Introduction
The changing demographic of the
Church in Western countries is a microcosm of the changing demographic of the global
Church itself. Mainline denominations in
the West have been in serious decline in the West since the 1960s, but that
does not mean that the Church is in decline in the West. As David Goodhew and others point out, churches
are multiplying and growing most everywhere.
Generally speaking, much of the decline, where it is happening, is due
to a lack of health. The question to ask is, 'What
makes for a healthy church, whether in the West or Africa, and what ministerial
training will contribute to it?'
Church Growth and Decline in Britain
What is happening in, say,
Britain is not simply a story of secularization and Church decline but rather a
changing of the guard for the Church.
The mainline denominations are declining (with Baptists the exception):
it was announced this year that attendance at worship in the Church of England
has fallen to below 1 million—to 760,000, which is less than 2% of the
population of England.[1] The Diocese of Rochester has recently been
declared insolvent.[2] The castle is clearly crumbling. While such statistics enflame the arthritic
pains of oldline denominations, new churches (i.e., fellowships and denominations
started within the past 100 years) are growing in certain areas.
The real story, David Goodhew argues, is that
one has to stop focusing on a narrative of secularization in the West and start
focusing on what sorts of churches are growing and show health. In my view, both seem to be true: ‘secularization’
seems, in fact, far too mild a term for what is taking place in the West, but
surely Goodhew is correct to argue that there is an alternative story of
healthy churches and growth in the West.
Where oldline churches became increasingly part of the establishment,
they became perpetrators of the culture.
Then, when the culture became post-Christian in its morality and
convictions, so did the oldline churches: they were agents of culture rather
than Christian faith. The new churches,
on the other hand, are becoming the real ‘Church of England’ even as the Church
of England is increasingly becoming a division of English Heritage[3]--a
relic of English culture. These ‘new
churches’ share features in common with the growing Church in Africa; indeed,
some of the growth in England is directly attributable to ‘African’ (often by
way of the Caribbean Islands) immigration.
A forthcoming book edited by David Goodhew will explore
trends of growth and decline in Anglicanism overall—a denomination of some 80
million in the world: Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980
to the Present (Routledge). This follows an earlier publication
edited by Goodhew on Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present.[4]
The major thesis of the latter work is that one should not associate the
decline of mainline denominations in the West with the decline of Christianity
in the West. There are even some areas of growth within the Church of
England despite how church attendance overall is in rapid free fall. In
particular, the diocese of London grew over 70% since 1990.[5]
Outside the Church of England, black majority churches and new churches are
growing. Some 2 950 new churches were started between 1989 and
2005. Several denominations have been growing, such as the
Baptists—although growth has slowed since 2002. Goodhew’s conclusion is
that the real shift in church attendance has to do with a shift from obligation
or duty to choice, a distinction that also separates classes: the elite once
associated with the Church of England as part of their duty as Englishmen,
whereas the commoner more likely associates with a church by choice.
The story of church growth in
England tells the story of church growth in the 2/3rds world: healthy, growing
churches share common features wherever they are to be found. Health is not the only feature leading to
Church growth, as the Prosperity Gospel churches and Mormonism, for example,
quickly demonstrate. Church growth can also be attributed to immigration
(hence the growth in black churches) and population growth in London and areas
of economic growth (the more people, the more churches). One should not
forget that every country in Europe has a negative population growth for its
natural citizens when examining Church statistics: immigration accounts for
various factors of growth in such contexts. More to our point,
however, the Church is growing where the Church has life. Where it is dying in
structures and attendance is where it is already dead in spirituality,
ministry, and mission.
Some Factors of Health for Growing Churches
In ‘A History of Fresh
Expressions and Church Planting in the Church of England,’ George Lings makes
some very helpful observations about how this old, traditional denomination has
found possible renewal and growth. He identifies six developments prior to 1980
that contributed to this:[6]
1.
The Ecumenical Movement—a sense that we belong
to something bigger
2.
The small group movement, rising from the base
communities of the 50s in S. America, expanding into cell groups—communal
learning/discipleship, lived outside the control of the clergy
3.
The Lay Leadership movement—lay leaders planted
churches
4.
The Charismatic movement, 1964 onwards, and the
recovery of ‘body ministry’
5.
Liturgical revision in the 60s, moving us beyond
individualism
6.
The Church Growth movement, coming from the US
through the Bible Society and being Anglicized by Eddie Gibbs
Lings identifies two insights
from David Wasdell in 1974/5 that contributed to an understanding of church
planting and fresh expressions of the church.[7] First, a minister can only minister
adequately to, at most, 180 persons.
Therefore, development of lay leadership for smaller units within a
parish is necessary. Second,
multiplication (the ‘missional church’) rather than addition (the ‘church
growth’ paradigm) is the healthy way to pursue church growth. Lings identifies five marks of a missional
churches: they are Trinitarian, relational, incarnational, disciplemaking, and
transformational.
