Church Reorganisation - What Are We About?

The Church in Wales is having a clear out. As with all clear outs, this is a worthy and no doubt timely exercise. But, whatever it may tell itself, the Church is engaged in an exercise which is mainly about the practicalities of managing decline.  We are to have ‘ministry areas’, ostensibly adapted to the needs and resources of local communities, but it is still not clear what we are really about. There is talk of mission and of the apostolic nature of the Church. There is talk of various kinds of lay ministry which supplement or complement that of a dwindling number of full time and stipendiary clergy.

While all this may be necessary for practical reasons, it does not feel very exciting. If I speak of ministry areas to anyone not familiar with the Church, a kind of glazed look comes over them. They are instantly bored. I sense that the deployment of resources, both human and fabric, is not what they want to hear about. What they really want to hear about, even if they do not admit it to themselves, is how can the Church facilitate friendship with Jesus Christ? How can we make it possible for people who may never come to church to meet him in the here and now of their lives and in the here and now of a world torn apart by violence and every kind of injustice?

I do not think that this depends on how we organise ourselves. It depends on the kind of people we are. This is especially true of those who are called to public ministry, whether ordained or lay. They need to be people whose minds, hearts, preferences and priorities are entirely shaped by love for Jesus Christ. Such people embody the Kingdom and draw others into it without them even realising it. I do not think that this takes years of training. It takes prayer. The Church needs to learn to pray in such a way that it hears people’s real needs, before these have been spoken, or even recognised. You cannot train someone to do this, but you can walk beside them as they struggle to understand God in new ways and as they struggle to give voice to the mystery of his abiding presence among us.

Too much training, and too much energy expended on organising ourselves and running things often occludes the real purpose of the Church’s work which is to enable people who do not feel that they belong in the Kingdom of Heaven to know that it is they who are most qualified, they who matter most to Christ. The Church should be making it possible for them to be real with God. It should be opening new doors for them, creating new paths in the wilderness of modern anxiety, guilt, drivenness and all the other emotions and distractions which end up destroying us. 

But first of all, the Church needs to be real with God in its own life. It needs to be reconciled within itself, by breaking down the two biggest barriers to effective ministry which are those of prejudice and professional envy. These things sap its life blood, leaving behind a spiritual vacuum. So the Church needs to rediscover its passion for God and re learn trust between its own members. Then it will be free to focus outwards, discern where his love is most needed and minister to that need. If re-organisation and ministry areas make this their primary concern they will have served their purpose.