This Sunday one of the town churches I serve is having to
keep its doors closed because very few of the congregation can get to church because
of road closures for an event. And it is not that people cannot get from one
side of the town to another, they are not able to get to the church itself.
This has made me quite angry, as once again it has felt like we are the only worship
community in the town that does not matter. None of the other churches who are
effected by the closures are being restricted to the extent we are—the only way
to get to the church is by walking or riding a bike, we are told, we cannot
marshal a small section of road to let you get to and from the church in cars. Therefore,
when you have an elderly, gathered congregation and no Sunday public transport system
that adequately serves the people or the location in the town where the church
is, the only option is to keep the doors closed.
As I have been grumbling away about this, however, climate
change has again made the headlines with protests and some large town centres
being closed to cars for a day. Within the United Reformed Church we have
decisions being taken over investments so that we no longer invest in fossil
fuel. There is a passion for eco-churches and the want to be carbon neutral. Therefore,
even though the event that has closed the road outside the church has nothing
to do with this issue, the fact the town is being encouraged not to use their
cars for a day to get around we should be celebrating and encouraging.
On one hand, I want to. I want to support all these ventures
to decrease the carbon output into the atmosphere. But on the other hand, I
feel backed into a corner—I have five churches, all gathered congregations, all
of whom without people being able to drive to them on a Sunday would either be
empty or have no one to lead their worship. I have five churches, all of who contain
folk who come to that church because their nearest church was closed. I have
five churches, which in the long term are probably not sustainable with the size
on congregation and membership, yet to amalgamate is not really an option
because of distances and transport, not to mention the impact on our carbon
footprint. If the doors were closed on some of the more rural churches in the
area I serve, then it would not be the start of a new exciting venture, it
would be the desertion of small, faithful groups of Christians.
There is no arguing that the figures show us that the United
Reformed Church has more church buildings than it can feasibly sustain with its
membership levels and ministerial resources. Yet, if we are passionate about
the climate, how do we reduce that number of churches without asking people to
travel further to church on Sunday (or at another time in the week)? And then if
we are about discipleship and building up God’s people, how do we say to our
folk who might be limited in their mobility but are no less faithful, that they
cannot come to worship together if that means they have to come by car?
As I travel around my five churches and observe the
different issues in those five communities, I wrestle to find a potential answer.
In four years, I have ruled out a number of solutions and I am yet to find an
idea that might be worth testing! I have got to the point that I would like to
just bury my head in the sand and not worry about it, but that is not a plan. We
cannot do nothing. What we will need to do is something radical and that is
scary, especially when it means turning everything on its head. Then again,
that is what God does best!
For now, however, when cars are not an option, there is ‘No
church on Sunday’!
