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| Rev Roger Bertschausen |
In 2013 Rev. Roger Bertschausen completed a four month
sabbatical ministry with the Richmond Unitarian Church, during which he not
only led worship but also helped the congregation work through some of its
challenges as it considers advertising for a new minister. This is an edited version of the sermon he
gave at his final service on November 24.
Since this article was published by the London and District Unitarian Newsletter, members of Richmond and Putney chapel
and its committee have initiated a programme of continuous improvement, to
address each of the specific points raised in “Part 2”. Bear with us! We’re on
it, and on the first Sunday of every month you have a unique opportunity
to become part of the solution as part of the "Growth Group". Failing that, we will get this guy in. (NB funny link, but one use of mild language Mums and Dads!)
Part 1:
The problem The UK is a hard place to do church. I had no idea how hard it was before I came
here. Going to church in the UK is
positively counter- cultural. It takes
courage. Most non-church people I've
encountered in the UK seem to view going to church as anywhere from a quaint,
irrelevant tradition all the way to ridiculous and maybe even downright
evil. How many of you are hesitant to
tell friends and family that you go to a church? I've heard plenty of Unitarians here confess
that it's embarrassing.
I've seen estimates that six per cent of the British
population goes to church regularly. I'd
guess in London it's even lower. Six per
cent! A few days ago, the former
Archbishop of Canterbury asserted that attendance in Anglican churches is a
generation from extinction. The one
exception is the Anglican churches lucky enough to be connected to a good
school. This handful of churches is
booming because the only way to get your kids into these schools - and enjoy
the taxpayer- subsidized education - is to attend and volunteer at the church
affiliated with the school. The result:
parents fake religious belief and the pews in this handful of churches are full
of fakes (link to another clip here! Ed). From what I can gather, the
Unitarians are in the same boat as the Anglicans, only there aren't any parents
faking belief to get their kids into Unitarian schools. One person I respect predicts the 160
Unitarian churches in Britain today will shrink to under 100 in the next ten
years, and the haemorrhaging won't stop there.
I've asked a lot of people why they think the UK is such a
secular society. From what I've heard,
it seems the decline of religion has its roots primarily in the early twentieth
century. Two things happened that
changed the status quo. The first was
the fracture that developed between religion and science, with too many
churches taking ridiculous stands against scientific principles like Darwin's
theory of evolution. The second,
probably more important development was the First World War. It wasn't just millions of men who died on
those fields of poppies, but the idea that there is some sort of God calling
the shots, directly or indirectly. How
could a God preside over such meaningless slaughter?
But a funny thing has happened in the U.S. over the past dozen years: the fastest growing "religious" group in the U.S. now is the "Nones" - people who say they are non-religious. This development was completely unforeseen by sociologists who follow religious trends. It is a shocking development. Many sociologists of religion believe the roots of this change lie in the American reaction to 9/11. While it's presumptuous to compare the American experience of 9/11 to the British experience of
World War One - a few thousand dead versus nearly a million
- for whatever reason the impact of these events on religion seems comparable.
I am feeling the impact of this change in my small, conservative
city in America's heartland. The
humanists and atheists who twenty years ago would have checked my congregation
out now won't consider crossing our doorway.
We're part of the problem, they seem to think. The problem is religion. Catholics, evangelicals, Muslims, Hindus,
Unitarians. What's the difference? It's all religion, and it's all bad.
Unitarian Universalists in the States will be foolhardy to
ignore this change. We may well find
ourselves in the same situation as the Anglicans and the Unitarians here before
we know it: on the downward slide. So I
have made it a focus of my time here to study the situation, and to think about
possible positive responses to it. We
best pay attention to what's not working for you in this secular environment,
but especially to what is working or might work.
Part 2:
Possible Solutions What might work?
How can you make
church viable in a secular society? I
don't see any single, magic answer. But
I do have a hunch there are some things that might help stanch the haemorrhaging,
including right here at the Richmond Unitarian Church.
The first place I'd look for ideas is the Sunday Assembly -
also (ingeniously) known as the Atheist Church.
Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with the co-founder and
chief visionary of the Sunday Assembly, Sanderson Jones. The day after meeting Sanderson, I attended a
Sunday Assembly service, or "show" as he calls it. Sanderson Jones is a genius. And he has a very large vision. The day after I attended the Sunday Assembly
service, he set out on a multi-continent tour to help start 30 Sunday
Assemblies in 30 days.
The service I attended showed that he is onto
something. Barely nine months old, in a
society where only 6 percent regularly attend church, there were 350 enthusiastic
folks at the Sunday Assembly that day.
There were lots of young adults, but also plenty of middle-aged and
older adults, too, and teens, and littler kids.
While not representative of London's diverse ethnic population, there
was probably more diversity than is typical in many Unitarian churches. More than anything, as I waited in that
crowded lobby for admission to the auditorium, there was an abundance of energy
and excitement. There was a palpable
expectant buzz. Once we went into the
auditorium and took our seats, the guy sitting next to me enthusiastically
welcomed me and said he travels an hour to get there. He'd never been part of a church before he
came to the Assembly four weeks ago. But
he was looking for something.
Meaning? Community? Maybe.
Whatever he was looking for, he sure felt like he had found it.
Here are some things I observed about the Sunday
Assembly. They have a concise, clear-cut
mission that they focus on like a laser.
Their mission is: "Wonder more/Live better/Help often." They don't have a hymnal but sing
contemporary songs people know like "Lean on Me." They had an organized kids activity in the
back of the room. They clapped a lot,
and right from the outset of the service.
