From an ex-pastor/friend:

Dear Rowland

Your article ‘Does the Australian Church have a Future?’ was e-mailed to me today and I must admit it was interesting reading. Certainly Bruce Wilson asked a similar question 20 years ago in his groundbreaking book ‘Can God Survive in Australia?’. And I have been asking the same question for the past 20 years myself.

I am a _ _ _ _ minister who has just begun teaching. This has not been an easy decision to make and I would have loved to stay in ministry where my gifts and talents could be focussed, however……

Much of what you have mentioned in your article led to the decision I took, to move to a different expression of ministry.

1. I found that I was sick of running a small business. More and more of my time seemed to involve administration. I have been involved in such diverse admin duties as: developing an environmental impact study for a new development, creating a registered training authority, running a community development and training programme, developing a men’s refuge from the ground up. All quite worthwhile but miles from where I was trained and from my real interests and love. And the number of meetings really began to take their toll.

2. I have a lot of non church friends and was a part of a men’s group for many years in which I was the only ‘Christian’. Non-church people are often more open to talk about spirituality than Christians. The cultural capital within which Christians are immersed seems to create an ethos which not only makes it almost impossible for non-church people to negotiate, but also difficult for Christians to step away from so that they are able to successfully relate to non-church people at a ‘spiritual level’. Churches tend to espouse a ‘one size fits all’ spirituality’. At one and the same time churches talk about ‘personal faith in Christ’ (individuation) but then go on to stream people into ways of thinking and acting which create a ‘normalised’ population. Makes it very difficult for a culture that isn’t into ‘off the peg’ spirituality.

3. I am sick of building programmes and I found that I could no longer work in a context where we seemed to always be talking about giving – and each year the church budget kept fueling the machinery. After five ministries and five building programmes I have watched the senior minister leave each church with a big debt and nothing to show except a fancy new facility. I have found it difficult to work in a culture which asks people to make a sacrifice which seems to further fuel the consumer ethic. At the same time it became more and more frustrating looking at the ‘Big Picture’ and seeing the gradual decline of the church over the last 20 years and watching massive resources being poured into attracting Christians from one church to another. I guess I feel that I do not have a voice. It is as though ministers (and Laity) on the one hand don’t want to look at the ‘Big Picture’ while on the other investigate the micro practices which just keep the system slowly rolling downhill.

4. There is too much emphasis on what Covey calls the ‘personality ethic’. Churches seem to have poured lots of energy into becoming’ the right kind of church’ (short term fixes) without looking at the long term picture and developing a ‘way of being’ deeply embedded in the local culture.

5. Churches need to look carefully at their ‘micro practices’. Not just the programmes, but the way things are done and the why. That means asking questions of everything from the ground up. Looking at how we do things and how they impact on people is more revealing than asking why. Foucault’s technologies of self and technologies of domination are useful methodologies for investigating practice.

6. Are churches willing to look at the discursive practices operating both within and without? How is the church positioned? What practices are in operation that position both the individual and the institution? Can the church really divest itself of its Cultural Capital’? According to Bourdieu this is almost impossible for most established institutions.

7. I have been deeply influenced in the past ten years by the work of Foster. Since reading Spiritual Disciplines I have consumed as many books as possible written by authors as diverse as ‘a Kempis and Nouwen. Most mainline evangelical bookshops stear clear of these books or perhaps have a few in stock. However, most of my friends who do not attend church are fascinated by a spirituality that is not couched in the language of the church. I have learnt more about meditation from my Budhist and Ananda Marga friends than I have from the mainstream Christianity. At the same time I am often concerned by Christians who try to go for an amalgum of faiths. I am a Christian, my Budhist friend is a Buddhist and my Ananda Marhga friends likewise. There is a real place for Christianity that, in the words of Kung, ‘sees Christ as decisive’ but which isn’t afraid to talk about faith in the marketplace. I agree with Campbell and Dreitcer a clear focus on spiritual formation is a key element – and with Foster in regards to those elements he espouses. But they need to be explored in ways that are meaningful for all people.

8. I don’t think that the church will survive in its current form, unless you are into Remnant Theology. Perhaps ministers will need to complete double degrees or do vocational training that spans at least two disciplines or trades or whatever. Maybe there is a place for more casual ministers and part timers. However, the church will need to respect the boundaries of the casual and part time minister. Its time to let go of the buildings and all the paraphernalia. If Aussies move on average every two to three years then perhaps the institution needs to follow suit. How the institutional hierarchy will respond is a different matter.

Dear Rowland,

Please excuse the rambling nature of this letter. They are mostly reflections and musings that have come from the reading of your article. I am still involved in the local church, still wonder where I fit and still enjoy long conversations about spirituality over a good pint of lager.

Regards

[Name withheld]