Published in the Bridge Magazine, 1 Feb 2020

In January, the Diocese of Worcester began a series of “open conversations” about the future of our church. So far, they’ve been both uncomfortable and yet encouraging.

Uncomfortable, because they set out the financial challenges the Diocese of Worcester (and therefore its churches) face, but encouraging because there’s a growing recognition among diocesan staff, clergy and congregations, that carrying on as we have been doing for the last fifty years is a recipe for closure.

The detailed plan for the future is still to be revealed, but it’s driven by four hard facts: that with certain exceptions, attendance at our churches is declining; we’re all getting older (46% of church members are over the age of 70); the Diocese needs to cut its annual expenditure by £1.67 million by 2024, and 60% of our church buildings are now classified as “difficult to sustain.”

And if that’s all there was to it, we’re probably better off giving the whole thing up as a bad job. But the truth is, church was never about buildings and money, it’s about our loving God and his people. Or as my wife likes to put it,

Church is what’s left after the building burns down.”

Though please don’t take this as an encouragement to arson.

So what’s going to need to change if the Church of England is to have a future in Worcestershire? For starters, the old model of one priest, one parish, one church, is gone. I’m already responsible for eight church buildings, and five parishes, and it’s entirely possible I’ll get more before the changes are complete.

But it’s also possible I’ll have fewer of each, because some of our church buildings may need to close, and some of our parishes will merge. There’s no “hit list”, but it’s very hard to justify sustaining buildings or parishes where the congregations won’t take legal responsibility for the administration of the parish and the building and don’t contribute sufficiently towards the cost of the clergy. Clearly, heritage buildings cannot be demolished, but some could close, or be sold, or more likely given over to charitable, or community trusts. Whilst others may remain open, but with significantly fewer services.

The face of the person leading the service will change too. The diocesan vision is to ensure that every church that does not have a vicar of its own will have a “focal minister” – a volunteer who leads mission and ministry locally. They’ll be overseen by clergy, and supported by a new training scheme.

There’s also a growing recognition that much church administration and bureaucracy is needlessly complex. UK Charity Law is partly to blame for this, and I doubt there’s much that can be done to change that. But our structures and governance can be simplified, and the number of parochial church councils (PCCs) reduced, so that we all spend less time in meetings, and more time helping people.

As well as trying to fix some of the brokenness of the parish system, the Diocese is keen to do some new things. You deal with the problem of an ageing, declining congregation, by reaching out to younger people and families. And to help with this there’s a vision to create two brand new churches by 2025 in areas where population changes merit it. The Diocese will also continue to invest in two larger “Resourcing Churches” (in Worcester and Dudley) to be centres of excellence, resourcing and enabling their surrounding parishes.

As more details of the plans for the future become available, I’ll keep you informed. But if you’d like to join the conversation now, it’s not too late to read about the plans online and offer feedback electronically through the diocesan website here..