A kid did the reading. They
showed a clip from a TV show that was both funny and poignant. A
singer/songwriter performed an original song. The collection was taken in coffee cans, and
I had the impression that a fair amount of notes, not just change, went into
the cans. They were skipping the next
service and doing a community action day focusing on providing winter coats to
the vulnerable instead. They offered an
assortment of delicious homemade cakes for the coffee and tea time
afterwards. The service had all sorts of
rough spots - including a band that wasn't very good, microphones that didn't
work, and confusion over who was supposed to give the address. It was easy to tell they'd only been at this
for a few months and were still on a steep learning curve. The theme
that day - remembrance of war - took them out of their comfort zone, too. The humour that is their trademark was a
little awkward. Taking on a serious
theme was a stretch. But through it all
was the enthusiasm.
Maybe the greatest genius of the Atheist Church is getting
people through the doors in the first place.
350 people! Isn't that
astonishing? How are they doing it? Sanderson Jones was in marketing before he
became a comedian and now a church leader.
He knows how to get free press.
That helps a lot! But I think the
key might be the shocking paradox of pairing "Atheist" with
"Church". Using
"Atheist" as a modifier for "Church" delivers the message
with a punch: this isn't an ordinary church.
This isn't your great- grandmother's church. You might even be able to tell your friends
without feeling embarrassed that you are attending the Atheist Church.
For all that was good and compelling about the experience, I
wouldn't join the Sunday Assembly. It
has a rule I can't abide: there can be no mention of God. You can be a theist, but you have to keep it
quiet. I prefer a church where you can
be a theist or you can be an atheist or you can be an agnostic, and you're free
to talk about any of them. God talk is
not out-of-bounds, nor is it mandatory.
That, my friends, is a Unitarian church.
To me that's what this world really needs right now: a truly pluralist,
embracing church. So I am not saying
that the Unitarian church needs to become the Atheist Church. But there are undoubtedly some things to
learn from the Atheist Church, especially in the areas of focus on mission, marketing,
hospitality, and generating enthusiasm and joy at services. If I were you, I'd send some folks once in a while
to the Sunday Assembly and steal a few ideas you might be able to adapt.
Informed by that experience, here are some things I'd
recommend for this church - things that I think might help the church survive
and even thrive in this secularized environment. Take these as ideas to get you thinking, not
as a mandate! The first thing I'd do if
I were you - and I've been saying this now for nearly four months - is figure
out what the mission of this church really is.
Zero in on why you're here and what you'd like to be and do as a church. Find a consensus for something as clear and
compelling and concise as "Wonder more/Live better/Help often." Once you find your mission, make it the
centre of everything you do.
Be as healthy as you
can possibly be. Incessant, negative
conflict only attracts unhealthy people who are comfortable with conflict
because that's all they know. I'm not
saying that everything has to be nice and tidy - creativity includes positive
conflict and so you can and should have some conflict every now and then.
Pay attention to
being welcoming. This begins with
the appearance of your building. This is
a lovely building in many ways, but it screams "church"! In a society where church is a bad brand,
this is a problem. So think about some
ways you can mute the churchiness of the building. I'd especially pay attention to the west entrance – the entrance which passers-by
see from the road and through which newcomers will almost always enter. First impressions matter. Right now a newcomer entering through that
large, intimidating wooden door enters into a dark, claustrophobic little
vestibule. Then they have to turn and go
through another door, where they see...a
table of used books and other clutter. “What
is this?” I can imagine them thinking. A
second hand charity store? The wood door
could be open, allowing people walking in to look through the inner glass doors
right into the church. Excellent
idea! I'd give similar attention to the notice board outside. Next time you have a Unitarian minister or
student minister speak, ask them to look at the notice board and walk in that
main entrance and give you some tips about what might improve the newcomer's
experience.
The second part of
welcome is human connection. There
is little doubt that newcomers are more likely to return if someone -
preferably at least three people not including the minister says hello. Up until a few weeks ago, I observed two
things here: there were brand new people most weeks, and no one besides me
talked to them. And these newcomers
didn't come back. In the past few weeks,
I've observed more of you talking to newcomers.
I've also noticed some of them have returned. Figure out a way to make sure newcomers are
greeted!
I'd suggest livening
up the services. Making going to
church a joyous experience is an important way to communicate that this is a
different type of church.
I'd try to figure out ways to get the message out about this
church and, nationwide, about Unitarianism.
Explore ways to get free media. I'd be tempted to play on the Atheist
Church's name and call this the "Atheist/ Agnostic/Theist Church" - a
church welcoming to a wide varieties of belief.
That title is shocking in a different sort of way.
I'd explore ways to cultivate the financial
generosity of the members and friends of the church. This is hard: there's not a culture of robust
financial support for churches in the UK. Many Unitarian ministers I've talked to have
given up on fighting this one. It's
occurred to me here that if each of the fifty or so people involved in this
church gave an extra four pounds a week--the cost of a pint of ale or a latte
and a bun - you could add £10,000 to your budget and get that full-time
minister. Maybe that's worth it to you?
I'd suggest trying to create some new programming that gets members and newcomers alike in the door at
times other than Sunday morning.
Figure out ways to tap into that thirst for meaning and spiritual
(though non-religious) deepening and social justice that is clearly present in
the UK. I'd adopt a spirit of
experimentation. Try some things. Some won't work, but some might. What worked for a few centuries is no longer
working. Be daring!
And as I've said before: keep in mind the reason why this
matters. It matters because you have
something good here that can change and even save lives - your life or the life
of someone you haven't met yet. You
never know: the next visitor through that door may come in overwhelmed by
despair and hopelessness. Finding this
place might just be the thing that turns his or her life around. It's happened before - maybe even to some of
you. It can happen again. The stakes are high!
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