In my role as canon to the ordinary, it was my responsibility to visit all the churches in our diocese on a consistent basis. My standard practice for churches in rural areas and small towns was to drive to the town, visit a local coffee shop, order coffee, and ask the waitperson or cashier if they could give me directions to the local Episcopal Church. Seldom did anyone even know the name of the parish, much less how to get there.
I have been involved in the discernment of people exploring ordination to the priesthood for the past 20 years. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find people who either want — or are even willing — to consider serving a church in a small town away from the larger cities and suburbs.
That is a shame. Serving as priest in a small town can be greatly rewarding and, really, a lot of fun. Although I have served churches in cities and towns of just about every population size — rural areas (population 2,400 to 4,000), small town (7,000), largish town (31,000), suburb (40,000), and city (5.5 million) — I have found the smaller towns the easiest to get involved in, through community organizations, and thus the easiest places to raise our parish’s profile.
This essay will cover the things I have learned about ra ising a church’s profile in towns with populations of 2,500 to 40,000. Read More
I may have missed it but I did not see any mention of opening the church building to the use of community groups and organizations. Churches need to do as much as possible to make connections with their communities and to expand those connections. The church with which I am presently involved, a downtown Methodist church, has build several bridges to the community but it needs to build more bridges and further raise its profile in the community.
Church leaders must repeatedly ask themselves the question, “If we closed our doors tomorrow, who would miss us?” The previous church with which I was involved, a small Continuing Anglican church, if it closes its doors, the only people would miss it is the maternity clinic to which it made a small annual donation, the utilities company, and the man who mows its lawn. The church has negligible connections with the community in which it is located. One of the reasons is that most of its remaining members do not live or work in that community. The few who do are not actively involved in their community in any way. Community engagement is vital if a church is going to thrive in a particular community.
The members of this church’s sole interest is to gathering weekly, worship in the way to which they are accustomed, fellowship over coffee and baked goods, and then go home. Unfortunately this description fits not only many small Continuing Anglican churches but many small Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist churches too. It is a major reason that these churches are experiencing decline. They have become too ingrown. They are not outward looking at all.
What may help churches to become more outward looking and mission minded is to focus more on emulating the character of Jesus, living his teaching, and following his example.
One of the reasons that I left the small Continuing Anglican church was its supply priest regularly skipped the love commandments in his preaching and expressed views on social media, which were not consistant with Jesus’ teaching or example. This, along with the congregation’s apathy toward community engagement and their tepid support for my own ministry eventually led me to look for a new church with which I would be a better fit. I served the church as a service leader and lay preacher for roughly three years, one of which I had pastoral charge of the church. I was at the time pursuing holy orders in the denomination with which the church was affiliated.
For small churches, whatever their denominational affilation, community engagement is key
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