Bucking the Trend: a Study of the Local Theologies Contributing to Numerically Growing Anglican Congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto

Bucking the Trend: A Study of the Local Theologies Contributing to Numerically Growing Anglican Congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto

Grayhame Robert Bowcott

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Toronto School of Theology. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry awarded by the University of Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto

Bucking the Trend: A Study of the Local Theologies Contributing to Numerically Growing Anglican Congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto

Grayhame Robert Bowcott

Doctor of Ministry

Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto

2020 Abstract

Demographic studies of the Anglican Church in Canada have shown that since peaking in the 1970s, average Sunday attendance among most Anglican congregations has been in decline.

Evidence of this trend has been seen within the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. In Huron there has been a decrease in Sunday worship attendance by 37% between the years 2007-2017. In this same period of time, the Diocese of Huron deconsecrated fifty-seven church buildings. The

Diocese of Toronto has experienced a decrease in Sunday attendance by 33% between the years

2001-2017 with sixty-four deconsecrations taking place.

Despite membership decline in Huron and Toronto, there are some congregations that are bucking the trend. Within the same reported periods, roughly eight percent of congregations in

Huron experienced growth in their average Sunday attendance. In Toronto, the number was even greater with twenty-five percent of congregations reporting growth. What sets these growing congregations apart from the many others in decline?

This research project is a phenomenological study of twelve numerically growing Anglican congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. Using the Roman Catholic missiologist

Robert Schreiter’s definition of local theologies, the project has collected expressions of locally held faith beliefs as articulated by lay leaders in each congregation. Through surveys, questionnaires and twelve appreciative inquiry group interviews, the study has sought to explore how the presence of certain key local theologies may be motivating congregations to seek out and foster new relationships, thus resulting in trends of membership growth.

Throughout this dialogue, the researcher has solicited contributions from close to one thousand participants including both members and visitors. These contributions have documented trends in demographics, values and expectations found within each congregation. The study concludes that there is in fact a correlation between the presence of locally held theological beliefs and how these beliefs are motivating the practices of evangelism, outreach and membership growth within the twelve subject congregations. The subsequent analysis and recommendations within the study may provide insights as to how better understanding local theologies may be the starting point for reversing trends of membership decline in the Anglican Church of Canada.

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Acknowledgments This study has required weeks of research time away from my family and the parish that I serve. I am thankful for the love and support of my wife, Jacqueline and our two girls, Alyvia and Laelynn who didn’t see much of me for six months. During this time, my Associate, Archdeacon Judy Walton cared for the needs of my parish, allowing me the time and focus for this project. This was a great blessing for me. Thank you to St. George’s, The Parish of The Blue Mountains, and to each of the Anglican congregations who agreed to be part of this research project.

There are two particular individuals who inspired me to pursue doctoral studies at TST. Their mentorship guided me through this process. Thank you to Dr. Gordon Hamilton, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament studies at Huron University. Thank you to Dr. John Bowen, Professor Emeritus of Evangelism at Wycliffe College. Your encouragement set me on the path of life-long learning. Your ministry of teaching modelled for me the joys of sharing that learning with others!

A special word of thanks to Bishop Robert Bennett and Archbishop Linda Nicholls of Huron and Archbishop Colin Johnson, Bishop Andrew Asbil and Bishop Jenny Andison of Toronto for their research permission and support throughout the project. My hope is that the findings from this study will ultimately benefit our two dioceses. Thanks for making my study possible.

There are a number of ministry professionals who formed a focus group in the planning stage of this project. Their expertise helped me to design a study for the benefit of congregational leaders. This group included: Peter Misiaszek, Director of Stewardship Development for the Diocese of Toronto; The Rev’d Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen, Director of the Institute of Evangelism, Wycliffe College; and Janet Marshall, Director of Congregational Development for the Diocese of Toronto. I am especially thankful for the mentorship of The late Rev’d Canon Dr. Duke Vipperman. Duke had a wonderful way of sharing the joys of ministry with others. May the Gospel seeds he planted in others flourish to the glory of God.

Thank you to Dr. Joseph Mangina, my supervisor, and my alma mater, Wycliffe College.

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Finding Hope at the Vital Church Planting Conference………………………...... 1

The “Contemporary Anglican Lament”………………………………………………..….2

Research Problem: The Challenge of Decline Among Anglican Congregations………....4

Anglican Membership Statistics in Canada………………………………….....…………6

The Absence of Congregational Theologies of Evangelism……………………………....7

Could a Congregation Buck the Trend?: The St. Anne’s Mission Story……..…..……….8

Research Interest: Exploring the Relationship Between Local Theologies and Congregational Growth…………………………...……………………………………...10

An Overview of the Ministry Base Context…………………………………………….. 12

Definitions and Limitations of the Study……………………..…………………...... 13

Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework and Theological Assumptions

Seeking a Way Out from the Contemporary Anglican Lament…………………...... 22

The Praxis Model of Contextual Theology: Theology For the Purpose of Change……..23

St. Anne’s Mission and the Teachings of Jesus as a Blueprint for Ecclesiology..………24

Bishop Laurie Green’s Presentation of Theological Reflection…………………...... 30

Michael Moynagh and The “Sent Church”………………………………………………33

George Lings and Reproducing Churches……………………………………………….39

The Holy Trinity as Model for Christian Relationship……………………….………….40

Missio Dei and Its Implications on Anglican Ecclesiology……………………………...42

Mission Redefined by Lesslie Newbigin………………………………..………..……...42

The Study of Local Theologies: A Community Process……………………..……….….44

Basic Theological Assumptions Held by the Researcher………………………………..45

Chapter 3: Research Project Description and Phenomenological Methodology

Research Project……………………………………………………………....………….49

Adopting the Phenomenological Methodology…………..………………...……………51

A Mixed Methods Approach: Expanding the Relatability of the Study………...……….52

Research Parameters and Ethical Considerations……………………….……………….53

A Linear Report of the Research Methods Used in the Study:

A Quantitative Assessment of Membership Statistics from the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto…………………………………………………………………..……………….54

Forming a Focus Group Consisting of Congregational Development Leaders………….56

The Scheduling of Twelve Congregational Research Days ...... 57

The Congregational Context Survey……………………………………………………..58

The Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview…………………………………....…………59

The Interview Questions ...... 62

The Group Supplementary Questionnaire………………………….……...…….……….66

The Questions ...... 66

The Clergy Questionnaire………………………………………………………...... 68

Data Collection…………………….………………………………..………...…………72

Chapter 4: Results of the Study

Membership Trends in the Diocese of Huron……………………………………………74

Membership Trends in the Diocese of Toronto………………………………………….79

Contextual Descriptions of the Twelve Subject Congregations…………………………81

The Congregational Context Survey • What are the demographics of growing congregations?...... 94

• A focus on youth ministry ……...……………………………………...... 94 • Growing senior congregations……………….…....…………...………… 96 • How new are the members of the congregation?...... 96 • What initially brought you to church?...... 98 • What keeps you coming back?...... 99 • Have you always been Anglican?...... 100 • Have you always been Christian?...... 101 • A ranking of congregational attributes in relationship to Church affiliation……………………...…………………………………………. 102 • Individual participation in congregational ministries………………...... 104

The Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview • The Composition of the Lay Leader Groups 106 • How would you describe your congregation to a newcomer?...... 107 • Who are your community neighbours?...... 109 • Relating new ministries to new relationships………………………...... 111 • What motivates your ministry?...... 114 • Communication with non-members……………………………………….. 116 • How does your congregation discern/plan for growth?...... 120 • How do I learn more about the story of Jesus?...... 122 • What are God’s hopes and dreams for your congregation?...... 124

The Group Interview Supplementary Questionnaire • Congregational attitudes around sharing their faith……………………..… 126 • The role of clergy in fostering practices of evangelism…………………… 129 • Do Lay Leaders Share the Same Values as their Congregations in Terms 130 of Ranking Ministry Attributes • The gifts of Anglicanism for people today………………………………… 130 • Any other factors contributing to growth?...... 133

The Clergy Questionnaire • What factors do clergy think contribute to congregational growth?...... 135 • How do clergy describe the theological beliefs of their congregations?...... 140 • The theological motivation behind fostering new relationships…………... 142 • Congregational expectations around growth…….………………………… 143

Chapter 5: Analysis and Application of Results and Limitations of the Study

Analyzing Congregational Data within the Three Roots of Local Theology………..…145

Responding to My Five Hunches as a Researcher……………………………………...154

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Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………………...162

Chapter 6: Conclusions, Recommendations and Potential Benefits

This Study’s Contribution to the Practice of Ministry…………………………….……164

Recommendations of the Researcher…………………………………………………... 165

Potential Benefits to the Wider Church and Society……….…………………………...168

Bibliography

Trends of Christian Denominational Membership Statistics in Canada and Abroad…..171

Definitions and Models of Church Growth (Canada, the U.S. and U.K.) …………..…172

Contributions to Contemporary Anglican Ecclesiology….…………………………….174

Definitions and Methods for Cultivating Local Theologies……………………………176

Qualitative Research Resources…...……………………………………………………176

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List of Appendices

Approved Thesis Proposal………………………………………………………..…….178

Approved University of Toronto Human Participant Ethics Protocol……………….....211

Episcopal Letters of Endorsement…………………………………………………..….219

Bucking the Trend: Diocese of Huron Congregational Statistics 2007-2017 (A Quantitative Analysis)………………………...……….……………………………224

The Congregational Context Survey………………………………………………...….236

The Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview…………………………………………….241

The Supplementary Group Questionnaire………………………………………………245

The Clergy Questionnaire……………………………………………………..………..249

Research Data Reports

1) Demographic Data by Diocese……………………………………………………..252 2) What Brought You to Church?...... 255 3) What Keeps You Coming Back?...... 259 4) Have You Always Been Anglican?...... 263 5) Have You Always Been Christian?...... 267 6) The Most Meaningful Congregational Characteristics for Membership & Are You Currently Serving in Any Congregational Ministries?...... 269

Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Finding Hope at the Vital Church Planting Conference

My journey into this Doctor of Ministry program and research project began as a result of attending a series of annual conferences, The Vital Church Planting conferences, that had been hosted by the Institute for Evangelism at Wycliffe College, Fresh Expressions Canada and the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.1 I found these conferences to be a venue where ministry practitioners, theologians, seminary faculty and denominational representatives were gathering to theologically reflect on the current context of the Canadian Church, but with a special focus on Anglicanism in Ontario. What I appreciated most about these conferences was the careful balance that was held: an honest presentation of contemporary struggles in common practices of ministry2 with examples of where the Church was exploring new expressions of Christian mission, congregational growth and church planting right here in Canada, but also drawing on the experiences of the Church in the United States and the United Kingdom. For me, this conference was a hope-filled gathering; a place where theological concepts such as Missio Dei were not only discussed,3 but believed in and lived out. I came back to the conference year after year because it seemed to be one of the few places within the Anglican Church where I was hearing accounts of congregations bucking the trends of denominational decline, taking risks in their living out of the Gospel, praying about and acting on new expressions of ministry, and most importantly, enabling both clergy and lay leaders to adapt and thrive within our own ministry contexts. Each year I returned home to my own congregations excited, hopeful and eagerly seeking to experiment with, and apply, many of the new-to-me ideas that I had taken away from

1 Note: St. Paul’s Bloor Street hosted as the venue for the conference. My attendance at this conference spanned the years 2010-2016 and included hearing plenary speakers such as: Bishop Graham Cray (team leader, Fresh Expressions), Dr. Michael Moynagh (Fresh Expressions UK), and Dr. David Fitch (Northern Seminary, Chicago). In 2015 I presented at the conference with “The Journey to from Mission Project to Missional Congregation – The St. Anne’s Mission Story.” 2 Here I mean the leading concerns of the Canadian Church which I will later refer to as the “contemporary Anglican lament”: membership decline, secularization within the Canadian context, the decline in ecclesial authority and the shrinking of denominational ministry resources. 3 The term Missio Dei is attributed to missiologist Karl Hartenstein, first appearing in 1934. I will be further engaging with its definition and application to ministry in the Theology Section of this thesis. 1

the conference. I am deeply grateful to Wycliffe College and to the Anglican Diocese of Toronto for these formative experiences. They began a process of my being hopeful about future possibilities for the Anglican Church in Canada: when congregations choose to enter into processes of faithful reflection on how they proclaim Christ’s Gospel, on how they participate in the wider Church as the Body of Christ in the world, and how they engage (or re-engage) in the localized culture within the neighbourhoods they are called to serve.

