Whither Anglicanism

The current edition of the Anglican Journal – the newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada – reported on the work of a Commission “tasked with finding solutions to the church’s structural challenges.”  The official title of the commission was Reimagining the Church: Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st Century, Structures & Resources.  It was established by General Synod (CoGS) in March 2023.

The Commission made seven statements which are meant to generate discussion rather than recommendations to be implemented.  These statements include what could be considered rather radical approaches to the current structure of the Anglican Church e.g. eliminate funding for the very publication in which the results of the Commission’s work were reported. 

This is the latest effort to address the current circumstances facing the Anglican Church where membership has been declining for many decades – since 1960 as reported in the article.  One member of the Commission states “Every strategic plan has included steps intended to arrest this decline. None has had any demonstrable impact,”

In some respects, this report by the commission amounts to basically moving deck chairs on the Titanic.  It is commendable that this report responds to the National Church which is facing the structural challenges of an organization which cannot sustain itself due to continued and continuous decline in membership.  However, I believe what must be faced and addressed is what it means to be an Anglican in the world today.  As the old generation of Anglicans – the one I am part of - dies and few members of generation x, y and z and beyond are apparently not interested in being part of a church – what is the future of the Anglican Church and what will that church look like?

In effect, the Anglican Church does not seem to be offering to many Canadians today what they are looking for to answer the questions they may have regarding what life means beyond the material world.   Asked another way, are Canadians born after the 1960’s looking for something beyond what culture is offering through social media, with its influencers and followers, TikTok, Instagram, and God knows what else, including instant easy answers to any question that pops into their heads. 

The Anglican Church has traditionally offered a way of helping people more fully form the questions that are lying beneath their conscious awareness.  It has also provided a way to respond to the questions, and in the process develop more questions, which in turn will challenge them to live that they are intended to live.  The Anglican Church does not, at present, seem able to do this anymore.  The Anglican Church has not been able to do this in a way which will connect with those people who have no interest or intention of passing through the doors of the church building on Sunday morning at 11:00 – or whatever time Anglicans gather for worship or any other time. 

Anglicans may try to copy the apparent success of other churches but if we do that, do we stop being Anglican?  In effect, do we become simply another version of what is being offered by other denominations and probably not doing it as well as they do.  What, then, is an Anglican and can the essence of what makes us Anglican be offered to people to enable them to explore and discover who they are.  We have to know what it is that makes us Anglican in essence before we can do it.  Or perhaps we can more fully discover who we are in the process of making that effort itself. Perhaps changing the structure of the organization is a necessary step but it is not a sufficient one.

In thinking about what it means to be Anglican, I can draw on my experience of what first attracted me to the Anglican Church.  It was the liturgy and music of the worship service.  I can from an experience of worship that was not strong in these areas.  I am attracted to the traditional liturgy and music of the Anglican Church but there are also aspects of the more modern liturgy and music which are also meaningful for me.  Bottom line is that I am seeking to have an experience of worship that will give me an experience of the divine.  During the time of the COVID pandemic I saw numerous attempts to make worship available via social media.  Many were, in my view, unsuccessful.  How do we connect with people in a meaningful way that will give them an experience that I have defined as the divine but also be understood as something beyond themselves - something that will give them answers to some of the questions they have not even fully formed in their minds or bodies or souls?  In addition, how can we provide an opportunity to gather in community?  Can this be done via social media, or does it need to be in person?  That is the challenge that is facing the Anglican Church and Anglicans today. 

This is probably where I should stop for this edition.  I will pick up where I have left off next time.  May you be blessed today and until we connect again.