Last time, I reflected on a report by a Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada which was addressing what changes may be required in the structural organization of the Church given the declining membership. Although I agree that this is necessary, it is not sufficient. As I stated, 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?
The decline in membership has been
ongoing since the 1960’s and various attempts in changing the liturgy and
developing strategic plans have failed to reverse or even arrest this
decline. There are many reasons for this, and this situation is not unique
to the Anglican Church. It has often been something of gallows humor
within the Church that ‘we don’t change – we’re Anglicans’. Again, we are
not unique in this as people generally don’t embrace change – especially as we
become long in the tooth and soft in the middle as Paul Simon sings.
However, in life – particularly this post-modern life – change does seem to be
inevitable at an ever-increasing rate. I believe that God does intend
humans to evolve, and we have and continue to do that. One of the daily
missives from the Society of St, John the Evangelist this week addressed just
this:
Evolution - We are not card-carrying
members of an institution called the Church. We are organs within a living
organism, the mystical Body of Christ, an organism that evolves in response to
the patterns of every successive age. Each moment we see, turn back, praise
loudly, prostrate and thank, we grow in our capacity to mirror the faithfulness
of God and make the evolution of the Body manifest. Br. Keith Nelson, SSJE
So, the question that we are faced with is, what does the Anglican Church
do and how does it need to change if it is to survive? What we are doing
now is not working. For Anglicans, what has been central to being an
Anglican is worship. We are called, as are all Christians, to gather
together in the name of Jesus Christ and worship God. The liturgy that we
follow to do that has changed at various times over the history of the Anglican
Church. When I started to worship regularly as an Anglican in the late
1980’s , the Canadian Church had introduced a new prayer book – the Book of
Alternative Services (BAS). In effect, it replaced the 1962 Book of
Common Prayer (BCP) as the primary form of liturgy. There was much angst
and anguish among many Anglicans as the BAS was put into practice and the BCP
slowly faded into the fringes of worship. The BAS was
introduced, I believe, to modernize the language and make the liturgy more user
friendly. Whether this has been a good thing theologically, can be and is
still debated. However, the point here is that this has not seemed to
have made a difference in the ongoing decline in membership.
The recent COVID pandemic gave Anglicans and other mainline churches an
opportunity to dabble in non-face to face worship through electronic
media. This is proposed as possibly being the wave of the future for
worship and the answer to address the decline. This media has had a long
history in modern worship starting with radio and moving to TV evangelism and
now electronic media. What has been apparent, in my assessment, is that
if you are going to do this, it needs to be well done. This was not the
case in many examples of Anglican worship. So, can electronic
worship replace in-person worship and is that the answer to the decline in
church membership? If it is, we Anglicans will have to take a cash course
in how to use it effectively and be serious about doing it well.
The need for gathering together in-person in work settings is being
played out in post-pandemic Canada and probably elsewhere. Working
remotely became necessary and, therefore, acceptable during the pandemic.
However, now the need to gather together in the name of the organization is
being asserted and calling the troops back to the office is being
asserted. The realization that young workers are not engaging with
co-workers and the company structure has management raising a red flag about
the lack of cohesion of these employees. This was noted in a recent
article about baby boomers not retiring and blocking younger employees from
advancing in the organization, “In fact, the engagement of young workers may
have declined because the work-from-home shift has had a negative impact on
their careers in particular… Physical distance can become mental distance if
it’s not managed right.” Of course, in the church we are not dealing with
careers in general. However, I think that the experience of less
engagement in remote circumstances is applicable to the church
environment. Worship in remote settings can fill a need for certain
people in certain circumstances and should not be discounted. However,
the basis for community is gathering in person.
As I stated last time, I believe that the experience of the divine i.e.
the Holy - is what will engage people and keep them as part of the church
community. This will occur in worship if it is well done in the community
of Christians gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. It can also occur
when people gather for other activities such as bible study, fellowship, and
bake sales. Gathering together is essential for the church to be a
church. How to gather together is for all of us to figure out.
May you be blessed to experience the Divine in worship and in all your
life.
