Keep breathing

KEEP BREATHING

I was recently in a room where some comments were made about the 'fact' that Methodism is dying. The fact that I have put inverted commas around that first 'fact' might lead some of you to conclude that I have some issues with that statement, a statement I have heard in other contexts before.

It is an incontrovertible fact that the number of card-carrying Methodists here in the UK and the number of buildings we own are both decreasing. But does this signal a death-knell? When I look at the work being done and the resources being provided to enable the Methodist Church to live up to its declared desire to be a growing, inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking church I am encouraged that we are not resting on our laurels but engaging with the task of serving our present age. It is an age which has seen massive changes in a relatively short period of time, so we are playing catch up, but we are trying to make sure that we can speak of and show the love of God in ways which are meaningful for our communities and the wider world.

Yet, there is still numerical decline? Why are these new ideas not turning the tide? Well, one reason is probably that they have not had enough time in enough places to begin to tip the balance in favour of growth. There are new people in new places and growing congregations in existing places but you still have to make the effort to find out about them. But I want to also suggest that the decline is a necessary part of the life of the church. To do this I want us to consider the metaphor of breathing.

There are 2 ways of looking at it:

Breathing in – we have found ourselves spread too thinly. Too few ordained minsters to help lead the church, working in too many different places with not enough time to give their proper attention to the things that require it. Others who would be excellent lay ministers but who have too many other responsibilities. Then, too few people able to deal with the legal complexities necessary in each place of worship, and when we do have people able to deal with these things they are often tired from years of juggling several roles. You will all recognise this picture. In order to grow we need to draw in on ourselves, concentrate who we are and where we are, draw in the energies we do have, and the energy of the Holy Spirit to oxygenate the blood and get ready to move again.

Breathing out – as with all metaphors there are limits as to how far you can push them before they become useless. Breathing in works as an idea to an extent, but we could also use the image of breathing out. We need to exhale all the things which do not contribute to the health of the body. What is taking up space which could be better used for existing things to grow, or new things to take root. (Apologies for mixing metaphors!) What can we stop doing and, (and this will be unpopular,) where might we stop being, in order to not use up energy on things which are draining to our health.

Breathing is an unconscious process, unless someone is ill, then it can become laboured, and we can become very conscious of it. In our numerical decline perhaps we do need to be more conscious of it rather than it being unconscious and things just continuing the way they always have. Being deliberate in becoming aware of both what we might breathe in and what we might breathe out for the health of the body, not the body of the church, but as the body of God.

God bless,

Angy