2 The Contemporary Anglican Lament

Having opened with the single-most source of inspiration for this project, I believe that it is important for me to be honest in this thesis in stating that hope has not always been the primary experience of my ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada. As a young priest in ministry,4 my understanding of Anglicanism was already beginning to be coloured by what I have come to refer to as the “contemporary Anglican lament”: a prevalent narrative within the culture of Anglicanism in Canada that looks backwards in time to an era where Christianity in Canada may have peaked in terms of its membership, ministry resources and influence within Canadian society. This era of perceived prosperity ended around 1970, which meant that I, being born in 1981, had not lived to experience whether it was “better” or not. In a chapter entitled, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,”5 Brian Clarke and Stuart Macdonald succinctly sum up the contemporary Anglican lament by relating plummeting denominational membership statistics6 to the perceived experience of decline within Anglican congregations. They conclude with this assessment:

When long-time Anglicans talk about their church in the 1950s and early 1960s, they will fondly recall it as a time when their services were packed and their Sunday schools over- flowed with children. This is not a false memory induced by a misplaced sense of

4 I served as the Pastor to Youth at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, Ontario from 2008-2010 and was ordained a deacon and priest in the Diocese of Huron in 2010. 5 Brian Clarke and Stuart Macdonald, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds: Antecedents and Legacies in the Anglican Tradition, ed. Sean E. Otto and Thomas P. Power, (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2016) 199-212. 6 Statistics drawn from the Canadian Census (1871-2001) and the National Household Survey in 2011.

nostalgia. It really did happen, and the sense of loss that accompanies such memories is also real.7

Clarke and Macdonald further flush out the various facets of membership decline to include changes in societal habits of church attendance, the decline in Canadian observance of religious rites of passage (baptisms, confirmations and weddings) and the effects that these changes have had on the composition of congregations that are, on average, rapidly aging, diminished in numbers and, consequently, moving towards disestablishment and closure. 8 The contemporary Anglican lament, as I employ it in this thesis, is the manner in which many local congregations describe the narrative and trajectory of decline of their ecclesial life. Looking backwards to an era of Church that was considered familiar and hospitable to them, many Anglicans cannot envision a future where congregational growth (at either the congregational or diocesan levels) is a possibility. Because they struggle to relate or adapt to rapid changes in our Canadian cultural context they often feel that the Anglican Church has lost its place in society. Lastly, if the pinnacle of Anglicanism in Canada is believed to have been experienced in the 1960s, what incentive is there for the Church to adapt in ways that may be unfamiliar to them? If “No man ever steps in the same river twice,” 9 then there is no hope for Anglicans to “reclaim” or “relive” what has been lost.10 Thus, the only response afforded to them is to lament what Anglicanism used to be, instead of embracing the potential of what Anglicans might become in the future. While this lament is not expressed by all Anglicans in the Church, it certain holds a very real

7 Clarke and Macdonald, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights,” 209-210. 8 A note about Anglican terms used: 1) disestablishment refers to a disbanding of the membership of the congregation. As congregations are made up of people, not buildings, the congregation ceases to exist when it is disestablished. 2) closure refers to either the closing of a building or a temporary break in patterns of the worshipping congregation. 3) deconsecration refers to the act of returning a church building over to secular use. In order for a church building to be sold or torn down, it must first be deconsecrated. This action is carried out by a bishop at a service of deconsecration. 9 Attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c 475 BCE). 10 For a concise reporting of denominational membership decline in Canada, see Reginald Bibby’s Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, and No Religious in Canada, (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2017) 7-37. For a presentation on the decline of Anglicanism in Canada in comparison to other Christian denominations, see Brian Clarke and Stuart MacDonald’s, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds: Antecedents and Legacies in the Anglican Tradition, ed. Sean A Otto and Thomas P. Power (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016) 199-212.

power over a majority of congregations, at least in the Diocese of Huron, who have experienced one to two decades of consistent decline in membership and ministry resources.

3 Research Problem: The Challenge of Decline Among Anglican Congregations

One component of the foundation of learning in the Doctor of Ministry program is the portfolio of anecdotal experience that is acquired through the student’s own practice of ministry. I am thankful for a unique perspective in this regard, that comes as a result of being appointed by my Diocesan Bishop, The Rt. Rev’d Robert Bennett, as his Domestic Chaplain throughout the years 2009-2015. In addition to my full time duties as a parish priest in the Diocese of Huron, this was a role in which I served at the Bishop’s pleasure as a liturgical assistant at special services held within the Diocese. 11 In my tenure, the most frequent of these services was the closing and deconsecration of church buildings. It was at these “funerals” for closing congregations and church buildings that I began to encounter the contemporary Anglican lament at perhaps its peak emotional impact, for the deconsecration of a church building is usually understood as the final chapter in the narrative of an Anglican congregation. As part of my preparation for this research project I compiled a report of membership statistics for every congregation in the Diocese of Huron between the years 2007–2017.12 The report documents an overarching trend of membership decline: more than ninety percent of our congregations are demonstrating numeric membership loss, some at a rate of more than ten percent per year. This has resulted in a decade marking the greatest number of church closures in the history of Anglican Diocese of Huron with forty-six church buildings being deconsecrated. In my former role as a Domestic Chaplain, I was present for most of these services and given a unique opportunity to talk with the members of these congregations about their experience in closing their churches. As these congregations found themselves trapped in a downward spiral of declining resources and membership, many

11 Including most Diocesan services: ordinations, Synod services, confirmations, etc. 12 This report, “A Presentation of Membership Statistics and Church Closures in the Diocese of Huron,” is attached in the Appendices section of this thesis.

claimed that they lacked any theological motivation that might have helped them break the cycle that ultimately led them to disestablishment and deconsecration.13

One question that I asked repeatedly of the remaining congregation members during these services was this: “In the last few years, how did your congregation try to reach out to new members?” The responses that I heard to this question often astounded and discouraged me. More than one congregation highlighted expensive upgrades to their church buildings in the form of elevators, ramps and other accessibility measures. Often these measures were a last ditch effort to connect with non-members in the community. When asked how many times one elevator had been used before the church was closed, one building manager replied: twelve times! Further responses unearthed a tendency for many Anglican congregations to rather spend resources on building improvements than attempting new ways of forming relationships with non-members. It is often assumed that an “accessible” church building will automatically generate the interest of non-members. However, the reality for many congregations was that the wider community was often unaware of the dire challenges of the church until the inevitable for- sale sign appeared on the property. The same lack of relational familiarity was existent to the remaining congregation members: while they lamented the lost days of full pews and Sunday school classrooms, they also struggled to describe who their current community neighbours were (the people that lived literally inside their own residential community). The truth that came to materialize for me in these conversations was that many Anglican congregations in Huron had lost their comfort level, or even ability, of finding new ways of forming relationships with non- members.

13 There are many factors contributing to congregational decline in the Anglican Church of Canada. In his book Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), Dr. Alan Hayes outlines six factors that have directly impacted the existence of the Anglican Church in Canada today: 1) the changing theologies and practices around mission, 2) the Church’s role in society, 3) effectiveness of models of Church governance, 4) division within the Church around Anglican Church styles of liturgy and sacramental theology, 5) the Canadian trends of societal secularization, and 6) the responses within and outside of the Church to issues regarding gender and sexuality.

4 Anglican Membership Statistics in Canada

Canadian sociologist, Reginald Bibby, has been studying the changes in Christian denominational membership since the 1970s, when trends of growth across all denominations suddenly began to retract.14 1971 was the tipping point for membership growth within the Anglican Church of Canada. It was at this point in Canadian history that immigration from English speaking countries began to decline. Funding from U.K. missionary societies for the building of Anglican churches in Canada concluded with the end of World War II. In terms of frontier development, most of Canada had been “settled” with the Anglican vision of “an Anglican church in every community” having been achieved.15 In 1971, 11.8% of the population of Canada was Anglican.16 Our membership peaked at 2,543,180 souls.

The last tally of national Anglican membership statistics produced by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada was in 2011. At that time, 1,631,845 members were reported in Canada. Researchers Brian Clarke and Stuart MacDonald have calculated that the annual decline of national Anglican membership to be 22,700 members per year.17 Within the more localized context of the Anglican Diocese of Huron, we have experienced a decrease of membership of 15,771 people within the past decade.18 This has amounted in 5,037 fewer worshippers in the pews on Sunday; 3,486 fewer contributors to financial resources; and 2,346 fewer children learning God’s story through their experience of Sunday youth ministries. While the impact of these statistics has been experienced through church closures and shrinking ministry budgets, the reality of the seismic shift in the ministry landscape for Anglicans in Huron may not be fully recognized by most congregations. What is clear from my studies in membership statistics is that

14 Reginald Bibby’s “Project Canada” Survey Program has been the most comprehensive study of Christian membership trends in Canada. See my attached bibliography for an expanded list of Bibby’s publications. 15 Alan Hayes’ text, Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), presents the most comprehensive account of the theology of Anglican colonial expansion in Canada that I have read thus far. 16 As reported by the Canadian Census. 17 Clarke and MacDonald, “No need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty- First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds, 199-212. 18 According the annual statistical returns to Synod in the Diocese of Huron (2007-2017).

7 past attractional models of ministry (build a church, identify it as Anglican and new members will come) are failing in most contexts. In fact, some of the most recent church deconsecrations in Huron have been of newer buildings that featured desirable facilities and locations in their community. Even the appeal of these ‘assets’ failed to offset the continued trends of membership decline.

5 The Absence of Congregational Theologies of Evangelism

At the heart of contemporary Anglican discomfort around fostering new relationships is the absence of a lay-led theology of evangelism. I have experienced this most profoundly in the way that closing congregations often villainize their clergy and even bishops. One personal observation is that clergy are often the ones most negatively impacted by congregational closures. How so? Services of deconsecration are similar to funerals in the sense that they often provide a period of reflection on “the glory days” – the era of remembered history when the congregation was perceived to be at its strongest. More often than not, these remembrances are tethered to historic clergy leaders in that place. Long tenured parishioners often elevate Reverend-so-and-so who was highly respected in the community, both in and out of the church. Many of the longed-for characteristics of congregational vitality (the presence of children, new faces in the pews and the financial resources that might have accompanied them) are attributed to these past leaders. If only we had had more clergy like Reverend-so-and-so; we would have been better off! The regularity of these types of beliefs and comments at services of deconsecration demonstrate two things: 1) a disowning, on the part of the laity, of ministry responsibilities, especially around practices of church growth and evangelism, and 2) an elevation of clergy- centric forms of ministry (especially in relationships to evangelism and congregational health), only to then place the blame on clergy when congregations find themselves no longer self- sustainable. Again, when asked in what ways the remaining members had sought to form new relationships with non-members in the years before they closed, the most common response was: “Well, we supported priestly ministry as long as we could afford it. When that ran out, we moved

to close.”19 In arguing that there is an absence of congregational theologies of evangelism what I am positing is that there seems to be a great deficit, at least within the Anglican church in the Diocese of Huron, in having lay members accept as true that evangelism is part of being called to the Christian faith for all people, not just clergy. If the Christian vocation of fostering new relationships is not an active and motivating theology for Anglican congregations in Huron, how will we ever find ourselves enabled to reverse the trends of declining membership?

6 Could a Congregation Buck the Trend?: The St. Anne’s Mission Story

In response to my anecdotal experience of being present at so many church closures20 I began to question: is this the future of the Anglican Church in Canada? Surely there were places where congregations were bucking the trend of denominational decline as I had experienced it in Huron? These questions were made up of one part grave concern for the future of a Church that I deeply love and admire, one part curiosity to see if renewal or even resurrection was possible in my ministry context and one part prayer to God for discernment. Inspired by many of the stories of congregational growth and renewal that I had experienced at the Vital Church Planting conferences, my discernment led me to consider an experiment. In the spring of 2011, I brought a proposal to the Bishop of Huron: what might happen if we took a closed and deconsecrated church building in a rural community and gave it a second chance to foster an entirely new congregation? While I recognized that our diocese did not have resources to financially support such a project at the time, I knew that permission to try something new might be enough to produce the seeds of hope. However, I also believed that the primary element that needed to be present if the project was to succeed was a lay-driven belief in evangelism because, in this particular ministry pilot project, a priest would only be able to visit for a service on Sundays and an additional couple of hours on a Tuesday each week. Therefore, the success of reopening the church would have to be reliant upon unknown future supporters from the community of Port

19 In the Diocese of Huron, congregations are closed through a process of having their parish council apply for disestablishment through the Diocesan Bishop and Diocesan Council. Congregations are not forced to close against their will. 20 To date I have been present at almost fifty services of deconsecration. This is likely more than any other priest of bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Franks, Ontario itself. The St. Anne’s Mission Church story began with a group of six faithful Christians who believed that they could accomplish great things if Christian discipleship was their primary theological motivation to grow numerically. This motivation inspired a church reboot team to foster missional practices such as: learning the history of early missionary efforts in the Diocese of Huron, being deliberate in inviting friends, neighbours and strangers to explore the reopened doors of their church, reengaging the catechumenate as a process of making disciples and seeking to create new habits in their lives that intentionally sought to nourish their personal relationships with Jesus Christ. Starting with six committed members, St. Anne’s grew to a congregation of more than fifty-five parishioners. In this process they overcame a number of significant challenges including: the restoration of a worship space that was initially unfit for ministry,21 the financial stewardship of all bills relating to their property and the complete renovation of their parish hall, bathroom and kitchen. Despite the various building-related challenges that had to be overcome, the greatest achievement of the congregation was its ability to evangelize – to invite others into the activities of their community and their patterns of Christian worship. The congregation adopted a motto for itself: “The Little Church that Can,” and their approach to evangelism was enthusiastically described as: “One beggar telling another where they just got the best meal of their week.”22 St. Anne’s congregational transformation took place in a village with population of 700 permanent residents, without any financial resources from the Diocese. Since they didn’t have the ministry assets of a large population of people, or outside financial support, or the leadership of full time clergy, or even a building that could be the basis for attractional ministry, this suggested that the contributing factor to their growth was their theology of evangelizing ministry and the actions by which the congregation members were living out their Christian beliefs.

Following an assessment for the potential of long term sustainability, the Diocese of Huron made the historic decision to re-consecrate the former Church of St. Anne as St. Anne’s Mission Church. This took place in the summer of 2013. It was the first time in the history of the

21 The church was deemed unfit for ministry because the interior ceiling was filled with black mold. This required the complete renovation of the interior of the sanctuary and the replacement of roofing tiles. 22 This definition for evangelism was adopted from a sermon preached by Bishop Terry Dance, past Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Huron.

Anglican Church of Canada that a church had been consecrated a second time and restored to full ministry use.23 A document written by St. Anne’s congregation for the process of applying to the Bishop and Diocesan Council to re-consecrate the church building provides a glimpse into the theological beliefs of their community at that time:

We don’t save churches. Jesus saves us! We become Church as a response to this grace. Reopening this church building is our way of saying: “Thank you Jesus!” This is the message we are sharing with all the residents in our community. It is our belief that churches who don’t express their “thank you” through worship and service to others are frequently the ones who are in decline.24

This process of journeying with and supporting a fledgling Anglican community in Port Franks provided a number of foundational insights for me. In answer to my question of: is decline inevitable for the Anglican Church of Canada?, this experience was concrete evidence that congregational growth could be realized even in a place where both financial and clergy resources were scarce. The deciding factor, at least according to this one example, was found in the theological beliefs that motivated the congregation to grow.

