies found no allies within the ranks of the Zealots.

If there was a New Kingdom, then where was the King, and where were his armies?

Does this have any relevance to the crisis facing Church today? I think it does.

As Christians, our response to the crisis in our age may follow similar paths

  • We might seek to remove ourselves from sinful culture entirely, giving up on this world, and look to the next (like the Essenes.)
  • Or we might seek to hold back the tides of immorality and impure doctrine, to defend the faith (like the Pharisees.)
  • Or perhaps we should just realize that Church has to accommodate and compromise with the changing world about us (like the Herodians.)
  • Finally, perhaps we could fight a Guerrilla warfare against the opposition. We could start to see the enemy as less than human, and that all is fair in the holy game of war.

Our understanding of the Kingdom of God, and the PURPOSE of Church as the collective of this Kingdoms AGENTS, is also challenged by this analogy.

  • Is the Kingdom in the next world- Heaven, when we die? Or is it here, right now?
  • Is the Kingdom based on rules and purity of behaviour and doctrine? Or is it based on sinners?
  • Is the Kingdom to be forwarded by political activity and compromise? Or does it transcend earthy powers and authorities?
  • Is the Kingdom to by promoted by violence and aggression against those who do not recognize it? ( I would include aggressive marketing techniques and media attacks on other denominations, other faiths.) Or does LOVE come first in all things?
  • Is the Kingdom bigger than Church? If so, where should the agents of the Kingdom be? Where is our King?

These are questions, not answers, but I am excited. New things are happening. He is making all things new.

Church is in crisis.

Hooray.

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Capitalism and Church as supermarket…

January 14, 2009 in Uncategorized by chris | 1 comment

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In a recent post on his Missional Tribe blog ‘beyond missional’ Frank Viola asked some questions about the effect of the current financial global crisis on Churches, and indeed the Kingdom of God. You can read his post here.

It has been a regular theme of my pondering, and of course, my blogging! See here and here.

It seems that many Church groups and organisations, dependent as they are on a financial platform that is dependent on  a stable prosperous Western capitalist economy, are beginning to feel the pinch. Church, in this form, is embedded within the dominant economic realities of the day. In it’s organisation at least, it is no different from any other business or institution- it has mortgages, profit and loss, staffing costs and maintenance costs.

Some suggest that the Western world is undergoing a massive shift. Capitalism is reforming, in the face of a crisis as big as it has ever faced before. Some are even asking again whether a system based entirely on expanding the ways in which people can be made to want MORE is sustainable. Particularly as the system also depends on huge inequalities between the consuming countries (in the West) and sweatshops and mines of the South,

Crisis has this way of holding up a mirror through which we can see ourselves from a different perspective. Some Christians are starting to ask again whether this really is the only way to live- and how this reflects our calling as agents of the Kingdom of God.

Perhaps this challenge also falls on our institutions. Has the way that we have done church easily become based on a consumer choice?

Church, becomes a shiny supermarket, at which we buy spirituality- packaged to be portable within our context.

In my country (Scotland) this is less and less relevant, as people simply no longer visit our spiritual supermarkets. For some this is because they have lost their market appeal. I wonder if this is also time for people of faith to stop stacking product, and hoping customers will come to buy. It is time to remember that the church that Jesus loves is built of flesh, and has no steeple…

And to remember again the words of Jesus from Matthew chapter 5, where he calls us to a radically different way of living…

Lest I descend any further into  polemic, I am forced to confess my own dependence on this context- my mortgage, my car, my gadgets. And buildings- they have there uses, particularly in our climate!

But I no longer feel the need to put my resources (money time and energy) to sustaining an earthly institution.

Frank Viola quotes Beuchner;

“I also believe that what goes on in them [support groups] is far closer to what Christ meant his Church to be, and what it originally was, than much of what goes on in most churches I know. These groups have no
buildings or official leadership or money. They have no rummage sales, no altar guilds, no every-member canvases. They have no preachers, no choirs, no liturgy, no real estate. They have no creeds. They have no program. They make you wonder if the best thing that could happen to many a church might not be to have its building burned down and to lose all its money. Then all the people would have left is God and each other.”
~ Frederick Buechner, Quoted on pg. 277 of Reimagining Church.

I have found myself part of such as small group as described above, called aoradh. We meet in houses, or village halls, or pubs. We have no paid staff, and things can be pretty chaotic, as we do not have any leaders either. We look for partnerships and create spaces where we can, seeking to be a community who are faced outwards.

This way of being is strangely credit-crunch proof I find!

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