Disgraceful ... they're changing my church
Article by Rev David Eaton, when Rector of the United Benefice of Leatherhead & Mickleham, in the Guildford Diocesan Herald
Mr Reginald Objector said ...
... It's a disgrace of the first order that our parish church is to be turned upside down by the Vicar and Church Council. Why do we need an extension that provides lavatories and rooms for young people; and why are all those beautiful pews to be replaced by chairs? My father never sat in a chair in church in his life and I certainly don't see why anyone else needs to. And if a church hasn't had a lavatory for a thousand years why does it need one now? It's an old maxim that the church exists for the people who never go there. It has the implication that a church has a place in people's lives simply by being there. When people who seldom or never come to speak of it as being'our'church they mean it. They are expressing something which is part of them, even if they are not part of us.
Sunday by Sunday those who come to church are often known for doing so, by those who don't.
Those who go, go on behalf of others, and carry the prayers of others with them. Church people may bemoan the fact that the baptised or married in church never darken the door again. Their attendance may seem small in our lives but it can be big in theirs. We have one perspective but they have another.
When the Vicar and Church Council propose changes to a Church building, these changes will appear threatening to people who are not on the inside track, but value the Church in their own way. This isn't to say that some objectors aren't simply bloody minded, I expect they are.
But God's people are defined by irregular, as well as regular, worshippers. Everyone is a Child of God. When a church I used to go to, but hadn't been a member of for many years, was reordered I was surprised how negative I felt about it all. It wasn't the way I remembered it, and it felt like loss.
Of course you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't. The church may be an important unchanging symbol in people's lives, but a church which doesn't change will be also criticised for being stick in the mud and out of date.
So, when change is rightly required some attention will be needed to those who are irregular attenders, as well as those who are always there.
And some attention will be needed to what is to be changed and how it is to be done. Insiders can be strong on how they want to use the building, but weak on an approach which is in sympathy with the historic fabric.
A pet hate of mine is the current trend in church re-ordering which takes its inspiration from airport lounges! Nonetheless church interiors have changed over the years, and will need to go on changing, in order to suit and serve current worship needs.
In my vestry there are two photographs of the interior of Leatherhead Parish Church - one from the 19th century and one from the 20th century. They look very different. If you took one today it would look different again.
Churches have never been frozen in time and shouldn't start now. It's how you do it and what you do that is important. Which is why there is a Diocesan Advisory Committee and a Faculty procedure, the church's planning mechanism, to see all interests are taken into account.
Perhaps the overriding concern should be to focus on God, rather than people, which is what "To the Glory of God" really means and is why churches were built in the past.
A church should be striking because it speaks about God: the suffering and humanity of God, the mystery and holiness of God, more than the comfort of the congregation or the size of its sound system.
God must be found in the nature of the worship, but He must also be found in the building and the furnishings and the way they are ordered.