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Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources
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The exceeding worth of the parish systemI was discussing church politics with a clergyman from another diocese and pushing my standard line that we have nothing to fear if we retain Anglican form. He was High Church and so was happy to retain Anglican ritual, yet what was I going to say to the dozen or so of his colleagues who had lost their livings due to declining congregations. Yes indeed, the squeeze is on. Congregation numbers are both declining and concentrating. Overall, attendance is down, while the specialized "big" churches get bigger.For myself I am not very fussed about it all. If the Anglican institution can't survive then so be it. The Christian church will survive in some appropriate form and I'll just get another job. The church building may close, but the church will never close. Yet, I am quite convinced that the retention of a local Anglican parish church with a less than viable congregation, is not only a practical option, it is a highly effective shape for Evangelical grace ministry. In 1995 the base-line operating cost of an Anglican church in the Sydney diocese was put at $40,000. An estimated weekly attendance of 100 would sustain this sort of income. Clergy stipends, set at 80% average weekly earnings, are partly responsible for this high financial threshold. Of course, country parishes function with smaller congregations, but then stipends are less, as are running costs. Closures, sales and amalgamations now face congregations that cannot meet their financial commitments. To a great extent the problem lies with a changed view of parish ministry. Originally the wealth of the institution was used to support the local parish. If a parish couldn't pay for their man, then the diocese paid for him, even built the church building. The size of the congregation was not the issue. This planting of godly ministers in every local community throughout Australia perfectly fitted the Evangelical focus on nurture and evangelism. The smaller the church the more time there is for Word ministry. In England, central church funds actually pay the minister's stipend, so a viable congregation can be "two or three gathered together". With the dominance of Church Growth principles a viable congregation is now 100+ on the assumption that size attracts (although a true Evangelical believes Christ attracts). We have to accept that changing this thinking is a hard slog, (Even harder, how do we pull back the generated wealth of the institution from the large powerful ancillary organizations and return it to local parish ministry?) Given the present realities, survival rests with the local minister. In the Anglican diocese of Sydney the cards are increasingly stacked against the survival of a small congregation. Ordinances not only limit flexibility (e.g. part-time ministries), but are increasingly designed to force small congregations into amalgamations. Outside of Sydney a greater flexibility remains evident. A small local congregation may not be able to fully fund a minister's stipend, but they do provide free accommodation, and with a part-time stipend and surplice fees, a minister can live very comfortably. Clergy with a young family may not easily survive this "alternate" life-style, but certainly many of us who have sent our kinds into the wide world cannot only survive, but would appreciate the space, thank you very much. So on the expenditure side, $40,000 is really quite an unnecessary extravagance. Great if you have it, but not a necessary criteria to close down a local parish ministry if you haven't. Yet, what about the income side? We do have to "pay the man" and so we do have to raise some funds to survive. We may be very principled on this subject, particularly if we have a large congregation with few money worries. If we have a small congregation then we must be willing to develop an entrepreneurial spirit to keep the local institution financial. Local communities will happily help restore their local Anglican church, whether they are Anglican or not. The building is theirs and they will happily pay to keep it standing. Op-Shops and the like can also generate extra funds for a small lively congregation. All it takes is a bit of imagination. In the end, the survival of a small parish church serves but one end, it provides a base for gospel ministry through the proclamation of the Word of God - the gathering and building up of a people of God. In arguing for the retention of localized Anglican Parish ministry we are bound to face the ever-present financial squeeze. The move toward large centralized organizational churches bypasses a tried and true Anglican methodology. Evangelical ministry works extremely well at the local parish level, and all it takes is a bit of ingenuity to keep the wolf from the door. The notion of a visible parish church at which the Word is ministered and from which the gospel is proclaimed, remains an effective means of Evangelical grace ministry. Given that most of us are not "great one", it is a shape we should happily accept and strive to retain. It remains the best way to get the greatest number of trained gospel workers released for gospel ministry at the local level. |
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