7 Research Interest: Exploring the Relationship Between Local Theologies and Congregational Growth

In 2015 I was invited to share the story of St. Anne’s Mission as a plenary speaker at the Vital Church Planting conference in Toronto. A delegation of members from the congregation came with me. What was memorable was the way in which they shared their excitement about church growth with others. They were proud that their small delegation from the largely rural Diocese of Huron had something to contribute to the wider conversation of missiology among a gathering of church leaders, ministry practitioners and academics. It was affirming for them to hear that their experience might not be an isolated one, that there were other congregations who were

23 Inquiries were made at the time of the National Church archives to see if there had been a precedent of a church building being closed, deconsecrated, reopened and then consecrated a second time. Another example was not to be found. 24 Taken from a presentation made by the congregation of St. Anne’s, Port Franks to the Right Reverend Robert Bennett, Bishop of Huron, March 14th, 2013.

experiencing growth too. Following my presentation at the conference, The Rev. Canon Jenny Andison, now a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Toronto, commented that it would be interesting to test the relationship between locally held congregational beliefs and numeric membership growth on a wider scale. This comment remained with me, and along with support from other teachers and ministry practitioners, motivated me to enter the Doctor of Ministry program at the Toronto School of Theology with this question as a central focus.

The research goal for this thesis project has been to enter into a dialogue with twelve Anglican congregations, six in the Diocese of Huron and six in the Diocese of Toronto, that have been statistically proven to be numerically growing in their membership,25 or, if not growing beyond a certain membership size, at least expanding their ministry reach in a way that has the potential to lead to numerical growth in the future.26 My objective for entering into this dialogue has been to explore how locally held theological beliefs may be motivating some congregations to foster new relationships and grow numerically at a time when general membership trends among Christian denominations in Canada, and specifically within the Anglican Church of Canada, are marked by decline.27 My reason for including congregations within two different Anglican Dioceses is to broaden the scope of this project in order to gather insights that may be beneficial to speaking to the wider diversity of the Anglican Church of Canada. As such, the project draws on the perspectives of a variety of congregational growth narratives: from rural to suburban to urban; from small congregations (50 worshippers) to large (250+); from a largely rural Diocese (Huron)

25 The statistical evidence of numerical growth will be based on data that has already been reported by each congregation in the mandatory annual statistical returns that are filed with their respective Diocese. My research will be looking at membership trends between the years 2007-2017. The final selection of the twelve congregations for this study will be made in consultation with the Bishops of Huron and Toronto. 26 There is an argument to be made for growing congregations who are fostering a rate of new relationships that maintains a particular level of membership over long periods of time. Recognizing the natural attrition of churches, some congregations are growing at rates that maintain a particular membership size, but might not accrue beyond a certain membership size. What is conclusive is that they are not experiencing trends of decline. 27 For a concise reporting of denominational membership decline in Canada, see Reginald Bibby’s Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, and No Religious in Canada, (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2017) 7-37. For a presentation on the decline of Anglicanism in Canada in comparison to other Christian denominations, see Brian Clarke and Stuart MacDonald’s, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds: Antecedents and Legacies in the Anglican Tradition, ed. Sean A Otto and Thomas P. Power (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016) 199-212.

to Canada’s most urban Anglican Diocese (Toronto). Inspired by the story of St. Anne’s Mission, the primary focus of this research project has been on collecting the theological contributions of the lay members of the community.28 This project presents an opportunity for the local theologies of growing Anglican congregations to be collected, appreciated and perhaps even shared for the benefit of the wider Church.

8 An Overview of the Ministry Base Context

As part of this research project, one of the twelve congregations studied will be St. George’s, The Anglican Parish of the Blue Mountains, of which I serve as Incumbent priest. The congregation has been identified as strategic within the Diocese of Huron in terms of potential membership growth due to the influx of people moving to the Blue Mountains from the greater Toronto area.29 In the past decade, the membership of St. George’s has grown by twenty percent, while the average Sunday attendance (in just the last five years) has increased by fourteen percent. Responding to its growing ministry context (in terms of population increase) there are a number of reasons why St. George’s may be growing: 1) the congregation has fostered many relationships with outside community groups and projects30 which has led to growth through attractional ministry;31 2) there has always been a strong tradition of lay-led groups and involvement which has fostered greater congregational participation and commitment in worship, administration and missional outreach; 3) the church is regularly advertising its ministry activities through various types of media in The Blue Mountains32 and 4) the greatest

28 While the primary focus of the research will be on collecting local theologies held by lay members of these communities, there is also a clergy component that will be included in this project. 29 Last year alone saw an increase of 500 permanent residents to the population of the Town of the Blue Mountains. 30 St. George’s currently hosts the following community ministries/organizations onsite: two community choirs, a high school band, two private music instructors, a biweekly potluck and movie night, two art schools, two yoga groups, two card groups, the Rotary Club, the Agricultural Society, a monthly Messy Church group, two developmental needs programs (one for children, one for adults), three food catering groups, the Anglican Church Women’s group and additional tenants for one-off community events. 31 The attractional ministry model seeks to showcase the value of a church based on its location, facilities and services. The limitations of this model are that, if effective, it can often disable a congregation from reaching out beyond their own walls. Simply put, this is a “Come to us” model of ministry. 32 This includes the use of newspapers, Facebook, website, sandwich boards in the community, mailouts, annual community events and by word of mouth evangelism.

contributor to growth has been the willingness of current members to invite, welcome, support and teach new members about what it means to be Christian in the Anglican tradition. The congregation’s growing comfort around articulating their faith and sharing it with others is believed to be contributing to their growth. All of this being shared, what is of particular interest to me as a researcher is asking the question of the lay members of my congregation: how do your theological beliefs motivate your relationship building activities in the parish? In comparing St. George’s responses with those of eleven other Anglican congregations, my hope is that there may be some similar themes discovered concerning the theologies expressed.

9 Definitions and Limitations of the Study

Within this thesis there are a number of terms that need to be clarified to best, and most accurately, present my understandings of the research report and findings. Many of these terms have multiple meanings in both congregational life and in academic scholarship. My intent with these definitions is to apply them to the subject matter contained to this study only. Therefore, I do not claim these definitions to be authoritative or definitive outside the limitations of this study.

9.1 Evangelizing vs. Evangelical

The term ‘evangelical’ is one that that has layers of conflicting meaning depending on the context in which it is being used. In the United States, it often refers to a grouping of Protestant churches who hold a particular doctrinal viewpoint of the necessity for Christians to be ‘born again.’ 33 Within the context of my study of Anglican congregations I have quickly discovered that the term ‘evangelical’ is very much an emotionally charged term, but with different understandings among different congregations. Historian David Bebbington offers up four

33 In American Evangelicalism (but not exclusive to American Evangelicalism) the phrase born again refers to the belief in a spiritual rebirth. Unlike infant baptism, which is normative to the tradition of the Anglican Church of Canada, the theology of spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit is believed by Evangelicals to require a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a conscious profession of faith in Jesus. The requirement of a conscious profession of faith means that infant baptism is not considered to be a definitive marker of membership within the Church.

“charismatic marks”34 of evangelism: 1) crucicentrism (the cross as central to the Gospel), Biblicism (the centrality of the Bible for revealing knowledge of God and the Gospel), conversionism (the conviction that the Gospel calls us to turn from sin and follow Christ) and activism (that the Gospel deserves the complete dedication of our lives).35 Under these four marks, some Anglicans will proudly self-identify as being evangelical. If all Anglicans held this same view, then the term would be rather straightforward and easily defined. However, another perspective may be presented in which this term is used in a somewhat derogatory sense. Some Anglicans, most often of a more liberal theological persuasion, accuse ‘evangelicals’ as endorsing a form of Biblical literalism or Christian fundamentalism, which they themselves may reject. While this may be true for some who describe themselves as ‘evangelical’, it may not hold true for others. The challenge is in finding mutual agreement among Anglicans for these titles as they often result is misunderstandings in the representation of Anglican theology. In this regard, I found Radner’s essay “Apprehending the Truth: Anglican Conservatism and Common Discernment”36 helpful in unpacking various terms being used in the Anglican Church such as “orthodox”, “conservative”, “liberal” and “progressive”. Radner, in his definition of these various terms concludes that they have become unhelpful in conversations of theological disagreement because they have a tendency to become hijacked by various parties who often employ them with derogatory purposes. My discussions with Anglican congregations in this study have demonstrated that there is a great diversity of theological perspectives held among various groups (and even, sometimes within the same pew!). Anglicans often wish to be defined by what they claim not to be: “We’re not that kind of Anglican church here.” It is was not uncommon following this statement for some Anglicans to then use derogatory descriptions of their perceived experiences of “other” Anglican churches. Sadly, there is still much ignorance and employment of stereotypes, even among well intentioned Christians, in our beloved Church.

34 David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s, (London, U.K.: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 1-19. 35 As described by John Bowen, “Evangelicals in Mainline Denominations,” in Brian Stiller et. al., editors, Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2015), 53-57. 36 Radner Ephraim and Philip Turner, The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006) 59-89.

My intent within this study is to appreciate the diversity of Anglican theology present within congregations in Huron and Toronto. Therefore, within this thesis I have made the decision to set aside the term ‘evangelical’ in preference for the term ‘evangelizing’. Allow me to propose this definition for the term ‘evangelizing’: the manner in which congregations proclaim and act out the Gospel of Jesus Christ37 in their ministry actions of communicating and fostering relationships with non-members. In this use of the term, an evangelizing congregation could hold either a conservative or liberal theological persuasion. The term will be used solely as a descriptor of a congregation’s activity in sharing the Gospel. Therefore, in this employ, a self- identified ‘evangelical’ congregation might not necessarily be an evangelizing one, if they are not making efforts to foster Gospel relationships and communication with non-members. Likewise, a self-identifying ‘liberal’ congregation might be described as evangelizing if their ministries denote the active sharing of the Gospel of Christ with non-members.

9.2 Growing congregations

My use of the term growing congregations in this thesis specifically refers to congregations who are growing through numeric membership increases38. This being said, I recognize that churches grow in a number of different ways: in spiritual maturity, in loving care for one another, in Christian discipleship, in outreach, etc., and that these may not necessarily lead to membership growth. However, for the purpose of this study I am limiting the term to refer solely to membership growth. My reason for this decision is that I have experienced, in my almost ten years ministry as an Anglican priest, a tendency for some congregations to avoid conversations about numeric membership growth because they claim to be fostering the ‘spiritual growth’ of

37 For an unpacking of the term ‘Gospel,’ as articulated by the participants of this study, please see footnote 198 in the Analysis section of this thesis.

38 It is important to note that not all membership growth is equal and that sometimes it can and should be treated with suspicion. Many churches grow as a result of transfers from other denominations. Reginald Bibby refers to this as the “circulation of the saints.” Results from the congregational context surveys in this thesis will note that membership growth through Christian conversion experiences is actually quite rare. One concern regarding growth as a result of denominational transfer is that this is, ultimately, not a long term solution for most Anglican churches. This being said, numeric membership growth has been used in this thesis as an indicator of a congregation’s capacity to foster new relationships.

their existing membership. I believe there can be merit to this approach but grow concerned when the lack of focus on fostering new relationships with non-members directly results in the closing of congregations. In this regard I ask myself the question: what is the benefit of churches that are inwardly focused on the spiritual welfare of their membership if it means that they will cease to exist in another five or ten years? The growing congregations in this study have been selected exclusively because they have demonstrated over a ten year interval (from 2007-2017) to have experienced increases in membership. My curiosity asks: what is the relationship between this growth and their locally held theological beliefs?

9.3 Local Theologies

Perhaps the most important definition in this study is that of local theology, as this term partly forms the basis of my research. Here my definition is drawn directly from the writings of the Roman Catholic missiologist Dr. Robert J. Schreiter. In his book, Constructing Local Theologies, 39 Schreiter documents a trend of change in theological scholarship around the 1970s when theologians began to import terms from Socio/Anthropological studies such as “contextualization,” “localization,” “indigenization,” “inculturation” and “adaptation.”40 During this time a shift in perspective was taking place that was moving away from the received theological traditions born from Systematic Theologians (the product of ecclesial and academic institutions) towards a new kind of theology beginning with an examination of ministry context itself.41 Schreiter documents how this trend opened a new awareness of how ministry context shapes theological reflection and how it can produce a new perspective of “indigenous theology which emphasizes the fact that theology is done by and for a given geographical area – by local people for their area, rather than by outsiders… It is contrasted with a universal or perennial theology (Systematic theology) which attempts to speak for all places over a long period of time.”42 Out of this movement, a number of new terms began to be adopted by theologians:

39 Robert J. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 30th Anniversary Edition, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015). 40 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 2. 41 Ibid., 4 42 Ibid., 5

indigenous theology, which emphasized the fact that theology was being done by a local people in their own area; inculturation, which is often used to refer to how mostly non-Christian cultures can influence the evolution of Christian teachings as they adapt them to ways that allow for them to be understandable/relatable to their cultural context; and contextual theology, which is widely used to described the shift in perspective from received theological traditions to theology that is produced out of a particular context. Realizing that there were a number of new theological terms that often overlapped each other, Schreiter coined a new term, local theology, to specifically describe the process of theological reflection among local churches or localized faith communities that takes place within their particular cultural contexts.43 What is unique about the study of local theologies is that the role of a theologian is not limited to academically trained, seminary formed individuals; rather, local theologies are created through the engagement of the congregational community itself: how lay members they tell their own stories and represent their own theological meaning, and how they share this meaning with others through acts of evangelism. I will be further unpacking the definition and application of local theology in the Theoretical Framework and Theological Assumptions section of this thesis.

9.4 Low Church, Broad Church and High Church

In addition to being theologically diverse, the twelve Anglican congregations included in this study are also liturgically diverse. While each congregation worships with texts endorsed by the Anglican Church of Canada, how they express these liturgical texts varies depending on their particular emphasis of liturgical tradition. The most notable example in the study is the congregation of St. Martin-in-the-field’s in Toronto. St. Martin’s self-identifies as an Anglo- Catholic or High Church congregation in which a great deal of emphasis is placed on ceremonial tradition. This includes a specific attention to detail around clerical dress (the wearing of tunicle, tunic and chasuble for sub deacon, deacon and priest, the three Eucharistic ministers), the regular use of incense, bells and chanted prayers around the Eucharist and a particular emphasis on the transcendent nature of God within their worship. Visitors to this style of service would describe it as being similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, where in truth the elevation of ceremonial

43 Ibid., 5-19

liturgy might be perceived as being even more ritualistic that some contemporary Roman Catholic congregations.

