Last week, I was working with our gardening club whose volunteers look after our grounds. I became most concerned at the state of a fuchsia which was looking far from its usual buoyant self. Its leaves had turned yellow, its floral bells looked tired and were withering, and it projected an air of being altogether sick and struggling (pictured above left).
At the front of the building, another fuchsia was proud and strong, its branches laden with radiant scarlet bells and enjoying the hot weather that had recently arrived (pictured above right).
I turned the attention of our head gardener to the poorly looking fuchsia and bemoaned that whatever had beset it, it looked to be fatal. I wondered whether anything could be done. He shook his head sadly and declared that it was a most incurable and unavoidable disease from which there was no escape. I raised my eyebrows in sympathy and distress and asked what it was. He smirked as he said "Autumn!"
"But the other fuchsia is completely unaffected!" I retorted, to which my wise gardening friend explained that they were two different varieties - one annual, and the other deciduous.
When we look across the landscape of the churches in our country, there are some which appear to be slowly withering and shrinking away, being hastened by this seeming unceasing pandemic. Others appear to be deciduous and the change is less perceptible, or even seen as a good thing.
We learnt during the 2020 UCAN Conference in February that a church reduces to the size of its infrastructure, and the inevitable consequence for many who are cutting staff positions and withdrawing some of the provision for age-groups and community is that they will lose congregation, finance and perhaps a sense of vibrancy.
Even healthier churches are expecting to lose some who have become disconnected during the absence of weekly gatherings, while at the same time expect to be added to by those who have discovered the church on the internet and a possible exodus from other churches that are failing or closing down.
As local lockdowns and changing rules hamper and disrupt churches that are desperately trying to resume some kind of in-person services, we might just need to stand back and realise that we are in Autumn.
Tony Morgan’s book ‘The Unstuck Church’, which we distributed to all delegates at our Cutting Edge conference earlier this year, dissects the life cycle of churches and offers helpful insights for moving towards Sustained Health, whatever the season.
It is not altogether clear whether church as we know it will survive, or whether our season for doing church in the way we have been used to has had its time. However, we proceed, there will be some churches whose future is bright and vibrant, and others whose future is to enter a time of winter and wonder whether there will be a spring around the corner. At UCAN we remain committed to supporting and equipping all churches, whatever their season, to administer and lead with diligence and care. If you have a particular challenge that you would like to discuss, please get in touch.
Whichever fuchsia you're facing (see what I did there?), don't blame yourself or think critically of others. There are not many people on this planet who have escaped dealing with significant disruption this year, and even now I detect a certain low-level PTSD that has set in to many that holds people in a depressed lethargy and an increased likelihood to blow up into an agitated worry at a rumour of a local case. This uncertainty continues to permeate and influence all of church life. The church is not the same as it was yesterday, nor what it will be tomorrow. However...
God has not left the throne, nor intends to, and it has been a very long time indeed since I ever heard of someone being banished from His kingdom. God will continue to shape and change the world to bring us the time of the new heaven and earth.
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5
It is smaller churches which are finding themselves at the sharp end of the effects of the pandemic. A church administrator is the first important role to add alongside a vicar or minister to enable a congregation to function. Indeed, some churches are facing the reality of functioning only with an administrator and no minister. This month, John Truscott helps us consider the essential qualities and shape of an administrator of a small church, and provokes us to think whether this can be delivered without it even being a paid role.
A second resource, “Identify your church’s groups” helps us to explore the formal and informal, and even invisible groups that exist in your church. It is a salutary reminder that communication is not always a question of sending out information. The landscape we broadcast to is not flat – but contoured by influence and gossip and “secret leaders” who will change and influence others.
Share your thoughts on the UCAN forum – alive and kicking with 350 active members posting their questions and musings every week.
Julian Mander
Executive Director, UCAN on behalf of the UCAN team.