GROWING BEYOND THE DOORS
By Rev. Canon Grayhame Bowcott
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, in the Village of Clarksburg, Ontario, is the oldest continuously operating institution in our community. Since 1862, there has been a ministry presence in what is now called The Town of the Blue Mountains. Since that time, countless businesses and community organizations have come and gone, including restaurants, banks, shops, and even other churches.
In many ways, it is a privilege to have endured more than 162 years in our community, especially noting that each business venture hopes to be successful and to outlast its competitors in the revolving door that is sustainability and relevancy. Our congregation, as members of the oldest institution in town, doesn’t take our long-established reputation of trust and service in our community for granted.
However, it is times like in the Christmas season that we come face to face with the reality that most businesses spend little thought in considering the events, routines, and intentions of others. Whether it is in the annual Village Christmas celebrations, the pileup of seasonal children’s activities (dance, music lessons, art classes, and sports), or the numerous shopping advertisements, churches often struggle to carve out a piece of the time, attention, and support of local residents as we host our seasonal worship services, outreach ministries, and fellowship events.
Three Christmas concerts hosted on the same day? Yup, that’s happening this year. Girl Guides, dance, and the church-sponsored youth choir all competing on Wednesday nights? Of course! Is there any space left to put up a poster advertising our upcoming Christmas services on the community announcement boards? They are all already covered with ads from all the local businesses, each selling their wares.
How is God calling us to be Church in the midst of all of this secular competition? This is a question that my congregation has been given much thought to, not because the question is a new one, but because we deeply care about the community we serve, and we believe that God is calling us to reach out to them in new ways.
Here's what we’ve come up with this year! Instead of our choir hosting our own independent Christmas concert this year, adding to the competition of the other four churches in our small town, we’ve decided to join together with our local United Church in supporting their event. In teaming up with them, we will likely double the average attendance at the event and our two choirs will have the opportunity to sing together. Any donations collected at the concert will support a third community organization that purchases Christmas hampers for local families. An added bonus is the fact that our two congregations have been growing ever closer together, and as the United Church is exploring future possibilities to maintain their presence in our community, they are wondering if further partnerships with their Anglican siblings might be the way forward?
In another example, this past November, despite our congregation planning to host local youth ministry events through our own church’s leadership, we discovered that this would run in competition with another similar youth project. After some thought and prayer, we decided to throw our support behind the proposal of another organization, and to offer our church as a free venue for the initiative. The end result was a series of pop-up youth events (for Grade 7&8s) that brought together over a dozen youth participants, and members of their families over a series of Mondays. For almost all of the youth participants, this was the first time they had ever stepped foot in our church. Our warm welcome and hospitality made a great first impression and we hope to partner with them again in the new year. The truth is, had we gone ahead with our original plans, we likely wouldn’t have had the critical mass of participants for the events to be successful.
A further recent decision made by our Parish Council members this year was to take out memberships in our local Chamber of Commerce and our Clarksburg Business Association. This not only allows for our church to advertise throughout these networks, but it also gives us a seat at the table in conversations that discuss the economic needs found in our community. We hope that our new memberships will allow us to seek out new partnerships where we can continue our ministry of communicating to others who we are as Anglicans, and how we feel called to serve others in the neighbourhood.
Each of these decisions is a special point of engagement, where our leadership team has recognized that while there is incredible competition in our community for time, attention, and financial support, there are often all sorts of ways to engage the residents in our community in ways that emphasize relationships first.
Many churches are coming to recognize that, while we all rely upon financial support to survive (in a secular market that has grown absurdly competitive), our greatest resource is found in the relationships that we seek out and maintain. An important question for all churches to be asking themselves is this: are we continuously expanding our relational networks? If the answer is: no, then it is apparent that we need to explore trying new approaches, even in the face of secular competition.
God calls all Christians to be sent out, to seek new ways of fostering community connection to enable us to share our faith stories, our gifts from God, with others. The greater our ability to establish new relationships, the greater our chances of being a vibrant church over 162 years, and, God willing, for 162 years more!
Rev. Canon Dr. Grayhame Bowcott serves as Rector of St. George’s, The Parish of The Blue Mountains, and as Program Director for the Licentiate in Theology program at Huron University.