In juxtaposition to St. Martin’s High Church tradition of liturgy would be the style of worship found at Little Trinity, Toronto.44 Parishioners at Little T would describe themselves as being Low Church or even Anglo-Baptist.45 What this means for them is that many elements of Anglican worship are de-emphasized in order to place a deliberate focus on the proclamation and preaching of the Word and on the imminent nature of God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, as found both in scripture and in the Holy Eucharist. In contrast to the elaborate clerical dress of the High Church tradition, the clergy at Little T rarely wear more than a clergy collar (and even this is dispensed with in their Evening Contemplative service). Instead of ornate furnishings, elaborate stained glass windows and decorative altar hangings such as those found at St. Martin’s, Little Trinity presents its sanctuary with contemporary furnishing (including the use of projection screen and digital media), simple coloured glass windows and an unadorned Eucharistic table.46 Another significant difference between the High Church and Low Church liturgical practice is the style of music in the worship services. St. Martin’s showcases a choral tradition where cantors and an experienced, volunteer choir lead the majority of worship music (which would include a wide range of traditional and classical church music), dressed in choral uniform, accompanied by an organ and conducted by a Director of Music. In contrast, Little Trinity features the blending of traditional hymns with contemporary worship/Gospel songs, sung by the entire congregation and led by a dynamic praise band with vocalists, guitars, drums and a grand piano.

Falling in between these two liturgical traditions is what I will be referring to as the Broad

44 Little Trinity is also known more formally as Trinity East, Toronto. 45 Anglo-Baptist is a term self-identified by a number of parishioners in the congregation. It is interesting to note here that more than 50% of Little Trinity’s congregation is made up of former Baptists. Some declare their current affiliation as Anglo-Baptist. 46 Even the term ‘table’ denotes the Low Church tradition of Little Trinity, as other Anglican churches would refer to the same furnishing as an altar.

Church tradition. Broad Church liturgy, as referred to in this study, I define as a casual, but sacramentally focused, style of worship. Broad Church congregations might have a choir, but at the same time would depend upon congregational singing to carry the worship. Within this tradition there might be a range of clergy dress (cassock and surplice, alb and stole), but would not likely include the use of three Eucharistic ministers (subdeacon, deacon and priest together). The majority of the congregations in my study would fall into this category of liturgical style, being neither High Church nor Low Church but rather a blending of liturgical elements somewhere in the middle.

9.5 Socially Liberal vs. Conservative

This next category of definitions is a little more difficult for me to describe due to the emotional nature of the single most divisive issue within Anglican theology and practice in Canada today. The issue that I am referring to is the inclusion of same-gendered couples within the definition and sacrament of marriage within the Anglican Church. In my conversations with the congregations in my study I found that some congregations were very quick to take a particular stance either for or against the inclusion of same-gendered couples within the sacrament of marriage. These opinions were often a marker of other social values that were representative of their congregation. I have found that congregations self-identifying as Socially Liberal are often particularly welcoming of LGTBQ+ individuals, often seeking to advocate on their behalf on a number of socio/political issues. Congregations that self-identified as being Socially Conservative either expressed strong opposition to the changing of the Marriage Canon to include same gender couples or wished to avoid discussion of the topic altogether. While the opinions represented by these twelve congregations are often derived from their understandings of Biblical and theological interpretation, some congregations quite specifically argued for a division of social issues apart from theological ones. To provide one example of this separation, some clergy referred to themselves and their congregations as “theologically orthodox” in terms of supporting traditional creedal beliefs and liturgical observances for worship while being “socially progressive” and advocating for the inclusion of same-gender couples in the Anglican definition of marriage. Other clergy and congregations would argue that you cannot separate social stances and advocacy from their Biblical/theological interpretations. In order to honour

and respect both viewpoints in this thesis, I have decided to define congregations using two distinct categories: Socially Liberal vs. Conservative and Theologically Liberal vs. Conservative.

9.6 Theologically Liberal vs. Conservative

When a congregation has identified itself as theologically conservative,47 often what this means is that the congregation holds the Bible as being authoritative within their theological interpretation. This can often mean that they read the Bible in a more literal sense. A particular theology that seems to be representative of theologically conservative congregations is that of Atonement Theology: the belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the propitiation of human sin, thus satisfying the just anger of God towards humanity’s past, present and future transgressions. This same theology places a great emphasis on the necessity of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in order for Christians to receive God’s salvation. In some cases, this requires the acceptance of Jesus as one’s Lord and Saviour in a moment described as being born again in the power of the Holy Spirit. In order for a Christian to be redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, one must first accept Jesus into their personal faith experience. Unless this acceptance of Jesus takes place, individuals may be considered to be outside of/ in rejection of God’s salvation. It should be noted that within many of the more theologically liberal congregations were individuals who expressed a differing conservative viewpoint. It was my experience that often the conservative voices were reluctant to articulate views that might be seen as offensive to other members of their congregation. In this case, sometimes these participants approached me outside of the research context with comments such as: “I just want you to know that not all the members of the congregation hold the same beliefs.”

Congregations that profess to be theologically liberal48 often place an emphasis on the universality of God’s salvation of the world. The theological term “grace” is most frequently

47 Note: I have avoided using the term “orthodox” as this term automatically implies that differing theologies are “unorthodox” or even “heretical”. These then become derogatory terms that set various Christian groups against each other. 48 Here again I will refrain from using the term “Progressive” as this term implies that other differing theologies have not “progressed” or “advanced” in such a way as to suggest that they are no longer accurate or acceptable theologies. This can lead to differing theologies being labelled in a derogatory manner.

21 referred to as being when humanity receives, out of God’s unconditional love, a salvation that we cannot earn or deserve. As this love in unconditionally bestowed upon all of creation, there is nothing one can do to be beyond God’s grace. An important characteristic within liberal Anglicanism is the virtue of inclusivity – all people, regardless of their faith beliefs or traditions are welcome. Congregations that are more theologically liberal may also be more comfortable with society’s plurality of religious beliefs and observances than those of a Conservative persuasion.

My hope is that the abovementioned definitions, as imperfect as they might be, will provide some clarity around the classification of congregations in this study. This classification will be important in terms of describing the culture of each congregation. One of the first observations that I have taken away from this research project is that while all twelve congregations may share the central characteristic of experiencing numeric membership growth, no two of them are directly comparable in terms of their congregational culture. The project demonstrates the vast richness within the Anglican denomination of urban, rural and suburban congregations; of liberal and conservative ones; of Anglo-Catholic, Anglo-Baptist and Anglo-Lutheran expressions of theology – all included together under the broad tent of our Anglican tribe. Now that I have presented the definitions to be used in this thesis, my next step is to describe the theology that underpins and inspires this study.

Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework and Theological Assumptions

1 Seeking a Way Out from the Contemporary Anglican Lament

One of the greatest challenges that I faced when I entered into ordained ministry in 2010 was the realization that, despite the privilege of having accessed a broad seminary education,49 I struggled to identify the theological tools needed to respond to what I have already described as the Contemporary Anglican Lament, or in other words, a barrenness of theological inspiration to motivate congregations who had been experiencing numerical membership decline for more than a decade. I had never taken a seminary course on congregational growth, evangelism, Christian discipleship or even Christian mission at my seminary – these simply were not being offered as either core or elective courses at the time.50 While I was equipped with a well-rounded education in Systematic, Historical, Pastoral and Moral theologies, what was missing was a concrete way to apply my received knowledge to the practice of ministry for the purpose of bringing about congregational renewal and change. Without this desperately needed motivation, it seemed to me that many Anglican churches were stuck in a downwards trend of decline where the final destination was the inevitability of church closure. Surely this wasn’t God’s intended plan for the Anglican Church of Canada? If not, where was an alternative theological motivation to be found?

This section of the thesis outlines the various theological influences that have informed this research project. Within the comprehensive examination component of the D.Min program, I explored each of the following authors/theological contributions with a particular interest as to how they might motivate a congregation to foster new relationships and promote membership growth. To expand on this a bit more, it is well and good within any Christian tradition to claim

49 Including both a Honours Bachelor of Theology Degree (with a major in Biblical languages) and a Master of Divinity degree from Huron University College at Western University, London. 50 This is not a fault my alma mater, rather to suggest that Evangelism and studies in Practical Ministry were yet to emerge as subject foci within the formation of Anglican seminarians at that institution, in the context of my study period. 22

the legacy of historic doctrinal teachings (the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion in Anglicanism51) or contributions from theologians that have shaped the ecclesiology of the Church in the past, but it is another thing entirely to suggest that these same contributions are active in congregations in the present: a) are they even known to the average Anglican sitting in the pew; b) if known, understood and valued by congregants; c) are referenced or engaged with in processes of congregational theological reflection; and d) valued in ways that have the power to inspire change at the congregational level? Now, one might ask: why is it important for theology to be required to motivate or inspire congregational change? My response to this question is that, within the context of declining Anglican churches in Canada, unless individual congregations can be motivated by theology that can encourage membership growth, they will continue to decline and close their doors. Each closure concludes Anglican ministry in that particular context and, therefore, any theological formation and dialogue that was supported by that congregation ceases. I am convinced that the loss of any congregation is far more detrimental to the presence of Christianity in a particular context than we, as leaders in the Anglican Church, give credit. This means, at least to this researcher, that it is imperative that the Anglican Church discover, or rediscover, theology that has the power to counter the contemporary Anglican lament. The following theological contributions in this section are my modest efforts to try connecting the dots in search for a better understanding of the dynamic between what Anglicans believe and how those beliefs might motivate growth.

2 The Praxis Model of Contextual Theology: Theology For the Purpose of Change

One premise that underpins the central argument of this thesis is my belief that theology has the potential to motivate, enable and direct change within the ministry activities of a congregation. I am not alone in this belief; in fact this description of theology is the basis of the praxis model of contextual theology as presented by Stephen Bevans in his text Models of Contextual

51 The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion in Anglicanism are a historic set of doctrinal statements that were adopted by the Church of England in response to a number of controversies in the English Church during the Reformation.

Theology.52 Bevans explains that the praxis model is a way of doing theology that draws its “considerable power from the recognition that God manifests God’s presence not only, or perhaps not even primarily, in the fabric of culture, but also and perhaps principally in the fabric of history.”53 Therefore, the praxis model is a way of doing theology that is shaped by the practical implementation of knowledge of God’s activity in the world or, in other words, at the level of theologically reflective action. Instead of drawing inspiration from classic texts or classic behaviours, the praxis model draws its meaning from present realities and future possibilities. This ‘new’ way of doing theology has led to the creation of the emerging discipline of “practical theology.”54 In essence, the Doctor of Ministry Program, of which this thesis is but one component, is the study or discipline of practical theology. As I narrowed my study of theology within my discipline, my particular application of practical theology was asking me this question: within the ministry context of the Diocese of Huron, where could I turn within the theological canon to find teachings that addressed the contemporary Anglican lament in a way that could lead congregations to enter into a circular process of theological reflection, prayer and adaptation of ministry activity for the purpose of addressing or even reversing trends of membership decline? What were the pre-existing theologies that congregations were already drawing hope from? If so, how could I engage them in a way that allowed for me to collect the theologies that motivated them? The starting point for me in answering these questions was to first turn to a familiar congregation that had engaged the praxis model of theological reflection in a way that had enabled them to buck the trend of decline.

3 St. Anne’s Mission and the Teachings of Jesus as a Blueprint for Ecclesiology

In the Fall of 2011, when our small group of missionaries began dreaming up the possibilities of reopening the closed Church of St. Anne in Port Franks, we knew that we needed to ground ourselves in theology in order to pray and reflect on our actions going forward. If the mission

52 Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, The Faith and Cultures Series, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2014) 70-87. 53 Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 70. 54 Ibid., 70.

project was to be a success, we believed that we needed to seek God in our choices and to allow God to be the architect of our ministry plans. Over a period of several months our fledging congregation turned to where we found God speaking to us in scripture regarding what we began to identify as the “blueprint for being church.” We did this through both Bible study and reflection on scripture as shared in the homilies on Sunday. There were a number of scripture passages that we reflected on because we felt that Jesus was speaking to our community through them. I include the following four passages because they were our starting point of doing practical theology before we were even aware that there were “ways” of doing practical theology.

3.1 The Commissioning of St. Anne’s Disciples

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28.16-20. 55

We turned to this first passage because our members were familiar with it as a commissioning for new ministry. The first thing that we noticed was that the disciples of Jesus began by following an earlier command to go somewhere, to go to Galilee. Obediently they followed to the location where this commissioning takes place. In many ways we felt that God was calling us to return to Port Franks, as it was there that we believed a church to be needed in the community. Our group found it interesting that among even Jesus’ followers, there were some who doubted. Doubt was reassuring to us because we had no idea if our own ministry dream of reopening a closed church was even possible. Yet, in the passage Jesus commissions both those who are confident and those who doubt. Why? Because it is apparent that Jesus had confidence in both of these groups of people. Jesus then declares that it is by his authority that the ‘mission project’ of the first disciples would be a success. This was important for us to hear. It was not by our authority, or even the authority of the Diocese of Huron that this project might be possible, but

55 All Bible passages used in this thesis have been taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

rather it was through the authority of Jesus that we were being sent out. Jesus then says: “Go.” Jesus is the agent of change! He pushes the start button and the ministry plan begins from there. For the members of our group, we truly felt called by God to serve in the community of Port Franks, but in some ways we were hesitating. In this passage we were hearing Jesus tell us to “Go out” into our neighbourhood. But for what purposes were we being sent? The passage continues to teach that the primary activity of the disciples was to foster new and more disciples. What this meant for us, was that we felt called to go out and build new relationships. We believed that if we could accomplish this feat, God would take our relationships and draw us closing to Him in discipleship.56 We understood a second component of building relationships to be teaching others about God. For Jesus said, “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We applied this comment in our own ministry context as a commissioning to share the gift of the Anglican catechumenate with all our members because this is how we, as Anglicans,57 were familiar with teaching God’s story. Lastly, Matthew 28.16-20 reassured us that God would be with us, for Jesus says, “And remember, I am with you always.” As our mission group didn’t have many members, or finances for ministry, or even a functional building to reopen, we believed that change was only possible because Jesus would be working with us. A side-effect of holding on to this belief was that we began looking for Jesus within the community of Port Franks. Whenever our membership discovered Him, we would talk about it, usually informally, before worship, during coffee times and in our Tuesday morning fellowship.

