What should our church be?

What should our church be?

The question arises because, as a local "church" fellowship, we find ourselves in a position where we cannot maintain the expected functions of "a church". We have too few people. The "leadership team" has too many holes, too many unfilled posts. The constitution says we should have twelve but we only have five in the team. Add to this Covid19, and we a struggling to function in any meaningful way at all.

So: What should a church be? Or perhaps a simpler question is: What is a church?The simple answer is: A church is a group of people who share together because they love and honour Jesus Christ. Everything else follows from this.

But then a follow up question: Is there a minimum number of people for a church? I would want to say 'No' but there is a traditional argument that the minimum number should be twelve, based on 

1. the number of disciples Jesus calls to be with him
2. the minimum number for a Jewish synagogue (I think)

As it happens, we can just about scrape together twelve members and regular fellow travellers but, then, of course: Does that just mean men? ...

This, perhaps, is not a profitable line of thought although it does give a number to work with. This is probably the reason our local constitution specifies twelve Trustees, Stewards or Elders (depending on where you are coming from) in the leadership team. At present, we are down to five with no obvious opportunity for recruitment. And there are practical reasons as well. If you need

• Minister
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Pastoral support organiser
• Property steward
• Worship leader
• Service plan secretary 
• Music provider
• Technology wizard
• Hall lettings secretary
• Newsletter editor
• Social programme supremo
• etc

you probably do need twelve people. 

But do we need all those things? Couldn't we get by with what we have? I.e.

• Ministerial oversight (Methodist Nottingham North East Circuit)
• Secretary
• Treasurer (job sharing team of two`, including our Organist)
• Pastoral support & Newsletter
• Worship materials provision & Social media

`Note. The Treasurer is covered by a team of two because of issues left unresolved when the previous Treasurer died over eighteen months ago; some still unresolved.

The problem is we do not have a Property steward but we do have a building and, while at the moment we are not meeting in that building because of Covid19, if we did start using the building again, we would also have to match all the other functions in the first list - and who is going to do all that? 

Add to this the fact that we are an LEP* which means we are expected to give money and routine administrative data and attend organisational meetings for both the Methodists and the URC alike. [*Local Ecumenical Partnership] This is a heavy burden which falls on the same five people who are trying to cover everything else. It is too much for the remnant five of the leadership team to do.

If we did not have the building and if we did not have the LEP, who would we be?

We would be a group of people in Burton Joyce who share together because they love and honour Jesus Christ - with pastoral support, regular newsletters and worship materials and with ministerial oversight from the Methodist Circuit.

This is who we are.