A fork in the road of ministry: Exploring partnership strengths
GROWING BEYOND THE DOORS
By Rev. Canon Grayhame Bowcott
IN MY OBSERVATION of the life cycle of congregational ministry, there have been countless examples of church communities who have come to a fork in the road when determining the future sustainability of their ministry.
This trend has become a familiar one in our contemporary Canadian society: the story of an aging congregation coming to recognize that both their membership numbers and their financial resources are no longer sufficient to keep up with the rising costs of utility bills, insurance, building repairs, and even the ability to afford their clergy stipend. We know that this challenge is not simply an Anglican one, but that almost every town and city has experienced the closure of a Christian denominational church.
There is even a well-worn adage that has come to represent this trend: “When the last one of us has been buried, it’s time to turn the lights out.” Often, the closure of a church building feels like a funeral. While deceased churches don’t have graves or headstones, I wonder if congregational survivors would be satisfied with a headstone marked by the abovementioned adage? I know that, at least from the perspective of this Anglican, I certainly wouldn’t!
It has been a concerning trend to note that, among the many closures of church buildings in our Diocese, often the fate of the surviving congregation is tethered to the possibility of them moving to another church building. We have so few examples (at least in our Anglican context) of our faith communities existing outside a consecrated church building.
Today, I’d like to write of an exciting experiment that has fallen into the lap of my own congregation, of St. George’s, The Blue Mountains. Firstly, I think that it is important to give credit where credit is due: the exploration of this potentially new ministry model was not the initiative of Anglicans! In our small town, a very active and future-oriented United Church of Canada congregation, called Grace Church, has come to a conclusion about their own fork in the road for ministry.
Grace, in assessing their future sustainability for ministry, recognized that they could currently afford a minister for only two days per week (Sunday and one other day). This limitation was inhibited because of the expense of maintaining a beautiful historic church building – all the expected bills that are required to keep the lights on. This United Church congregation recognized that, while they could maintain the two day a week status quo for a few more years, another choice would be to explore the potential of making a drastic change in their ministry model that might unlock the possibility of once again supporting full-time ministry.
With an entrepreneurial spirit, Grace has come to recognize that in either the repurposing of their church building, or perhaps in even the sale of their property, they might be able to unlock financial resources to invest in a full-time minister. They hope that in investing in relationships in our community, instead of simply paying the bills to maintain their church building, perhaps this might become the catalyst for congregational revival.
In order for this new ministry model to work, Grace United Church would need to find a new place of worship – a new center from which their ministries could be hosted. What if they could partner with another Christian denomination?
I am deeply honoured that the first church that Grace sought out in this experimental conversation was my Anglican congregation. Over the past decade, Grace and St. George’s have partnered in numerous services and events, especially in musical collaborations involving both of our choirs.
What might it look like if our two congregations explored the sharing of our ministry resources? While a long-term solution to Grace’s infrastructure challenges might be to one day move into St. George’s church building, while at the same time repurposing their property, in the meantime, we are hoping to explore our congregational relationships. This summer, we’re going to try “speed dating,” a humorous analogy to describe our intent of experiencing each other’s worship traditions and ministry hopes for the future. During the summer months, when clergy are on holiday, we will each host the other congregation with a special focus on learning each other’s stories.
What will the future bring for us? We don’t know that yet, but we do know that congregations are always stronger when we choose to work together, rather than adopting the prevailing “do it alone until the lights go out” mentality. I am inspired by Grace Church’s courage in exploring new ministry possibilities in partnership with their “sister” Anglican denomination. Stay tuned in the months ahead as I share about our mutual experiences. We look forward to sharing learnings on this ecumenical experiment in The Blue Mountains.
Rev. Canon Dr. Grayhame Bowcott serves as Rector of St. George’s, The Parish of The Blue Mountains, and as Program Director for the Licentiate in Theology program at Huron University.