• Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives

in service of the
​common good

A restored vision of church

25/8/2021

7 Comments

 

A restored vision of Church
 
For centuries institutions provided security, identity, and continuity. Their very existence gave confidence that the contemporary world would continue to build on the foundations of the past.  Each generation could expect to live much as their parents had done.
 
This is not contemporary reality. Institutions have been found wanting. Some have suffered public ignominy. Institutional Church is in serious decline throughout the Western world. Many would say the worst is yet to come.  Here in my local community people are almost universally respectful of my faith and the way of life Margaret and I strive to live our lives, but have less than benign thoughts about ‘church’. Children of committed Christian families find it difficult to relate to their parents’ ecclesial experience.
 
In the past it was more than appropriate for institutional life to give flesh to the incarnate and eternal activity of God. Music, architecture, liturgy, ministries, works of charity, centres of thought, annual rhythms, pilgrimages, were expansive frameworks in and through which people could explore and grow into eternal truths. This is the world I have known and cherished.
 
With the demise of institutions over the last three decades and the rise of multi-faceted networks this is no longer the case for most people.  Parishes that in the 1960’s 70’s and 80’s enjoyed congregations in their hundreds now experience much smaller gatherings, and much older, despite the overall population on a geographical basis being significantly larger.
 
Should institutional Church as it has been known in Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, the Orthodox and mainstream Protestant churches simply run up the white flag?  No, because the universality of Christ can never be fully expressed solely through local expressions of Church that lack accountability to global and historical Christianity.  The faith is not simply about personal piety, it is also about public engagement
 
So, what is to be done, what are we to do?
 
The longing for spiritual nurture and insight has not shrunk. Sceptics such as Dawkins and Hitchins argue that religion is a form of escape.  I dare to argue the opposite, Christianity as I have known it is engagement in the totality of life.  This is hardly surprising given the heart of Christian faith is belief in, and commitment to Jesus, the incarnate word of God who embraces and enables life itself. 
 
 
 
So, where might the Spirit be leading us?
 
As is often the case, what otherwise might be thought a calamity - covid 19 – gives us a clue. During this calamity people everywhere have become aware of opposite realities which carry almost equal importance.  On the one hand we have all come to know the importance of home, family, intimacy, and connectedness with those who are most important to us.  Many of us have found blessing in the capacity to ‘work from home’. On the other hand, we are also aware of our irrepressible need for connectedness without limit, of belonging to and being fulfilled in the universality of life. I have become increasingly convinced that the Church of the future must come more thoroughly to grips with these two realities and hold them in healthy balance.
 
Since March last year Margaret and I have been running Church at our home to assist the local Parish in the context of the covid pandemic.  Some of those coming have not previously been regular members of any Church.  What people find attractive is a mixture of a less formalised liturgy, thoughtful teaching in which they participate, fellowship at a personal level and the joy of a shared meal.  We have emphasized we are part of and accountable to the wider Church.
 
I have become convinced that clergy should act with oversight; legitimizing and authorizing a multitude of small gatherings in and through which a wide circle of people might be nurtured and fed. In the early Church bishops grew out of presbyters, it is time for presbyters to retake roles of intentional oversight. These groups could be as diverse as imagination and need suggest.  Some will be based in meditation and contemplation, other through bible study, some through a focus on social justice and charity, some through a shared digital experience, others through arts-based activities, some through concern for and enjoyment of the natural order others through ministries of education and health, some through ethnic or cultural identity.
 
Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, urges the Church of England to establish at least 10,000 locally based and lay led ‘churches’ before 2030.  There has been push back from Parish based leadership.  This is short sighted.  A move such as this could refresh ‘parishes’.
 
People in these groups may not be regular attenders of Sunday worship, but they should be gathered on significant occasions. It will be the duty of the ‘parish/diocese’ to provide universal experiences and linkages. Some of this can and should be provided digitally, but there must also be common shared experiences.   
 
