The Future of St Mark’s, Part 2

Address by Fr. Bob Bettson, Oct. 16, 2005

Last week I talked a lot about the history of St. Mark’s, what has led us to this place in our journey as a parish. Today in this second address on the Future of St. Mark’s I want to explore the current context in which we live as a parish, and what our future might look like.

There are no easy answers. In many ways our current situation can explained by larger forces at work in our community, our church and our country.

Many people under 50 are no longer church members, and if they are members, they are most likely to attend evangelical churches with contemporary music, or Roman Catholic parishes.

On Sundays less than 20 per cent of Canadians attend worship. We are still a nation with a majority claiming allegiance to one Christian denomination or another.

But active participation is another matter. On census forms only four years ago more than three million Canadians claimed to be Anglicans, when asked about their religious affiliation.

Yet there are less than 800,000 people on parish rolls, and about 200,000 in the pews each Sunday.

Active church participation has been sliding, with the exception of some of the evangelical and Pentecostal denominations. But even there, the primary factor is that evangelicals and Pentecostals do a better job of keeping their young people active in churches.

They also are more likely to develop megachurches like Centre Street Church, built for $15 million and with an auditorium for worship that can hold 2,500 at a time.

Our Anglican history has never rested on developing large congregations. We have instead adopted the small parish church model. In Calgary now we have about 20 parishes. But only about half are either holding their own or growing.

St. Mark’s is one of a number of parishes that was strong in the 60’s but now is facing difficult decisions about the future.

Our mission context now is that many people who are active in parish churches will drive to a parish that meets their needs. They also—and this includes Anglicans—are not as loyal to denomination.

Right now we are meeting the needs of a very well defined niche—by offering traditional worship according to the Book of Common Prayer with choir and organ.

So we are limiting the number of prospective members we might appeal to. That’s not a bad thing, particularly if we are able to attract a large enough congregation to support that approach.

The trouble is with a relatively small membership, even compared to five years ago, and few children and youth attending on a regular basis, we don’t have a chance for real growth.

The way out of this is far from clear. But we have the possibility of engaging in a partnership with another parish with many of the same challenges.

A partnership with St. Philip’s could provide enough strength to begin to address some of the issues I’ve raised.

For instance, we could mount a separate contemporary service, with music provided by keyboards and guitars, rather than organ. I know St. Philip’s has a talented worship band that Coline and I are working with as members of the Women’s’ Cursillo team this fall.

The Cursillo is a short course in Christian faith which is held twice a year, with both men’s’ and women’s’ weekends, at the Entheos Conference Centre.

That’s just one example of how a partnership could address our need to grow, to attract younger people.

Both parishes would bring gifts and strengths to a partnership. And it is uplifting just to have larger core group—as we saw in the summer when we cancelled our regular Sunday worship and joined St. Philip’s for a service and Stampede lunch.

A partnership only works if the partners are more or less equal and are in harmony on such important things as worship, theology and vision of ministry.

I know St. Philip’s people have been concerned about their possible partners since they finished their discernment process. Christ Church and St. Peter’s, which are both closer to St. Philip’s are also much larger, and not as traditional as St. Philip’s in either theology or worship pattern.

So St. Mark’s, which is a similar size, and also uses the BCP, is a more attractive partner.

No doubt most of you are wondering about the building. Because of our location in Marda Loop on a main thoroughfare, our large and well-kept church and halls, St. Mark’s would likely be the location for any partnership.

But having said that--- arriving at a partnership means we have to work things out together and look at all options. It’s not fair to assume anything. There has to be a conversation, and it has to be held with grace and sensitivity.

The reason I’ve gone so much into this option of partnership is that I hope you will think carefully about this option as we move into the final meeting of the discernment process.

It is a possible way forward. We need to do something now while we are still strong enough to bring something to a partnership.

The old saying is that the church is not a building. It is the people. It is you. And sadly there are about half as many of you attending worship on a regular basis as there were about five years ago. If this trend continues we all know what could happen—a gradual slide, which could eventually include loss of full-time clergy and eventually closure.

We don’t need to fear that eventuality if we move forward in faith, and seek to discern our future in a new form. We can preserve our heritage if we are flexible enough.

Our history of 93 years of mission and ministry in this place is something we can be proud of. We have the opportunity to build on that future.

I’d like to echo what Liz said last week. Our final discernment meeting next Saturday is very important. It is a chance to both listen to others and express your views about the future of the parish. If you will all come and ask any friends who are not here today to come.

Any decisions on future direction must come from you.