From here:
Emerging from daylong discussions on May 25 about the future of the Anglican Church of Canada, members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) appeared to lack ideas about what the next steps should be.
In fact, members expressed feeling “overwhelmed” by the question of how to renew church structures.
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that instead of hearing new ideas, he heard a lot of familiar ones following reports coming out of small group discussion. Further, he said he wasn’t convinced that members were grasping the urgency of our situation.
I have a new idea for the Anglican Church of Canada: give Christianity a try.
What won’t work is more of the same nonsense as typified by the questions CoGS was asked to ponder:
* How might God be using the current financial situation of General Synod to tell us about our future in carrying out Vision 2019?
* What might the Holy Spirit be telling us about ourselves as we grapple with the complexities of our current governance and structural challenges?
* How might Jesus be leading us on a journey of spiritual renewal through the presence of indigenous peoples among us, and their witness in the Mississauga Declaration.
Some bright spark thought the church should “clearly and proactively articulate its unique mission and ministry”. Leaving aside the obvious thought that anyone who uses the word “proactive” is mentally constipated, it goes without saying that a church that has no “unique mission and ministry” is wasting its time trying to find ways to articulate it.
It all ended in a sacred circle in which the obstinately blinkered Colin Johnson declared that the church “is not any more broken than it ever was”. He said much the same in 2008 when parishes started leaving the ACoC; then there were 19 ANiC parishes, now there are 47. The ACoC is running out of money. No-one knows what to do. CoGS is “overwhelmed”. The situation, according the primate, Fred Hiltz, is “urgent”. Crisis? What crisis?
David,
You are way too negative. The kerfluffle over same sex is a tempest in a tea pot. Soon no-one will even remember it.
…just like Arianism, which started out as an argument over a diphthong, was quickly forgotten?
Actually I find it quite refreshing that CoGS has admitted it’s run out of ideas. At least it’s being honest now…
#1 This lack of perception nicely illustrates why the Anglican Church of Canada’s future is all but set in stone– soon no-one will even remember it.
3
You missed the sarcasm. It’s something I’m often guilty of.
Fair enough, but there are people who post here who seem to believe things like that, and it’s very difficult to identify sarcasm from plain text.
Gordon,
I post here very regularly and even if I didn’t, that sloppy sentiment is a well travelled nugget of wisdom from a former Bishop of Niagara.
Two ideas that would be fresh, in their way of thinking…
1) aggressively pursue outright merger with the ELCIC – this will boost attendance and reduce costs
2) introduce a national stewardship initiative
Hello Eph,
Personally I do not see how a merger with the Lutherans would result in an increase in attendance. There would be some national news coverage for about one perhaps two days. This might get a few people to come to church, but for how long? Especially once they see for themselves how much the church had changed from what they once knew.
I do agree that there would be some cost savings, where ever duplication of functions and efforts can be eliminated. But this type of cost saving always involves a reduction in staff, which means people losing their jobs. Not sure how well that would go over.
A national stewardship initiative has already begun. It is called “back to church Sunday”. Also, in my own Parish we have a constant reminder in our bulletin to invite people to come to church with us. I think that these things have had some success, but not much.
It seems to me that people have an innate ability to detect hyponasty. When I read my Holy Bible and I see God repeatedly telling us that homosexual behavior is a sin, and I than hear our Church leadership proclaiming that we should be blessing it, I can’t help but feel that something is terribly wrong.
Also, it seems that we are not as serious about our Faith as we used to be. When was the last time we had included in our Worship Service?
A reading of all ten of the Ten Commandments,
A reading of the Creed of St. Athanasius (I can’t even find it in the BAS),
A reading of the Exhortation (have not been able to find this in the BAS either).
(I could go on.)
And let’s compare the Absolution from the BCP and the BAS:
From the BCP:
ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him: Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From the BAS:
Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The BAS has omitted the entire first sentence!
These are just a few examples of how our church has been watered down. I think that most people do not want a watered down form of Christianity. My suggestion is get back to basics and be a real Christian Church. Stop trying to be contemporary, stop trying to “fit in”, and stop pandering to the whims of secular society!
We read them all every Sunday during Lent
We read it on Trinity Sunday (well, it is very long and repetitive)
Then again, we are part of ANiC.
AMP,
Back to Church Sunday is about bums in the pews. BCS is not about discipleship nor is it about teaching people about living a life of profound generosity. If we can’t convince those Anglicans who are already in the pew to be generous, we don’t have a hope of convincing those new to the church to be generous.
Hello again Eph,
Respectfully I disagree with you about BCS and descipleship. I do feel that it is very much one form of discipleship.
Most people:
do not attend church (ever),
do not read the Holy Bible (ever),
do not read any other material of a religous nature (ever),
hardly ever give any thought to religion, God
get most of their “information” about God and religion from fictional tv shows and movies, and
are horibly missinformed by a “news media” that is mostly interested in headlines (and remember that bad news sells) and 15 second sound bites.
So unless we get people to come back into the Church what hope do they realistically have of learning the truth?
Also:
the current financial situation is a direct result of the decline in Church membership over the past 40 years, and
the current governance structure is simply too large for the size of Church that the ACoC has shrunk to (also a direct result of the decline in Church membership).
Sorry to have to point this out to you, but unless there are more “bums in the pews” everything else will simply fade away.
I am not familiar with how back to church Sunday works, could you tell me a bit about it? Myself, I think programmes like Alpha (especially if you can hold it somewhere neutral, like a pub or community hall) are good tools for getting people ‘back to church’ – especially for people who have been wounded by mainline church experiences.
Hello Kate,
Basically it is a way for the Laity to “invite” friends and neighbours to come to Church. During this time everyone is more mindful that we may be having some “visitors” in attendance, and an effort is made to be welcoming and also have the Worship Service less intimidating. Honestly it is nothing short of a recruitment effort, and the ultimate goal is to increase Church attendance and membership. In this way I can see it as Evangalistic, which is a good thing.
Some information from here:
http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/parish-life/congregational-growth/welcoming-ministry/back-to-church-sunday/
Back to Church Sunday (B2CS) is about inviting “back” to church those who used to attend, and ensuring that everyone who visits their local church will be warmly welcomed. B2CS started in 2004 in Manchester, England, and is now one of the largest invitational church initiatives in the world. The Diocese of Toronto participates in this program each fall.
B2CS is for everyone who is not in church. Many people fall out of the habit of attending church, and B2CS is a friendly nudge to encourage folks to come back home.
Eph
It’s not about the money, it’s about fidelity to the faith.
The ACoC had unravelled the fabric of its faith by denying scriptural authority and church tradition.
What you have left is an a la carte menu where adherents can pick and choose what they’ll believe in.
In short, you aren’t part of ministry, you are part of the entertainment industry.
Ideas? Check the handbook.
Seemed simple enough to Matthew