The purpose of Church is not to provide a chaplaincy service to a congregation of pious believers disconnected from the mainstream life of the wider community.  It is to feed nourish and empower those who in Christ’s name are committed to the transformation of society. Richard Rohr puts it this way: “We worshipped Jesus instead of following him on the same path. We made Jesus into a religion instead of a journey toward God and everything else. This shift made us into a religion of ‘belonging’ and ‘believing’ instead of a religion of transformation”.
 
Because institutional churches have largely failed to provide spiritual nurture and intimacy to many who seek it, this need has been met through many experiences of Church which Dawkins and Hitchins could legitimately describe as escapes from reality.  Some offer false certainties in a world better understood through nuance, paradox, and complexity.  Dangerously extreme examples of this were seen by those carrying signs bearing Jesus’ name in the assault on Capitol Hill following Biden’s election and on banners carried by those engaged in protests against covid restrictions here in Australia.
 
We should not be witnessing the death of conventional parish and diocesan life, but it’s opening up in new ways of serving the world which God in Jesus loves. Church membership or Christian discipleship should not be calculated on the basis of Sunday church attendance alone, but on the basis of engagement and connectedness with the multifaceted life that is modern society.
 
The choice that lies ahead is either to pull up the doona and keep the façade intact for as long as possible or throw off the bed cover and embrace a more exciting and engaging expression of Church.  It is not a matter of being shaped by the dominant culture of our time but recognizing its influence and engaging differently with it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7 Comments
Bruce Henzell
26/8/2021 12:14:03 am

Right on! That resonates so completely with the early church in which the greatest historical spread of same happened. And the most significant growth in members - in faith, intellectual grasp of the faith, fellowship and mutual care, and witness happens when small/fellowship/growth/home/ whatever they wish to call them, groups.are the key feature of parish life. And their building up in leadership - care for, resourcing, encouraging and thanking and meeting with (as a group) is perhaps the number 1 priority of the clergy.
I forget how many ‘one another’ instructions Paul gives but their natural setting is in the small groups which was all the early church knew. The common parish experience of Sunday morning and monthly non-worship extras is poor substitute.
I’m pretty sure it was in the book How to Eat Bread that the comparative experiences of two parishes in UK was recounted. One set out to evangelise non-church people while the other set out to care for others in Christ’s name. The difference in response of the latter over the former was 50 to one.
Thankyou, George

Reply
Ray Cleary
26/8/2021 05:55:39 am

I concur with George’s comments. I write in a similar vain in my recent book , Time to speak out’ available through Coventry books or direct from me$20.
I liked George’s idea of the house group as connected to the Sunday gathering. The world has changed . The church or more correctly the people of God must lead the way

Reply
Ray Cleary
26/8/2021 03:10:25 pm

I concur with George’s comments. I write in a similar vain in my recent book , Time to speak out’ available through Coventry books or direct from me$20.
I liked George’s idea of the house group as connected to the Sunday gathering. The world has changed . The church or more correctly the people of God must lead the way

Reply
Jill Sutton
26/8/2021 02:57:42 pm

Thank you George for putting this so clearly, even after your experience of having been an Anglican bishop. As my father who headed up a division in CSIRO used to say, ‘I go to church occasionally because where else would you find a group of people who meet regularly to discuss the meaning of life.’
Jonathan Sachs in his last book ‘Morality’ tells a story which illustrates our need for each other in the pursuit of the Good. He says that his friend (call him Jake) went to the temple to talk to God but that Jake’s mate went to temple to talk directly to Jake.
And I feel with you George so much on the importance of the shared meal. In this respect I am grateful for Sara Miles’ book ‘Take this bread’ which is the most persuasive expression of the power of sharing food I have been privileged to read.

