June 2004 - Communication amongst numbers

The Church of England has 9000 clergy serving 16,000 churches amongst 13,000 parishes. There never has been one priest per parish yet alone 1 priest per church. Within the Hillsides it seems there were only ever 3 priests at a time within the 4 parishes, with Cowesby and Kirby Knowle boxing and coxing with Hawnby, Bagby (!) and South Kilvington. Indeed one snow bound winter the churchwarden entreated the Vicar of Kirby Knowle not to ride over to Hawnby for the good of his health: he was not long lived afterwards.

Our national parish churches cost £120 million p.a. to maintain. The national average congregations equate with something similar to the combined Sunday church attendance of all the Hillside churches: 50 adults and ten children. We clock in at 60 adults and eight children. This is a big maintenance bill beyond the pockets of regular churchgoers, but the fact that Hillside churches remain maintained and used (and warm in winter) says a good deal more about the place of the church in the community – and the community’s support of the same.

As much as I hate statistics, which can only be as good as the answers I give to the questions that I understand, there are contradictions with tally with the facts. 21% of rural Britain visit and use a village church for quiet – hence I leave them open and we echo the prayers of visitors as penned in the Visitor’s Books. 24% attended Harvest Festivals. Certainly our numbers were up last year and we need to build on that this year, and maybe this adds to a national 10% who attend church during the week (which is why I started with Harvest Festivals during the week 20 years ago!). Certainly a greater % of population attends Sunday church in rural areas. Perhaps we should build on this by looking more to healing and prayer services, and bible teaching services, to help a wider practice and understanding of the Christian faith. Again, most Sunday sermons aim at trying to unfold and relate the Gospel reading of the day/occasion.

Looking to the future, a regular Sunday service in a rural parish may be a privilege. I have strived to keep each and every church open and available as a focal point of the individual communities, but we do need to work and share more closely together. For the most part the parish churches here are in good repair and will be available for the next generation or two regardless. If people remember to include the local church in their Will, future generations could rely on the availability of the Church – and may also be able to capitalise by using the building for other activities as well. The key is Communication, and the subject is communicating God’s love, in all its different forms, to different people.

The whole Church is also moving back in time to becoming an evangelising church. No longer do people know the bible stories and explanation of God at work in our lives through them and Christ, so we have to return to teaching. Our present parochial system catered for a society that knew the stories by heart, along with God and Son’s teaching and commandments. That in turn arose from the evangelising of the very early church which in itself was based on a Minster Model, i.e. a central and a bigger church with facilities. From this model church a group of clergy went forth to teach and serve the different communities. In a sense this is already happening here with Liz and I based as a team in the middle of our group. We are trying to live the gospel, conducting worship that is hopefully relevant, and teaching small groups as and when, including bible study, life style, confirmation and rites of passage. We could do with some better facilities and a group parish centre/chapter house – the Vicarage is not large enough to be an office and a study and a store for all the parish documents! Such a project would be evidence of an active and expanding church in the 21st Century. It would also be a recognition that a minster model exists locally – rather than being centred on a market town which renders a parish, e.g. Hillside, as a mere satellite to be served as and when a curate could be spared to sally forth.

Let us build upon what we have and prove Christ is risen and active amongst us within this wider community.