I agree with Angela!

We often think of ‘Wilderness’ during Lent – being in difficult places and facing tough options.

Well in a way The Church can be a tough place to be and contemplating its future could send any of us into something of a ‘wilderness mindset’. 


Over the last four weeks the Church Times has done exactly that with a series on the ‘health’ of The Church of England.  Its diagnosis is that Anglican life in this country is very ‘poorly’ – certainly unlikely to survive in its current form for more than the next two decades.


But then none of us are.  We now have a missing three generations in most of our congregations whatever their denominational labels.


A natural reaction to all this is angst and guilt.  Neither is particularly helpful.  We are anxious that a community we love and through which we have been nurtured appears to be dwindling and guilty with the idea that if only we had tried something ‘different’ maybe the future would look more upbeat.


Some churches or authors promote formulas for growth.  To ‘get them in’ we must sing more songs, dress down and become informal.

Such strategies are not to be overly caricatured because they have often been implemented prayerfully and with great sincerity.


Yet there is no guarantee in any of this.  Only the other week I preached at a church which has seen significant numerical and inter-generational growth over the last decade – there wasn’t a suit, hymnbook or organ in the building! Yet in recent years, through youngsters and families moving away through natural circumstances, their numbers have begun to decline. 


That’s why I’m so grateful to a column written by Angela Tilby, Canon of Christchurch, Oxford, from The Church Times of 21^st February 2014.


Reflecting on her newspaper’s CofE health check series she wrote:


The Church’s current drive for growth seems obvious to those who accept the stark paradox of either growth or extinction; but the growth strategy does not seem to be under-pinned by any conviction other than that of keeping the institutional Church in existence.


What matters more is whether the Christian faith is true.  If it is true, it is worth our deepest commitment, loyalty and passion; if not, however useful it may be, we might as well give up, and pour its resources into social services.

That gets a loud ‘Amen’ from me – words I feel I need to hear whenever I look at the future and sense the challenge of ‘Wilderness’.

Actually, for the most part, I’ve stopped looking into the crystal ball attempting to predict the future of my own church community.  Instead I’m committed in seeking to be as authentic as possible in this place and for this time.  I do that because I believe this calling, this ministry, this community; this search for truth is quite simply ‘worth it’!

Best wishes,


Ian