The Church in Africa (Broadly Speaking)
Church decline in the West is not
as much a feature of growing secularism as we might think. Churches can and do grow in very secularized
countries such as England. What better
explains church growth or decline is the health of the church, characterized by,
if we might so summarize points brought out by George Lings: a Kingdom versus
institutional perspective, life on life discipleship, development of lay
ministers, Spirit-filled churches and gift-exercising laity, a communal rather
than individualistic focus in worship, and an emphasis not on maintaining and
growing large churches but on mission and multiplication (planting more
churches).
The Church in Africa has certain
cultural or contextual advantages. It is
not part of a national identity but still stands over against tribal religions:
it has a healthy distinction from culture rather than being a feature of
culture.[8] Poorer communities are naturally more
relational and holistic. The culture is
far more communal. The Church has not
been beaten down by a materialistic, Enlightenment history; Africa is very
aware of spiritual forces and the miraculous.
Worship is not dominated by aesthetics, whether buildings or
professional music. It is in the hearts
of the people rather than being a performance by some professional band on a
stage. Large churches are only options
in cities with transportation—and Africa has its share of them, with all the
problems of large churches in the West. Africa
is probably more susceptible to ‘big man’ leadership and personal power
politics than the West. Yet many,
smaller churches that have a great deal of life can be found. The church is also missional, being the
recent product of missions. This may be
less so in more developed parts of Africa, particularly in South Africa. In East Africa, however, the revival of the
1920s and 1930s is still bearing fruit. The
Anglican Church in Africa numbers about 55 million—out of 80 million
worldwide. It has grown from about 8
million in the 1970s. The vibrancy of
Spirit-filled worship, moreover, can be found in Pentecostal (the major example
of ‘new churches’) and Anglican churches alike.
Conclusion: Toward Ministerial Training for the African Church
All this relates to ministerial
training in Africa. How we understand
the healthy church will affect what we consider to be good training for
ministers—including lay ministers. Theological
education must not simply train according to the academic disciplines: it must
also train for the healthy church.
A
theological education that has produced a dying Church in the West is hardly
something the Church in Africa should want to develop for itself. The African Church faces many problems of its
own, and yet it has certain characteristics of a healthy Church that must not
be undercut by introducing aspects of Western models of ministerial training
that favour professionalization of ministry, institutionalization of the
Church, cultural distortion of the Gospel, and secularization of the faith. It must train ministers that engage and
develop the community of faith, not scholar-pastors who spend more time on
their weekly sermon than around the kitchen tables of parishioners. It must not become training in Academia but
use academic study for the purpose of ministering the faith once for all
delivered to the saints by the apostles.
It must not focus on liberation ideologies addressing merely the
socio-political concerns on the continent but rather focus on orthodox theology
that challenges and undercuts every
human institution with the message of the Kingdom of God.
[1]
Harriet Sherwood, ‘Church of England Weekly Attendance Falls Below 1m for First
Time,’ The Guardian (12 January,
2016); online at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/12/church-of-england-attendance-falls-below-million-first-time
(accessed 30 July, 2016).
[2]
Cf. George Conger, ‘Diocese of Rochester Insolvent,’ Anglican Ink (8 July, 2016); online at: http://www.anglican.ink/article/diocese-rochester-insolvent
(accessed 30 July, 2016).
[3]
Cf. Ruth Gledhill, ‘Millions of Pounds Given to England’s Flourishing Christian
Cathedrals,’ Christian Today (22
July, 2016); online at: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/millions.of.pounds.given.to.englands.flourishing.christian.cathedrals/91182.htm
(accessed 30 July, 2016). The story is
about how the English Heritage, which protects cultural buildings in the UK
such as castles, has given 14 and a half million pounds to over 30 cathedrals
for renovation. While the story also
notes that cathedrals tend to have growing congregations, the relationship with
the Heritage Foundation is an acknowledgement that the buildings attract
international visitors (some 11 million annually) to the point of contributing
220 million pounds annually to the national economy. With some 16,000 Church of England churches
in England, an average worship service would comprise 47-48 people on Sunday
morning.
[4]
David Goodhew, ed. Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present (Ashgate Pub., 2012).
[5]
Alison Morgan’s review of David Goodhew’s (editor) Church Growth in Britain 1980 to the Present, in Fulcrum (March 30,
2013) (online: https://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/david-goodhew-ed-church-growth-in-britain-1980-to-the-present-ashgate-publishing-2012/;
accessed 30 July, 2016).
[6] Ibid.
[7]
David Wasdell, ‘Let My People Grow’ (London: UCP, 1974) and ‘Divide and
Conquer’ (London: UCP, 1975). A
presentation of his arguments may be found at http://slideplayer.com/slide/4881102/
(accessed 30 July, 2016). The reader
might compare some of the same concerns in church planting stated by the New
Anglican Mission Society (see: http://www.namsnetwork.com/).
[8]
This is not to say that there are examples to the contrary, but enculturation
motivated not by the concern to make the Gospel understood but to transform the
Gospel to support African culture over against colonialism is not a
prescription for a healthy Church.
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