56 We interpreted the term discipleship to mean being students of the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. We believed that this was a life-long vocation. Yet, we also believed discipleship to be more than just imitating Jesus, it also included entering into the story with him through our baptism which allowed us to share in Christ’s act of salvation on the cross and by his death and resurrection. Choosing discipleship was an ongoing conscious effort for us to intentionally discern how are lives could be aligned with the will of God as we understood it in our ministry context. 57 It should be noted that many of the original group of six at St. Anne’s Mission, and the following members that joined the congregation, were not from Anglican backgrounds. In fact, we had more people from Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Baptist backgrounds than Anglican. While we chose to self-identify as Anglican, in many ways it is more accurate to state that we were simply students of the Anglican tradition.

3.2 The Mission of the Six church Reboot-ers58

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Mark 6.6-13.

Again, in this passage we heard Jesus telling his disciples that authority for their ministry would be derived from Christ’s own authority. The ministry-in-action follows a similar pattern to the previous passage: the community is first gathered, then inspired/taught by Jesus and then sent out in service. What was intriguing to us was how Jesus was enabling His missionaries, or rather… disabling them? They were not being given worldly resources such as a staff for protection, a bag for supplies, money to purchase tools or to buy sustenance. They weren’t even given a change of clothes! Why would Jesus deprive them so? Unless, we began to conclude in our conversations together, Jesus already knew that success for these missionary efforts would not be dependent upon the disciples’ possession of worldly resources, but rather relational ones. The St. Anne’s church reboot group began by exploring the potential that is found in new relationships. Jesus commissioned his disciples to enter the homes of those open to them in the neighbourhood. We did likewise. For us this meant having all our members participate in the ministry of home visitations. Some of our members literally knocked on doors to introduce themselves and our goal of reopening a closed church. If we found doors closed to us, we didn’t worry, we simply moved on to the ones that were waiting to be opened. One theological insight that was a key takeaway for the founding members of our mission project was that the worldly resources that

58 I have chosen to the term “reboot-ers” to describe the mission team at St. Anne’s because our project was not a textbook case of a church plant. Church plants rarely start out with an existing church building. The term “reboot-er” also acknowledges that St. Anne’s Mission rose out of the ashes of a failed Anglican congregation. What made this example unique was that some of the original six mission leaders were not prior members of the previous congregation. As the community grew numerically, it also drew mostly from non-Anglican Christians in the Port Franks community. My research findings among twelve numerically growing Anglican congregations, later presented in this thesis, also suggest that the potential for future Anglican membership growth is often found by welcoming new members from outside of the Anglican tradition.

we lacked, such as money, labourers to renovate our dilapidated church building, and even practical items such as a functional church furnace for our first winter together, all of these gifts were found within new relationships that were being fostered by us having the courage to go out into the neighbourhood. In disabling His disciples of worldly goods, Jesus was actually enabling them to be dependent on both the promise that God would provide for them and that this provision would be accomplished through the generosity of people who were yet unknown to them.

3.3 Participating in the Apostleship/Sending of the Holy Trinity

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ John 20.19-23.

This third passage was selected by our St. Anne’s mission team as the focus of a two week Bible study in the Fall of 2011. Together we explored what it might mean for us to hear that Jesus sent out his apostles as part of the continuous sending action of the Holy Trinity. Jesus says, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Accompanying His words, Jesus bestows upon his disciples, now apostles,59 the presence of the Holy Spirit. We reflected at length on this passage about how we might be participating in the activity of the Holy Trinity if we believed that the Holy Spirit was leading our own actions and faithfulness around forming a new Christian community. If the Holy Spirit was “in us” and being “sent out” at the same time, perhaps this was a sign that the growth of our Christian community was part of the activity of God’s self. The idea of founding our fledgling congregation on the blueprint of Jesus teachings inspired our community to believe that, in some ways, our church was imitating or even participating in the ongoing action of the Holy Trinity. The final passage that was part of an early St. Anne’s Mission preaching series takes this theological concept one step further.

59 From the Greek, ἀπόστολος, literally meaning “one who is sent”.

3.4 Being Community in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. John 14.15-26

My first experiences of hearing local theology being expressed by a congregation were in the first months of prayer and planning among the St. Anne’s Mission reboot-ers. What inspired me most as a member of the mission group was to hear lay reflections on how the teaching of Jesus were being seen as the motivation and guidance for the planning out of a new way of being church. I describe it as “new” because the prior traditional Anglican model for ministry in that community had failed, resulting in the disestablishment of the congregation and the deconsecration of the church building. The new community was being formed in their own way, without an Anglican template for ministry being forced upon them. Another way of saying this was that the St. Anne’s Mission community would be choosing their own unique way of being church. One of the very first theological statements that they adopted was the belief that they should be a Trinitarian congregation. John 14.15-26 provided some clues as to what that might look like. In this passage Jesus again teaches that the Holy Spirit is given as gift to the Church in order to accompany its ministry activities. Jesus says: “You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” The passage goes further to suggest that through our relationship with the Holy Spirit we are grafted into the spiritual relationship of the Holy Trinity, as Jesus teaches: “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” As our new congregation sought to participate in the work of the Trinity, this passage taught us that our work should include loving God, which we interpreted as holding regular worship of God together in Sunday services, and

loving neighbour, which we applied to our ministry activities as reaching out to tell others in the Port Franks community about the story of Jesus and our goal of reopening the church. Lastly, this passage reiterates the sending theme of the community, that the Father would send us the Holy Spirit to teach our Christian community the things we didn’t know (of which there was a lot!).

St. Anne’s engagement with these four key Biblical passages was my introduction to the study of local theologies. At the time we weren’t drawing on the knowledge of already existing templates for theology. We were simply fumbling our way through the process by seeking to be faithful Christians. However, the one thing that we had confidence in was the idea that we were “doing theology” in our own way and that our faith beliefs were motivating our ministry actions.

4 Bishop Laurie Green’s Presentation of Theological Reflection

Bishop Laurie Green, a bishop in the Church of England, has been researching the Praxis Model of theological reflection in congregations since the 1970s. While unaware of pre-existing templates of theological reflection during my ministry leadership with St. Anne’s Mission, I have come to recognize that in many ways we were living out a process of Bevan’s Praxis Model of theological reflection, but more along the simple guidelines that are expressed in Bishop Green’s presentation of the “Praxis Model” of contextual theology within congregational ministry. Green’s text, Let’s Do Theology: Sources for Contextual Theology,60 introduces the following four stages for cultivating a congregation’s unique local theology:

1) Exploring - when a community of faithful Christians comes together to explore their faith experiences from historical, geographical, social, economic, cultural and religious

60 Laurie Green, Let’s Do Theology: Sources for Contextual Theology, Completely revised and updated new edition, (London, UK: Mowbray, Continuum Books, 2009).

perspectives61. In this phase the community utilizes several tools to gather analytical information. Often this process must be assisted by outside members of the community. Here they explore anecdotal information, they collect different types of data from within their own cultural context and they celebrate the characteristics of their faith community as they have experienced them. With the example of St. Anne’s Mission, much of this work was done when the original six members of the planting group drafted a proposal to the Bishop of Huron to consider allowing for the ministry project to take place. This document summarized the ministry context, history of the previous congregation and the analysis of what resources for ministry might already exist within the wider Port Franks community.

2) The second phase of formation for local theologies is the theological reflection phase.62 Green writes that different communities reflect in different ways. Some are greatly informed by their denominational doctrines and traditions while others turn to the inspiration of the early Church that emphasized newness in ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes reflection is modeled after biblical examples of parables and metaphor. In these cases, the community seeks to compare how their local narratives are part of the larger mission of God in the world as told through the Gospels. Part of the process of reflecting is to find common themes that may be present in a community’s faith experiences: incarnation, discipleship, sacraments, resurrection, etc. Green would also argue that sometimes communities need to work to open up their imaginations to be able to embrace theological reflection in new ways. Often this requires the assistance of those who have been trained to lead others through this process. My role in the St. Anne’s reboot was to serve as the outsider facilitator of the congregation’s theological reflection process. The results of this process were shared in the previous sections of this thesis.

61 Green, Let’s Do Theology, 59-75. 62 Ibid., 77-106.

3) The third phase of creating local theologies is the responding phase.63 Green writes that contextual theology (local theology) seeks to be contemplative, instructive and transformative. Throughout his text the bishop is very firm in his argument that theology is not simply theological study for study’s sake, but rather, theology’s purpose is to “offer a means by which we may draw nearer to finding that knowledge of God for which the soul longs. Theology gives us an opportunity for discerning more readily the presence and activity of God in the world and adoring God there.”64 Since God is always acting in the world, then theology propels its participants to respond to, and cooperate with, God’s action. The result of this process is the personal transformation of any who find themselves caught up in God’s mission in the world. Green quotes Martin Luther to drive home the point regarding the necessity of transformation within theological reflection: “Luther famously said, ‘a person becomes a theologian by living, by dying, and by being damned, not by understanding, reading and speculating.’”65 He concludes to say that sometimes Christian communities are paralyzed by the fear of failure. Because of this they reflect but do not allow for change or transformation to happen. Green insists that responding to God’s activity must always be a key component of contextual (local) theologies. For St. Anne’s, the responding phase of their theological reflection process was their shared worship together, their evangelizing of the Port Franks neighbourhood and the physical restoration of their church buildings. The entire congregation shared in these activities as they were understood as the collective response of their church to the Gospel of Jesus they were encountering in their worship, prayer and Biblical study.

4) Repeat. The fourth phase is to continue in the cycle of explore, reflect and respond, but to enter each new cycle with the insights, wisdom and transformation that was acquired within the previous cycles. If a faith community engages this task with integrity and commitment to the process, Green argues that they will undoubtedly find themselves drawn closing to God and more immersed in God’s mission and purpose in their lives.

63 Ibid., 107-122. 64 Ibid., 113. 65 Ibid., 114.

One of the benefits of being a Mission Project in the Diocese of Huron was that there were numerous stages of analysis and reporting to take place. A regular dialogue of progress was kept between the congregation, myself as priest, the supervising Archdeacon,66 Diocesan Council and the Bishop of Huron. Each report defined set goals and timelines that allowed for the action-in-ministry process to be both evaluated and repeated. These were considered baby steps towards forming a new Anglican congregation that might have the future potential of becoming self-sustaining, first as a mission church and then, later, as a congregation.

I appreciate the simplicity of Bishop Green’s four stages of cultivating contextual theology. Had I known about them during my ministry with St. Anne’s, they would have been immensely helpful in guiding our process of theological reflection. For the purpose of this particular thesis, they have served as a template that I have used to dialogue with numerically growing Anglican congregations in our group interviews together. More of this will be shared in the methodology and research results sections of this thesis.

5 Michael Moynagh and “The Sent” Church

Three years into the St. Anne’s Mission project, The Vital Church Planting conference, which I had been attending annually for both theological and practical ministry inspiration, announced that it would be hosting one of the United Kingdom’s foremost missiologists, Dr. Michael Moynagh. Moynagh was known as one of the central voices of the Fresh Expressions movement in the Church of England.67 His own research was being conducted in the area of Contextual

66 For those outside of Anglican ministry practices, an Archdeacon is a senior priest in the Diocese of Huron appointed by the Bishop to administer the ministry activities of a grouping of congregations. The Archdeacon acts as an agent of the Bishop in ministry supervision and evaluation.

67 While the St. Anne’s Mission project was considered both by our ministry team and the Diocese of Huron as a ‘new-to-us-model’ of being a mission-shaped church, we did not consider it to be a “Fresh Expression” of church because our attempts to reboot the congregation were aimed at restoring a somewhat traditional model of church. Fresh Expressions have been defined as a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church [which] will come into being through principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples [and] will have potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context. For

Theology focused on the rapidly changing landscape of the Church of England. At the time he had just completed writing a text which had “gathered, ordered and presented the best learning from the fresh expressions movement.”68 Implementing many practical examples of new expressions of ministry that were be attempted in the Church of England, Moynagh presented on the theology of “being sent” that was motivating many efforts to foster new relationships among people who walked away from traditional models of church and people who had never experienced Church at all in their lives. Explaining the theology of the “sent Church” Moynagh writes:

Since the middle of the last century it has been customary to root the church’s mission in the missio Dei. Mission first and foremost is an activity of God. Christopher Wright maintains that the Bible reveals a personal God who has a purpose, which is that the whole creation should give glory to him. Scripture describes humanity with a mission, Israel with a mission, Jesus with a mission and the church with a mission – all with that purpose in view.69

Throughout his presentation at the 2014 Vital Church Planting Conference, Moynagh had a statement that he continued to return to over and over again: “We, the Church, used to believe that we ‘had a mission’ of our own. It is not the church that ‘has a mission’ but the very reverse… ‘the mission of Christ creates its own church.’”70 Moynagh further developed this argument that in many places the Church was now seeking to better discern how its ministry activities were serving the wider mission of God. A premise to this discernment was the

more please see: http://freshexpressions.org.uk/about/what-is-a-fresh-expression/ (accessed July 17th, 2019). A foundational text of the Fresh Expressions Movements is: Mission-shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions in a Changing Context, A Report from the Archbishop’s Council on Mission and Public Affairs, The Church of England, (New York, New York: Seabury Books, 2010). 68 According to Bishop Graham Cray, in his promotion of the text: Michael Moynagh with Philip Harrold, Church for Every Context: An Introduction to Theology and Practice, (London, U.K.: SCM Press, 2012). 69 Moynagh, Church for Every Context, 121. 70 This statement is taken both from a change in perspective that is the result of the Fresh Expressions Movement and is drawing from the arguments of theologian Jürgen Moltmann in his text: The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, trans. M. Kohl, (London: SCM, 1977), 10. The statement is attributed to Tim Dearborn from his book, Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, A Heart for Mission, (U.K.: MARC, 1998).

understanding that “the core of missio Dei is the idea of sending.”71 To unpack this premise, allow me to draw, as Moynagh does, from P. T. Forsyth’s explanation of the sending action of the Church as being an extension of the sending action of the Holy Trinity itself: • The Father, who is not sent himself but reveals a missionary heart in sending his Son and the Spirit to work for the fulfillment of creation;