Reply
Greg March
26/8/2021 04:11:05 pm

Spot on. Now that you have been freed from “The Institution” in retirement, the view looks different on the ground… please don’t take that the wrong way. It is a truism, that where you stand effects your thinking and practice. Maybe this idea itself should influence the way bishops and bishoprics are structured?

In addition to your terrific points I would add these. We have a cluster of crisis’s:

1. Crisis of discipleship. We need to be teaching the basics of the faith to those who don’t believe in Christ as well as growing the knowledge of our existing faithful tribe.

2. Crisis of spiritual practice. The SBNR, (Spiritual But Not religious) is real sociological phenome. Each Christian community needs to be a Spirituality Centre.

3. Crisis of worship. Music and liturgy much become more a work of the people that connects with day to day reality.

4. Crisis of a theology that is disconnected from the truths that have been revealed to us by science,

5. Crisis of a church institution that is more concerned with survival of the Bishopric and governance than grass roots of mission (that's a BIG thing coming from somebody who’s been an archdeacon 3 times),

6. A crisis of being internally focused. That’s self-evident.

Reply
Linda Chapman
26/8/2021 08:27:37 pm

Thank you George. I like your revisioning very much. As you say the structure and insititution of the church, as well as other institutions is breaking down. At the same time we are confronted by existential challenges as a global community. The church is always called into a new creation and if we refuse to listen and respond then we perhaps we have no place in a world suffering the spiritual crisis which is at the heart of all of our social, ecological and economic crises. I agree with that Greg that each parish/home church needs to be a place and people that open up the spiritual centre. We can do this through shared practices that are inclusive of all - not just the 'in club' of christians. For many today the common ground of contemplative practice coupled with action for the common good, liberated from anachronistic forms, is a way that makes sense. Perhaps if the church recognised the universal call to contemplation then we could be a community who lives the response to that call and invites others along. As Bede Griffiths said, 'The Gospel is primarily not a word to be preached but the spirit to be communicated.'

Reply
Jan Ryan
27/8/2021 07:12:49 pm

Again, thanks George for addressing this issue.

As someone who has not been able to attend conventional church for many years, I have found the fellowship, inclusive teaching, smaller numbers, the benefit of participating in ritual, and a shared meal a blessing and for me helped to address the spiritual hole in my life. It is not enough for a Christian, in my opinion, to just address my individual spiritual needs but find a way to use spiritual gifts to serve the community, which is a work in progress. Maybe this can be explored further in the community for me. A way to work for the common good.

One of the things I have missed over the years, to attending traditional church, which for me effectively felt like a middle class club, was ritual, where life affirming and life giving spirit can be experienced and understood without the need for words or indoctrination. So added to Linda’s comments regarding the universal call the contemplation, to which I thoroughly concur, the additional place of ritual to edify our spiritual lives is a plus.

I have been distressed to see the misinformation on social media and on the news where Christians have invoked the name of Jesus to live with false certainties and wonder how to have forums that may increase our ability to live as Christians while engaging with uncertainty. This I believe needs good theology, so the need to have some accountability to a body to oversee.

Training/support/mentoring for those who would be willing to begin to encourage small groups for meditation, ritual, discussion, blessed by the existing church would be a much needed.

Blessings Jan

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe


    ​Author

    ​Bishop George Browning. 
    ​Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn 1993 - 2008.

    ​Inaugural chair Anglican Communion Environment Network

    ​PhD Thesis: Sabbath and the Common Good: An Anglican response to the Environmental Crisis.

    D.Litt. Honoris Causa for contribution to Education

    Centenary Medal 2000 for Service to cmmunity

    ​Patron: Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

    Patron: Palestinian Christians in Australia

    Patron: Sabeel

    ARCHIVE

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Publications

    Sabbath and the Common Good: Prospects for a New Humanity, Echo Books 2016

    ​Not Helpful: Tales from a truth teller, Echo Books 2021

    Links​

    Barbara May Foundation

    ​Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture

    Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

    ​Christians for an Ethical Society


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives