"Of the total number of clergy - the 1,540 odd - more than three quarters won't see their 50th birthday again... And below the age of 30, there are four clergy, for this entire three-Tikanga church. They could hold gatherings in a phone box." From Anglican Taonga (national Anglican magazine), December 2005, page 9.
The Anglican church we went to had a 50+ year old vicar. Everyone under the age of 30 could have had meetings in a Honda Oddessy. The Sunday service was fully ritualised. None of the small youth group came to church regularly, and there was little input allowed from young people.
The pews were the old fashioned kind, hard and uninviting. The worship never broke through the 1900's barrier. Most songs were from writers who died centuries ago.
The church never grew. There was nothing remotely relevant to a young generation.
But what were its strengths? It had nice people. It had rituals - which were surprisingly quite cool at times. But rituals left no flexibility in the service. It felt like everything was done by the book.
The Anglican Taonga article continues... "The numbers tell us that the liturgy, ministry, worship, distribution of resources, the face of the church as it's seen by outsiders, orbits an older generation that has a particular understanding of the world, and of what's important and what's not."
It's nice to hear a church being honest with itself.
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