• The Son who has redeemed the world;

• The Holy Spirit, who shares in the mission of the Father and the Son in creation and the incarnation, and is himself sent to sustain creation and advance the kingdom;

• The Church, which participates in God’s mission and is enabled by the Spirit to witness to the world.72

Throughout my formative seminary years, while I had taken courses on Trinitarian theology, I had never considered the work of the Church to be a participation of the sending action of the Holy Trinity until, in 2011, the St. Anne’s Mission community began reflecting on scripture passages that caused us to see our efforts of church growth as being commissioned by God in order for us to become a “sent Church” in imitation of the Holy Trinity. When I heard Moynagh present in 2014 he further developed this understanding of imitation of the Holy Trinity to actually being understood as the Church’s “participation” in the missio Dei, or literally translated from the Latin, as “the sending of God.”73 This was a radically new development for me as a priest and pastor. In response to it I began to question: Why does God want the Church to participate in “being sent”? If I could come up with an answer to this question, perhaps there would be an underlying theological argument to counter congregations succumbing to what I have described as the contemporary Anglican lament – a belief that that there really is no motivation to be “sent out” to foster new relationships because: 1) nothing in the Church is going to change, 2) declining congregations are too old, too poor, too tired, and 3) continued trends of

71 Ibid., 121. 72 P.T. Forsyth, as quoted in John Thompson’s text: Modern Trinitarian Perspectives, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 70-74. 73 Moynagh, Church for Every Context, 121.

decline will only make things worse.74 If the lament’s conclusions were misguided, which I thoroughly believed, why would God be calling to all congregations to participate in being sent? And here I would further add that being sent means to foster new relationships for the purpose of inviting non-members of the Church to hear and respond themselves to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why sent? Moynagh had a response to this question: the sending action of God is actually an attribute of God. The sending action of God is part of the very nature of God’s being. Moynagh writes:

Mission (sending) is not a consequence of God’s being. In God’s will it is fundamental to God’s being. It is an attribute of God, on par with other attributes such as love. Just as we speak of God as love, we can speak of God as mission. Mission is an eternal first, not second thought for God. This means that mission reaches into the very heart of God’s communal life. The Trinity is the exact opposite of a community that exists for itself. From all eternity the divine communion is looking outward.75

Archbishop William Temple is attributed in saying, “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”76 This quote is to be placed within the context of the missionary efforts of the Church. Both Moynagh and Temple argue that the Church is not to be an organization that exists for its own edification, rather it exists to participate in the communal “looking outward” to those who are non-members for the purpose of drawing them into the knowledge and glorification of God. One particular challenge facing Anglican congregations in decline is their tendency to have their missionary efforts completely paralyzed by their own inwardly focused fear of death and disestablishment. When a congregation’s entire efforts are focused on raising enough revenue to maintain aging buildings, to cover the minimal costs of priestly ministry and to ensure that utility bills are paid for, this can often leave little room for theological reflection on the nature of God and of God’s mission for the Church.

74 As a side note: these three complaints sound remarkably similar to those employed by fictional demons in C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters, in which a senior demon teaches a younger demon that in order to break the human soul an individual only needed to be convinced of three lies: 1) that the individual was alone with no one to come to help, 2) that nothing in that person’s life would ever get better, and 3) that the individual is powerless to bring about any change. 75 Moynagh, Church for Every Context, 123-124. 76 Diocese of Monmouth, Bishop’s visitation Charge, 2007.

However, Moynagh would argue that the growth of the Church, and of congregations, is activated not by a gathering up of resources, but of the participation of congregations in the self- giving activity of God.77 A sequential summary of this argument might look something like this: • In eternally begetting the Son, the Father gives away his divinity to the Son, who receives it not as something borrowed but as something that constitutes his very being. The Father empties himself of divinity in order to beget the Son. This process is eternal. Divinity never ‘runs out’, because the Father has infinite supply to pour into the Son.

• The Son, in obedience to the Father, represents a self-giving back to the Father. He places his life at the Father’s disposal. The obedience of the Son is revealed by the incarnation. In the sacrifice on the cross, Jesus’ life is given over again to his Father.

• Drawing from the theology of Han Urs von Balthasar, in which he writes that the mutual self-giving of the Father and the Son, this continuous action between them, is an outpouring of love. It is this outpouring of love, akin to conjugal love, that results in the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit. The love of the Father and the Son opens out to the Holy Spirit.

• The Holy Spirit gives back to the Father and Son, eternally, through the showing, communicating and making concrete to humanity what it is that the Father and the Son are doing in God’s plan of salvation for the world. The gift of the Spirit, which fills humanity, is the gift of knowing the self-giving nature of God.

• To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, is to be filled with the Spirit of giving.78

Moynagh embeds this theology of a self-giving and sent God into the practice of ministry within the Anglican Church by revealing how it is present in the defining statement on Anglican mission as adopted by the Anglican Communion in the Five Marks of Mission: • To proclaim the good news of the kingdom; • To teach, baptize and nurture new believers; • To respond to human need by loving service; • To seek to transform unjust structures of society; • To safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.79

77 Moynagh, Church for Every Context, 126-128. 78 Ibid., 126-127. 79 For more on the origin and adoption of the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion, please see: https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/marks-of-mission.aspx (accessed July 18th, 2019).

Each of these activities of the church is relational, self-giving and outwardly focused, as they are rooted in participating in the mission of our Trinitarian God. The motivation of the Five Marks of Mission for declining Anglican congregations is that participation in these activities will necessarily cause them to foster new relationships. For proclamation of the Kingdom doesn’t refer to hosting discussions about the Kingdom with already existing church members. Instead this refers to telling non-members about the Kingdom of God. In order to do this, congregations must first seek out and find non-members and enter into relationships of trust with them. Only then can the story of God be proclaimed. Likewise, in order for new believers to be taught and enabled in the Christian faith, culminating in baptism, they must first be sought out and welcomed. The third mark of mission is yet again, outwardly focused. It calls upon our Church to give of itself to those in need. The missional nature of the declaration infers that those in need are most often those beyond the doors of our churches. Lastly, even the fourth and fifth marks of Anglican mission are relational: transforming society and safeguarding creation are both foci that lay beyond the culture of the Church itself. Both require Anglicans to be “sent out” into the world to be agents of change.

The only missing component to Moynagh’s theological rationale for congregations adopting a missional mindset, as I understand it, is the benefit to declining congregations who might be encouraged to shift their focus from one of simply congregational survival to one of self-giving participation of God’s mission. Crudely argued, the “So what’s in it for us?” argument that is likely to be made by rapidly declining congregations who are becoming desperate for quick solutions. I believe the answer to this question is that the living out of the Five Marks of Mission and any ministry that allows for congregations to give of themselves to non-members has the potential to grow new relationships. This is the treasure found at the heart of God’s mission. New relationships can bring new hope, new gifts, new flexibility and new life to declining congregations. This is what I have experienced through the missional risks taken among the community of St. Anne’s, Port Franks. This is what I have been experiencing in my congregational ministries since that time. But, are other numerically growing congregations experiencing this too? Is their membership growth a direct result of them living out an outwardly focused mission mindset? Is it theology, such as that presented by Moynagh that is inspiring

numerical growth? These are all questions that, through this thesis project, can now be put to the test in my dialoguing with growing congregations.

6 George Lings and Reproducing Churches

Another U.K. theologian that I believe to be making significant strides towards articulating theology with the power to counter the contemporary Anglican lament is The Rev. Canon Dr. George Lings, a pioneering Anglican priest and church planter who has been engaging with practical theology for the entire duration of his career. Lings’ work is an example of the collection of local theology at its best because his work is derived from decades worth of church planting experience in the Anglican context of ministry. In his book, Reproducing Churches,80 Lings describes his epiphany moment in terms of recognizing that churches should have the capacity to grow and reproduce through relationships:

Curiously, perhaps ominously, it was April Fool’s Day, 1992. I was sitting in a tiny upstairs bedroom, converted into a temporary study by turning the window shutters into a sort of desk. I remember sitting in front of the computer screen trying to make sense of all that I had seen and read. I can only say that then a loud thought occurred to me: God’s Church should and can reproduce.81

In a similar fashion to my goal of seeking a connection between local theologies and congregational growth, Lings sought in the 1990s to connect the practice of church planting with an already existing doctrine of the Church.82 The challenge, as he discovered, was in finding a way of connecting ministry practice to conversations about theology, which were often being held within seminaries, academia and institutions by theologians, as opposed to ministry practitioners on the ground. Lings recognized early on that theological contexts present different lenses by which one can relate to and understand God. Therefore, a theologian teaching in a seminary may have a different perspective than a church planter working in a city suburb. While the perspectives might be different, both might be of equal value. What if these two perspectives

80 George Lings, Reproducing Churches, (Abington, England: The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2017). 81 Lings, Reproducing Churches, 11. 82 Ibid., 11.

might be able to dialogue together? This, in essence, is how local theologies are constructed and documented.

Lings continues to explain that the way the Church understands itself in the context of ministry is often shaped by two sources: 1) it is derived from the doctrines of the Church that are formed through the developments of Systematic Theology and 2) it is tested, where the rubber hits the road, in the practice of every day ministry. In his own experience, Lings suggests that there are two Church doctrines that have greatly informed his own practice of ministry in terms of fostering numerically growing or reproducing churches. Not surprisingly, these are two theologies that echo the ones presented by Michael Moynagh: 1) the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as communion, and 2) the doctrine of missio Dei as the Church community in action.83

7 The Holy Trinity as Model for Christian Community

Lings believes that the connection between Trinity and ecclesiology began in the 1960s as a result of the ecumenical scholarship of the Orthodox Theologian John Zizioulas.84 Zizioulas argued that in order to understand the nature of the Church, one must first understand the nature of God as being Trinitarian. When one understands the nature of God as “being communion” in God’s very self, then it is easier to understand the nature of the Church as “being communion” among many local churches.85 Zizioulas wrote against what he perceived as a growing threat to Western churches, including Anglicanism, of being influenced by cultural trends of individualism where a person is defined through separation from another person. The alternative to this is an understanding of God’s essence or koinonia. Zizioulas defines koinonia as persons in relation to each other where identity is found only in communion with other persons. As God is a communion of persons, so too is the Church a communion of local churches.86 Lings explains that Western theologians have drawn from Zizioulas’ teachings on the Trinity as a ecclesial

83 Ibid., 73-75. 84 Ibid., 74. 85 Christopher Ruddy, The Local Church: Tillard and the Future of Catholic Ecclesiology, (New York, U.S.A: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2006) 22. 86 Ruddy, The Local Church, 23.

41 template to further suggest that the true nature of the Church is to be “relational, diverse and communal.”87 What does this mean when applied to the theological challenge of congregational decline within the Anglican Church of the West? It might mean that if congregations are seeking to shape themselves based on a understanding of the Holy Trinity, then they too should be seeking out new ways of ministry in order to be relational (meaning to foster new relationships), more diverse (in terms of their membership makeup) and communal (in the way that they draw others into the worship and glorification of God). 88 While the doctrine of the Trinity as inspiration for Christian Community is still being further explored within the study of practical theology, what is most certain to be true, from the perspective of a church practitioner, is that when congregations resist being relational, diverse and communal, this resistance often contributes to trends of decline in congregational relationships. The more internally focused a congregation becomes, the less likely it will be open and welcoming of new relationships, let alone be inspired to seek out and foster them.

87 Lings, Reproducing Churches, 75. 88 It should be noted that not all theologians support Moynagh, Lings and Zizioulas’ Social understanding/doctrine of the Holy Trinity. In Karen Kilby’s “Perichoresis and Projection: Problems with Social Doctrines of the Trinity” in New Blackfriars, Volume 81 Issue 957, (November 2000), 432-445, she presents a number of arguments against understanding the Trinity as a social/relational construct demonstrating a perfect unity/interpenetration of three persons within one God: 1) that perhaps the construct is a human (invented), anthropomorphic projection onto God that appeases humanity’s desire to relate to/understand God in a way that also creates an idealised model for communion/relationship that humanity can now strive towards; 2) that Social doctrines of the Trinity have been used to further a wide range of social, political and ecclesiastical agendas (such as advocating for/reconciling a Feminist perspective of God or even Moynagh, Lings’ and my own use of the Social doctrine of the Trinity to provide a theological basis for reproducing/growing congregations); and 3) that perhaps the doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t have to be seen as a descriptive picture of “what God is like in se from which all else emanates,” but rather can be a grammatical rule/canon by which Biblical stories are read and discussed specifying how “various aspects of the Christian faith hang together.” I appreciate Kilby’s arguments, but choose to disagree with her. At the same time, I am also aware that Social doctrines/understandings of the Trinity do directly support my own professed agenda for the propagation of the Church and that Kilby (and likely others) could easily describe this research project as being a manipulation of theology for the purpose of prescribed cultural change. This is not my intent, although I understand why it could be perceived as such.

8 Missio Dei and Its Implications on Anglican Ecclesiology

Lings argues that the second theological discovery of the 20th century has been “missio Dei thinking.”89 This is the concept which argues that God is the primary sender of God’s activity and that He is present before any mission of the Church is ever possible. The missio Dei theology originated with the German missiologist Karl Hartenstein in 1934 (through his engagement with the writings of Karl Barth)90 and has been championed by contemporary theologians such as David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin and Alan Roxburgh, among others. David Bosch, for instance, comments that “Mission in not primarily an activity of the Church, but an attribute of God.”91 Therefore, the role of being sent out into the world in mission is not an idea that is original to the Church, let alone growing congregations, rather it is a reclaiming of the founding nature of the Church to be active agents in the mission of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Church is not simply commissioned by God to grow and reproduce, but even more significantly, it should be an inherent attribute of the Church to foster new relationships if we believe the existence of the Church and its mission to be directly derived from God. My interpretation of the implication on Anglican ecclesiology is that there needs to be a much more significant emphasis in the leadership of the church (lay leaders, clergy and bishops) on enabling the evangelization of congregations. Without encouragement, it seems that, in many contexts in the Anglican Church of Canada, evangelization is neither an indigenous nor an active theology in terms of shaping congregational agendas or ministry activities. A congregation bereft of evangelization will find diminishing returns in regard to new memberships.

