The changing face of church: Across the Anglican Church of Canada, buildings are closing and congregations merging, or even meeting in houses. What will Sunday morning look like in the years to come ?
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article42350
- Author
- Kidd, Joelle
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 January
- Author
- Kidd, Joelle
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 January
- Volume
- 146
- Issue
- 1
- Page
- 10-11
- Notes
- "On October 2, 2019, the congregants and friends of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Fruitvale, B.C., took a last look at the building that had served them well over the years. .... Since then, however, the congregation has continued to meet, first in public parks and gardens throughout the summer months, and now in one of four parishioners' houses (the location rotates weekly)" (p. 10). "Today Archbishop Nicholls, from her vantage point as primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, still sees home churches as a viable alternative for congregations unable to maintain their buildings. 'I think our preoccupation with buildings has been to our detriment', she said in an interview with the 'Anglican Journal'. 'I'm not saying we don't need buildings -- absolutely, we need some, but do we need as many as we have ?'" (p. 10). "Since they began meeting in houses, [deacon the Rev. Elizabeth] Lewis says church members seem happy. 'We still have a community spirit, and we're still known in the community here'" (p. 10). "Still, though the congregation hopes to one day have some kind of regular accommodation to worship in, says [the Rev.] Douglas [Lewis]. 'We had 15 groups that used the facility, and we had to evict them all because it had to close. So we regret all of that.' ... Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, Girl Guides, a food pantry -- even a local blues band that needed practice space -- all used to rent space in the church. In a village with few community centres -- the only other available space is a large hall with not small meeting rooms -- the church building's loss is being felt" (p. 10).
- "Such new ways of doing church could be important trends in the years to come, says the Rev. Judy Paulsen, professor of evangelism at Wycliffe College and former parish priest in Oshawa" (p. 10). "When you start to study change theory, it's always from the margins. .. If you have some kind of organism that is exposed to a change of environment, it's always the organisms on the edge, on the margins, that sort of begin to be able to adapt, and I think you see signs of this in organizational life as well .. things that are brand new that nobody thought of. And then suddenly those are the things that thrive when everything else is going belly-up" (p. 10).
- "A far more common practice for congregations struggling with mounting financial obligations, aging buildings, or dipping attendance numbers is the church merger. In recent years, many Anglican churches around the country have joined congregations with others nearby, or even with local Lutheran churches" (p. 10). In August of this year [2019], the parish of St. Martin's in Chester Basin, N.S., merged its four congregations into a single church: Grace Anglican Church. According to church wardens Doug Ridgewell and Donna MacKinnon, the merging process began years ago when the parish began holding Reimagining Church discussions, workshops intended to get congregations thinking creatively about mission" (p. 11). "[F]or those that continue to attend, the experience has been positive. 'The dynamics are different' when attending a church with 50-60 congregants, rather than 15-30, MacKinnon says" (p, 11).
- "Reorganization, of course, is an option not only at the local level. Another Canadian mainline denomination, the United Church of Canada, recently underwent a massive restructuring process in the face of its own declining membership. As of 2019, the church has simplified its governance structure, replacing two of its former layers of governance -- presbyteries and conferences -- with a new set of 16 regions" (p. 11). "The ultimate purpose, [General Secretary Nora] Sanders says, was to simplify the church's structure 'so that we weren't spending a greater proportion of our resources on governance all the time'. With both financial resources and volunteer base diminishing, she says, it was important to find a way to keep those resources from being 'swallowed up by governance processes'" (p. 11).
- "Financial concerns are raising questions about structure in the Anglican Church of Canada also" (p. 11). "Nicholls said strategic planning would help the Anglican Church of Canada assess, 'based on the resources that we will have available, what can we best do at the national level ,, and what things do we let go of, because we can't do them any longer ? What things do we share in other ways with dioceses and individuals across the country ?'" (p. 11).
- Subjects
- Anglican Church of Canada - Forecasting
- Anglican Church of Canada - 21st century
- St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church (Fruitvale, B.C.)
- Church buildings - Anglican Church of Canada
- Church buildings - Anglican Church of Canada. Diocese of Kootenay
- House churches - Anglican Church of Canada
- Lewis, Elizabeth
- Anglican Church of Canada - Demographics - 21st century
- Organizational change - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Change - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Paulsen, Judy
- Church renewal - Anglican Church of Canada
- Grace Anglican Church (Chester Basin, N.S.)
- Ridgewell, Doug
- MacKinnon, Donna
- United Church of Canada - Structure
- Nicholls, Linda (Linda Carol), 1954-
- Anglican Church of Canada - Strategic planning
- Anglican Church of Canada - Structure