Thursday, January 04, 2007 AD
I was just dipping into Ysenda Maxtone Graham's fun book from 1993 about the Church of England, The Church Hesitant. Didn't find what I was looking for, but did come across some interesting thoughts on why so many people don't go to church.
She describes the Very Revd Ian White-Thompson, "who is old and good and used to be the Dean of Canterbury", who tells her (emphasis in original):
So much thought, discussion and action in the church relating to outreach is based on the assumption that people are making a positive decision, for whatever reason, not to come to church, and our task is to work out what we can do to persuade them to think again. But I think Maxtone Graham hits the nail on the head: the reason people don't come is because it simply doesn't occur to them that they might. It's not on their radar map.
As for point 6, I fear that the time is not far off when many people might well just have to be horrified. Much of the Church of England (and other English churches; I don't entirely exempt the ELCE either) is on the edge of a demographic cliff, and at some point the whole system could simply collapse, apart from a relative handful of larger churches and maybe the cathedrals. I can't go into an old church these days without feeling an aching sadness at the thought that, absent a drastic turnaround in the fortunes of church and gospel in this country, within a few decades at most the centuries-long story of faith in many of these buildings will have come to an end.
She describes the Very Revd Ian White-Thompson, "who is old and good and used to be the Dean of Canterbury", who tells her (emphasis in original):
"You know, a Scottish friend said this to me once, and I've never forgotten it. The reason why people don't go to church is that they don't want to. The reason why people don't go to church is that they don't want to."Maxtone Graham decided to test this "simple and bleak pronouncement" on 22 people in a pub in Essex one Sunday lunchtime, not one of whom had been to church that morning. Her conclusions from these short interviews make interesting reading (emphasis added this time):
Most of Ms Maxtone Graham's book comes under the heading of "fun, but a bit fluffy". But I think point 2 in the above list is one of the most profound and insightful points I've ever come across on the question of church decline.
- People in pubs are approachable and don't mind being asked this sort of question, as long as you convince them that you are not a Jehovah's Witness.
- The pronouncement that is lodged in Dean White-Thompson's memory does not go far enough. People don't go to church because it doesn't even occur to them that they might. It plays no part at all in their weekly life or thoughts.
- Vicars might get more people into church if they made their presence felt at pubs.
- If you ask people in pubs whether they believe in God they become embarrassed and shifty. The question is too large. It is best to change the subject.
- More beer-drinkers than you expect were choristers in their youth. But the experience did not make them into life-long churchgoers.
- People expect the church to be there and would be horrified if it suddenly weren't. They use it at certain important moments in their life, and it doesn't occur to them to wonder who keeps it going.
So much thought, discussion and action in the church relating to outreach is based on the assumption that people are making a positive decision, for whatever reason, not to come to church, and our task is to work out what we can do to persuade them to think again. But I think Maxtone Graham hits the nail on the head: the reason people don't come is because it simply doesn't occur to them that they might. It's not on their radar map.
As for point 6, I fear that the time is not far off when many people might well just have to be horrified. Much of the Church of England (and other English churches; I don't entirely exempt the ELCE either) is on the edge of a demographic cliff, and at some point the whole system could simply collapse, apart from a relative handful of larger churches and maybe the cathedrals. I can't go into an old church these days without feeling an aching sadness at the thought that, absent a drastic turnaround in the fortunes of church and gospel in this country, within a few decades at most the centuries-long story of faith in many of these buildings will have come to an end.
Labels: church of england, eeyore, evangelism