9 Mission Redefined by Lesslie Newbigin

A final theologian that has greatly influenced my understanding of the underlying theology of congregational growth is Bishop Lesslie Newbigin. In one essay Newbigin asks a very Anglican

89 Ibid., 75. 90 See, as a representative example, Tormod Engelsviken, “Missio Dei: The Understanding and Misunderstanding of a Theological Concept in European Churches and Missiology,” International Review of Mission 92, no. 4 (2003): 481-97. 91 David Bosch, Transforming Mission, (New York, New York: Orbis Books, 1991) 390.

question: “Does society, (and by this he means our highly secularized society), need the parish church?”92 In a very quick turnaround, he then rephrases the question: “Does God need the parish church?” Speaking out of his ministry experiences as a Bishop in India, Newbigin comments that a regular theme that he heard voiced by some within secular culture was the idea that the Church was a good cause to support because if it wasn’t supported then it would collapse and die. Newbigin thought that this was nonsense. He responds by writing that the reign of God is a near present reality, not something in the distant future. The localized church, he continues, is not just the religious aspect of the local community, but rather the foretaste, the arrabon, of the Kingdom that is breaking into the world. The parish church exists to witness to a truth, that the reign of God is no longer a theological idea, not just a vision in Heaven, but is in fact a reality with which Christians have to come to terms. Newbigin argues that most Christians need to get over their fixation with the survival of the Church, and their perceived battles with secularism in order to repent of worldly concerns and follow Jesus.

Newbigin then refers to the powerlessness of the Orthodox church (in Russia). He writes that in his day it was not allowed to preach, to do social work, to publish anything, yet through its liturgy, its commitment to follow in the paths of Christ and in its gathering of the faithful community it is both growing and transcending the challenges of the world.93 He concludes that “you know that you have stepped out from under one jurisdiction into another jurisdiction. There is another reality there, which just by being what it is challenges the world outside and draws us, because we are made for God and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”94 To return to his prior question: Does God need the parish church?, Newbigin answers with certainty: yes! Yet, Anglicans must be reminded that each parish is God’s church for that place. Therefore, in Newbigin’s ecclesiology, any Anglican parish is truly not a parish unless it seeks to erect the sign of the Kingdom in that place and recover a truly missionary approach to ministry.

92 Paul Weston, editor, Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian, A Reader, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006) 135. 93 Weston, Paul, editor, Lesslie Newbigin, 139. 94 Ibid., 139.

10 The Study of Local Theologies: A Community Process

My ministry experiences of discovering congregational growth amidst trends of membership decline have drawn me to study a particular discipline of missiology which I believe is in need of further development within the Anglican tradition: the study of “local theologies”. This term was coined in the 1980s by Schreiter to describe the process of theological reflection with local churches or localized faith communities that takes place within their particular cultural contexts.95 What is unique about the study of local theologies is that the role of a theologian is not limited to academically trained, seminary-formed individuals; rather, local theologies are created through the engagement of the congregational community itself: how they tell their own stories, represent their own theological meaning and how they share this meaning with others through acts of evangelism.

The Three Roots of Local Theologies

There are three underlying roots that feed the development and growth of local theology: 1) Gospel – how a community engages with the Good News of Jesus Christ through their proclamation of the scriptures, their community worship, outreach and missionary activities.

2) Church – how the local congregation relates to the larger Church. How it sees its own missionary activities as being part of the Kingdom of God. And, how it understands Church as being the Body of Christ in the world through word and sacrament. This aspect is particularly meaningful for Anglicans within our apostolic, sacramental tradition.

3) Culture – the medium in which the gospel and the Church exist. Schreiter writes that culture “represents a way of life for a given time and place, replete with values, symbols, and meaning, reaching out with hopes and dreams, often struggling for a better world.”96 Culture plays a particularly important role within the context of congregational ministry because each town, each community has its own cultural nuances, strengths and impediments. In order for a congregation

95 Robert j. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, (London, England: SCM Press Ltd, 1985) 5-19. 96 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 21.

to have the capacity for relationship growth, it first needs to understand the localized context in which new faith relationships can be cultivated.

My collecting of local theologies within this research project will help me to answer a fundamental question that arises out of the context of trends of membership decline within the Anglican Church of Canada, and more specifically within the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. In Huron eighty-five percent of congregations are in steady decline97 and between seven and ten percent of congregations are holding steady.98 This leaves five to eight percent of congregations in Huron that are actually growing numerically in their reporting of increases in Sunday attendance and in the total number of baptized members within their community. The question of interest that arises out of these statistics is this: In their own words (in their own expressions of local theology), what are congregations that are growing believing and doing differently that set them apart from others that are declining? Here it should also be noted that within the Diocese of Toronto, twenty to twenty-five percent of congregations are reported to be growing numerically. My hope in undertaking this research project was to explore whether some or any of the theologies outlined in this section are in fact motivating congregational growth in the places where it is existent in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. If there is a correlation between what local congregations believe and how their ministry activities are in fact fostering new relationships, then these insights might be of great value to the wider church, and in particular to congregations struggling under the malaise of the contemporary Anglican lament.

11 Basic Theological Assumptions Held by the Researcher

Entering into this research project there have been a number of theological assumptions, or more accurately, hunches that I have held regarding locally held theological beliefs that I have hoped to find in numerically growing congregations. These hunches have been informed by both my

97 Meaning that, each year, their reported Sunday attendance and total population of baptized members is decreasing over previous years as submitted in their annual statistical report to Synod. 98 Meaning that their reported Sunday attendance and total population of baptized members is neither increasing nor decreasing over previous years, as submitted in their annual statistical report to Synod.

46 anecdotal experiences as an Anglican priest and congregational development enthusiast in the Diocese of Huron and in the presentations of growing congregations that I have encountered through the Vital Church Planting conferences. They are the following:

1) Growth from encounter with the Gospel – I cannot imagine a congregation that is actively engaging in the missional activities of fostering new faith relationships, creating spaces for the Gospel to be proclaimed and enabling the spiritual development of its members to be sent into the word as Christians without them already having the desire to grow as a community of faith. My hope is that the desire for growth is not simply out of fear of decline, but rather a voluntary response produced out of a congregation’s engagement with the Gospel.

2) Flexibility of Spirit – Flexibility, as I am using the term here, refers to the capacity of a congregation to risk new ministry initiatives in an effort to foster new relationships. Among closing congregations, there is often an all-too-familiar lament: “We tried that before. It didn’t work.” While it is true that not all ministry approaches are successful in every context, what I suspect to also be true is that growing congregations are not inhibited by past ministry failures. Instead, they may simply be better or more creative at finding new approaches to their evangelism.99

3) The Body of Christ as expressed in the ministry of the laity – I believe that clergy-centric models of ministry are easier to enable than lay-focused models. In a clergy-centric model you need only train one person to implement change of a congregation. Yet the weakness of this model is found in the limitations of relationships that any one person can hold at a time. When the entire congregation is equipped and held responsible for ministry leadership and growth it may take longer to implement a process of training and implementation, but the end result is a congregation that can draw upon many individuals

99 An inspirational book on reimagining the role of a Parish to include numerous non-traditionally-focused Sunday activities and various groups that gather and relate to one another in non-traditional ways is: Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight J. Friessen, The New Parish: How Neighbourhood Churches Are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community, (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014).

(ideally all) for the purpose of expanding missional relationships. For this reason, I also believe that small group ministries are a key component to growing congregations because they create personally intimate environments for spiritual mentorship and discipling that are more conducive to faith formation.

4) Evangelism through Proclamation – My hunch is that congregations that have a clear identity as being shaped by the Gospel, and the way in which it is directly meaningful to their lives, will be able to more easily articulate this identity to others, inviting them to explore and participate in the faith community. Some congregations succeed in fostering faith communities behind closed doors. Others are able to communicate the benefits of membership to the wider neighbourhood and community beyond their doors, and even articulate how their personal involvement in their congregation relates to their experience of God and God’s mission in the world.

5) An Emphasis on Discipleship - My final suspicion regarding growing congregations is that they are filled with members who wish to be changed to better resemble the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. Implicit in this willingness is the understanding that they will not remain the same, nor will their ministries remain static. Becoming better followers of Christ includes a continuous process of theological reflection, the integration of Gospel values, the setting of personal goals, the reality of failure and correction with the purpose of spiritual growth and improvement. A community of Christ-followers will continuously engage with the themes of forgiveness, self-giving service to others, reconciliation, brokenness and redemption, if they hold up their lives to the mirror of Jesus Christ as their spiritual template. Most importantly, I hope to hear in the local theologies of growing congregations that members in these communities are shaping their ministry activities in ways that reflect their personal desire to imitate Christ in order for there to be generosity and flexibility in the ways that their ministry reaches out to, and relates, to those who are not members of the Church.

Each of these hunches flushes out the relationship between what congregations believe in (their local theologies) and how their beliefs motivate ministry activities that may be contributing to

congregational growth. Or in other words, to discover how congregational theology in action (praxis)100 may relate to trends of numerical growth. My objective throughout this research project has not been to prove/disprove whether my theological hunches are accurate, but instead to understand my dialogue with numerically growing congregations as a theological exercise in being attentive to the locally held faith beliefs that are already present. I am also in agreement with Schreiter that theological discussion should not be reserved simply for academics, theologians and ecclesial administrators, but instead should be the product of the entire faith community within a particular context and time. While I have hoped to hear theologies such as missio Dei and the Trinity as a model for missional outreach present within the description of lay leaders among growing Anglican congregations, my Analysis section will also reveal that these theologies were not necessarily found to be present. Despite having my own theological assumptions prior to the project, it is my belief that the role of researcher in this project has been to be as accurate and impartial in representing the theological perspectives voiced by each congregation as possible.

100 Theology-In-Action is one of seven theological reflection methods presented by Elaine Graham, Heather Walton and Frances Ward in Theological Reflection: Methods, (London, England: SCM Press) 170-199. I will expand further in the Theology section of this thesis.

Chapter 3 Research Project Descriptions and Phenomenological Methodology 1 Research Project

This research project has focused on collecting the experiences and perspectives of Anglicans in growing congregations. In order to test my thesis question, of whether or not the presence of particular local theologies might be relating to membership growth in Anglican congregations, I designed a project in which I have entered into a dialogue with twelve congregations (six in the Diocese of Huron and six in the Diocese of Toronto) that were selected in consultation with Diocesan representatives, the primary criteria for selection being evidence of numeric increases in membership over a ten year period (2007-2017). I wish to note explicitly at this point in the thesis that congregational growth is not the only indicator of church health and vibrancy. There are many characteristics that might define a “healthy” or “flourishing” congregation.101 The intent of this thesis is not to compare and contrast these characteristics, but rather to posit that congregations that are experiencing regular trends of membership decline may not possess certain characteristics of a “mission-mindset” as previously defined in the Theology section of this document102 that might enable them with the motivation to engage in a course correction in terms of membership loss. Congregations that are not fostering new faith relationships have been proven in the last decade to be more vulnerable to trends of disestablishment and closure. Therefore, while congregational growth is not the only characteristic that might define a “healthy” church, I would argue that it is a vital characteristic for predicting the long term capacity of a congregation to sustain ministry within its own context.

101 In their text A Preliminary Look at Flourishing Congregations in Canada: What Church Leaders Are Saying, (Calgary, Alberta: Ambrose University, 2017), Joel Thiessen, Arch Wong, Bill McAlpine and Keith Walked attempt a definition for “flourishing” congregations. These are marked with the following characteristics: 1) an active spiritual life, 2) practices of discipleship, 3) a focus on inspiring mission, 4) qualitative growth, 5) the empowerment of leaders, 6) outreach and service and 7) a community presence. 102 My report of church closures and deconsecrations in the Diocese of Huron entitled “Bucking the Trend – Diocese of Huron Statistics” (attached in the Appendices section of this document) provides evidence that congregations who have experienced a systemic loss of relationships as reported in their average Sunday attendance have an increased risk of future disestablishment. There are very few examples of congregations that have been able to buck this trend of decline without significant Diocesan intervention. 49

My process of dialogue with twelve growing Anglican congregations has drawn from two sources of theory. Informed by the tradition of the praxis model of theological reflection, it was an initial hunch of this researcher that growing congregations would regularly reflect on their locally held beliefs and how those beliefs motivate their ministry activities. Whether formalized or not, I believed that growing congregations would have their own process of ministry planning that might resemble Bishop Laurie Green’s Model of Theological Reflection (see Section 13). My purpose in this study has been to provide an intervention within each of the twelve selected congregations where, with the necessary permissions and participation, I have facilitated a congregation-wide process of theological reflection with the goal of revealing the underlying local theologies held by each of the twelve churches. As a researcher I recognize that the theological reflection stage of Green’s model is only one of four stages in the process, and therefore I would not be researching the full implementation of the praxis model103 with any congregation. However, I have assumed that each growing congregation would have their own habit of completing this process and had likely completed numerous theological reflection cycles in their own way over the past decade. In stating these intentions, I have also revealed a central assumption of this research project: that growing congregations theologically reflect on the growth/loss of membership over long durations of time. As the Report section of this thesis will reveal, this assumption has proven to be not entirely inaccurate in some contexts.

The second theory that was foundational to this research project was the implementation of Robert Schreiter’s definition and categorization of local theologies. Again, to test my thesis question of whether or not local theologies inform congregations actions that may be leading to the fostering of new memberships, I first needed to design a project that would, in effect, reveal the local theologies of each of the twelve congregations. I have used Schreiter’s definition of local theologies (see Section 19) as my guiding canon. I have also crafted my selected research methods in a manner designed to reveal the three roots of local theology existent in each congregation: the roots of gospel, church and culture.

103 The full cycle of Laurie’s four stages is presented in the Theology section of this thesis.

2 Adopting the Phenomenological Methodology

My goal of facilitating congregation-wide processes of theological reflection among twelve numerically growing Anglican congregations (with the hoped-for result of revealing underlying local theologies) meant that I would be looking to employ a methodology that would best suit this goal. The two methodologies that I considered for this project were ethnography and phenomenology. On the one hand, ethnography seemed to be a good fit for the project because it is the study of cultures where the researcher is a participant observer. Within this methodology, understandings are gleaned through research done from inside of the community (through the participants’ own views). A key aspect of the Doctor of Ministry thesis project is the participation of members from the student’s own ministry context. For me this meant that my own parish of St. George’s, the Blue Mountains, would be included in the study.104 In some ways this makes me, as a researcher, an “insider” within the culture of the congregations being studied. However, a central challenge of the ethnography methodology is the extent of immersion required by the researcher within a particular culture over a long duration of time. While I may be quite immersed within the ministry context of St. George’s, The Blue Mountains,105 this would certainly not be the case with any of the other eleven congregations in the study. Also, the duration of the research stage of this project was six months. Simply put, six months would not be enough time to fully immerse myself in the culture of twelve very different congregations. It is for the above stated reasons that the phenomenology methodology seemed the best fit for my project.106 Within the phenomenological approach, the researcher has a goal of describing the lived experience of the subject phenomenon. The primary focus of the research is in discovering the meaning of a community’s shared experience. This, in effect, is what I would be doing within my research project: seeking to understand the meaning of the locally

104 St. George’s, The Blue Mountains, is also included by merit of it being one of a handful of congregations that have experienced numeric membership growth in the last decade. 105 By merit of being the priest and pastor of the community. 106 At this point in my thesis, I wish to note a word of thanks to a number of individuals who helped me greatly in narrowing down my final selection of the phenomenological methodology. It should be noted that even up to the defense stage of my thesis proposal (included in the Appendices section of the thesis) I was unsure of my methodology. Thank you to my D.Min cohort member, The Very Rev’d Dr. Geoffrey Ready, to Dean Christopher Brittain of Trinity College and to Father Joseph Schner (S.J.), past principal of Regis College for their contributions of conversation and of reading materials. A list of qualitative research texts is reported in my Bibliography.

52 held beliefs of each congregation in relationship to membership growth. To do so, my project would require the utilization of a number of research tools that could initiate a process of congregational meaning-making without directing/leading those congregations to any preconceived conclusions. Within the phenomenological methodology, the researcher seeks to remove her/himself from the subject matter of the project. Once I had adopted this methodology for my study I recognized that I would need to take certain measures in regard to my home congregation (St. George’s) in order to distance myself from the research process. More regarding this separation will be shared shortly.

3 A Mixed Methods Approach: Expanding the Relatability of the Study

In my initial conversations about the design of this research project with my mentoring professors, I debated with them the merits of a broad, mixed-methods approach to a phenomenological study. My reasoning in advocating for a larger study base, including twelve congregations, was to ultimately give this thesis a greater sense of relatability to other ministry contexts in the Anglican Church of Canada. A more traditional format for a D.Min study would have narrowed the subject base to three or fewer congregations. Had I done this, the relatability of the study would have been greatly reduced. My hope for this work has always been to gather and share insights from congregational studies that would be useful to both my home Diocese of Huron, but also to the wider Anglican Church. It was on these grounds that I argued for a research project that would include both the urban and rural ministry contexts, that would be inclusive of both small and large Anglican congregations, and, ideally be able to present a wider range of congregational culture in terms of liturgical practices (i.e., High Church, Broad Church and Low Church). I am thankful to my professors for granting me permission to study an irregularly large sample of congregations. I am also deeply thankful to my Diocese and Bishop107 for providing me with the sabbatical time necessary to conduct this research. With this

107 Thank you to The Most Reverend Dr. Linda Nicholls, Bishop of Huron and Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada for granting me permission for a six month academic sabbatical in order to conduct my research. Appreciation is also expressed for The Venerable Judy Walton, Associate at St. George’s, The Blue Mountains for her pastoral and administrative interim ministry of the parish during the period of my six month sabbatical.

affirmation, I was then tasked with designing a mixed methods approach that would be able to glean as much cultural data from twelve congregations as possible. My approach to this challenge included the following components to my phenomenological study: 1) a quantitative analysis of congregational statistics from both the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto between the years 2007-2017; 2) a qualitative research survey that allowed for as many participants from Anglican congregations to provide feedback in as quick and convenient a manner as possible; 3) a qualitative appreciative inquiry group interview that enabled me to solicit the insights from lay ministry leaders of each congregation; and 4) a qualitative questionnaire to include the commentary of clergy leaders, and 5) a supplementary questionnaire that was completed by the lay leaders of each congregation, allowing for me to compare and contrast responses of lay leaders to the representative values expressed by the congregational as a whole (as collected in the congregational context survey). In addition to employing the survey, questionnaire and appreciative group inquiry methods, I also benefitted greatly from establishing a focus group of diocesan ministry leaders for the purpose of testing the “usefulness” of each research tool. What I am referring to here is the application of data produced by the study to be of benefit to the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. To best expand on the rationale and purpose of each research method I will now detail a linear report of my implementation of each tool for the research project.

4 Research Parameters and Ethical Considerations

All participants in this study were informed of the guidelines of the research project in compliance with the regulations set forth by the Research Ethics Board of the University of Toronto. Within each of the following research methods, participants were informed of the following: that they are being invited to discuss ministry practices in their congregation and the faith beliefs that may inform/shape these practices. Participation within this project was entirely voluntary and participants could withdraw at any time without any adverse action. All answers in the study would be kept confidential and anonymous. Each contributor’s responses would also be presented in the final thesis as anonymous. A copy of the final thesis will be shared with each congregation that participates within this research project.

4.1 Benefits and Risks

The answers from the questionnaires, survey and group interview will become part of a larger database on the study of a possible correlation between the presence of certain local theologies (faith beliefs) and their contribution to numerical growing Anglican congregations in Huron and Toronto. The project seeks to further the understanding of what practices are being utilized within growing congregations and locally held theological beliefs may be influencing these practices. The researcher’s hope is that these insights might be able to be shared among other congregations to benefit their own future congregational development and ministry planning. Participants will benefit from the sharing of their own perspectives and ministry in practice and knowing that their responses and experiences may be helpful to Anglicans in other congregations.

4.2 Risks and Confidentiality

There were no identified risks to participating in the research study as participation has been voluntary, the participants can withdraw at any time and all identities have remained anonymous. All interviews have been tape-recorded but the names of participants have not been recorded. All names and identifying information will not be associated with any part of the written report of the research. All information and interview responses have been kept confidential.

5 A Linear Report of the Research Methods Used in This Study 5.1 Step One: A Quantitative Assessment of Membership Statistics from the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto for the selection of the twelve subject congregations.

The starting point of research for this project began with an analysis of current trends in membership statistics in both Huron and Toronto. This work had already been compiled in the Diocese of Toronto through the ministry of Canon David Robinson, past Director of Congregational Development, and Peter Misiaszek, the current Director of Stewardship Development for the diocese. The product of their work is an ongoing database that tracks the statistics collected from the annual vestry returns of each congregation in the diocese in order to

present trends of membership changes, average Sunday attendance, financial givings and an assessment of parish vitality. In the Diocese of Huron, a comparable database did not exist. Although the information was documented in the annual vestry returns of each Diocese, it had yet to be compiled in a single database that that would allow for the analysis required for this project. Therefore, the first step of the research project was to create such a database.108 The findings from this analysis will be explained in the Results Section of this thesis.

I am grateful to the Archbishop of Huron109 and The Bishop of Toronto110 for their support and endorsement of this research project, especially in the granting of access to diocesan membership statistics that have been the basis for selecting the twelve subject congregations: six from Huron and six from Toronto. The subject congregations were selected because they demonstrated numeric membership growth, as reflected in increases in their average Sunday attendance, in the past decade (2007-2017). It was my decision as a researcher to allow for each diocese to select their own congregations for the study due to the fact that the cultures of these congregations were better known to diocesan administrators than they would be to me as an outside researcher. This step included a screening process by which administrators could comment on any irregularities that they might be aware of that could skew the representation of congregational growth. For example: if two congregations suddenly merged into a new congregational identity, this would exclude that community from this study as growth might be a result of a ministry intervention and not a result of local theologies held by either merging congregation. While this decision added a subtle element of subjectivity to the study, an examination of each congregation in the context of average Sunday attendance and increases in financial givings between 2007-2017, demonstrates that all twelve congregations are situated as

108 This database is presented in the document “Bucking the Trend: Diocese of Huron Statistics” in the Appendices section of this thesis.

109 Following her election as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Dr. Linda Nichols served a period of time both as Primate and Bishop of Huron. Her title during this overlap of ministry was styled Archbishop of Huron. 110 There have been two episcopal transitions during the study and research periods of my Doctor of Ministry program. On June 9th, 2018 Bishop Andrew Asbil was elected to succeed Archbishop Colin Johnson as the Bishop of Toronto. I am thankful to Toronto’s Director of Stewardship and Development, Peter Misiaszek, who has assisted me in the selection of Toronto’s congregations for this study during the episcopal transition. On July 16th, 2019 Archbishop Linda Nicholls was installed as the 14th Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. I am thankful for her endorsement and assistance in the selection of the six congregations from the Diocese of Huron included in this study.

leading congregations in terms of both membership growth and increases in financial resources.111 The twelve subject congregations selected for the research project were:

From the Diocese of Huron • St. John the Divine, Arva (North of London) • Christ Church, Huntingford (North of Woodstock) • Holy Trinity, Lucan • St. Paul’s, Southampton • St. George’s, The Blue Mountains • St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor

From the Diocese of Toronto • Christ Church St. James, Etobicoke • St. Mark’s Anglican/Lutheran, Midland • St. Paul’s, Minden with Kinmount and Maple Lake • Trinity East (Little Trinity), Toronto • St. Martin-in-the-Field’s, Toronto • All Saints, Whitby

Copies of the episcopal endorsement documents authorizing this research project are included in the Appendices section of this thesis.

5.2 Step Two: Forming a Focus Group Consisting of Congregational Development Leaders to Assist in Crafting “Useful” Research Tools

There were two reasons why I enlisted the feedback of congregational development leaders from Huron and Toronto: 1) to draw on the wisdom of leaders who have been serving the Church for

111 The only exception to the group is that of St. Mark’s Anglican/Lutheran congregation, which demonstrated a 16.9% growth in average Sunday attendance between 2009-2016, but reported a modest (3%) decrease in financial givings in that same period.

decades as both ministry practitioners and practical theologians (although they might not necessarily adopt these titles for themselves) in the process of conducting qualitative research; and 2) to design my research tools in a way that the data they collected might be useful to both the Dioceses of Toronto and Huron for future congregational development and planning. My focus group consisted of the following contributors: The Rev’d Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen, Professor of Evangelism and Director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College; Dr. John Bowen, Professor Emeritus of Evangelism and past Director of the Institute of Evangelism; The Rev’d Canon Dr. Duke Vipperman, Congregational Coach for the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto; and Janet Marshall, Director of Congregational Development for the Diocese of Toronto. Once I had completed draft copies of the research methods that I intended to use in the study, the focus group reviewed these tools and provided suggestions that would allow for them to be more effective in terms of clarity of language used, more achievable in terms of limiting questions to the time restraints of the project, and more precise in the asking of questions that addressed my central thesis. I greatly appreciate the mentorship of each of these leaders and look forward to sharing the results of the project with them.

5.3 Step Three: The Scheduling of Twelve Congregational Research Days

Following permission from the bishops I then immediately sought to schedule research days with each of the twelve congregations. These took place on Sundays between February 17th and June 9th during the regular worship periods of each of the congregational communities. Prior to the visit, the congregations were informed of the dates of research and encouraged to participate in order to support the research study. With the permission of each congregation’s Rector/Incumbent112 and wardens113 I arranged for the following four research tools to be implemented in each congregation: 1) a Congregational Context Survey; 2) an Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview, 3) a Supplementary Group Interview Questionnaire, and 4) a Clergy Questionnaire. It should be noted that sometimes these research visits took place over more than

112 These are Anglican titles indicating the priest in charge of a Parish church. 113 Within the Anglican parish structure, wardens serve as the officers of the Parish Corporation.

one day (including a Sunday visit and a mid-week visit) in order to best accommodate the availability of the congregations.

5.4 Step Four: The Congregational Context Survey

The Congregational Context Survey was designed to collect information about each congregation’s culture and theological beliefs from the perspective of the worshipping participants. There were a total of 1046 worshippers present (including children) at the congregational research days. From this number, 933 participants completed the survey. This survey method presented an opportunity to poll worshippers in growing congregations about their individual beliefs. While similar studies to this one had been conducted before, 114 what was unique about this survey was that it was specifically focused on asking worshippers from growing Anglican churches why they were choosing to attend these congregations. The study was also able to identify visitors present on those particular Sundays and elicit their reasons for attending.

The surveys were conducted either before the worship service or during (immediately prior to the final blessing), depending on the timing that was considered least intrusive to the congregation.115 The surveys were completely anonymous and participation in the survey implied consent.116 Questions on the survey produced data in the following areas: • Basic information of the participants: age, gender, visitor or member, years attending the congregation. • It asked if they have always been part of the Anglican tradition or if they have come to the congregation from outside the tradition, i.e. as a non-Christian or as a member of another Christian denomination.

114 The most recent example of a similar study was conducted by David Miliard Haskell, Kevin N. Flat and Stephanie Burgoyne entitled, “Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy,” in Review of Religious Research, 58, no. 4 (December 2016): 515-541. 115 The decision of timing for the survey was made by the clergy of each congregation. 116 The full Clergy Questionnaire is presented on pages 233-234 in the Appendices section of this thesis. It should be highlighted that the first question asks for the participant’s permission to use their responses for the purpose of this study. 100% of participants granted this permission. Due process according to the guidelines of the Research and Ethics Board of the University of Toronto was practiced in the implementation of this research project.

• Another question specifically asked if the participants have always been Christian or not, in order to explore percentages of conversion experiences. Respondents were also invited to further expand on the question by stating when they converted to Christianity. • It asked what initially drew worshippers to their current congregation and allowed for answers to be made first without any set answers and then providing several set answers to select from. • A follow up question asked: what keeps you here as a member of the congregation? This question allowed for open responses without any preselected answers. • The survey asked participants to rank a number of characteristics of the congregation as they considered them to be important reasons for being part of the community. Examples of this included: Anglican tradition, warm welcome of the community, engaging preaching, music style, youth and family ministries, among others. • Lastly, it asked participants if they are currently serving in any of the congregation’s ministries as a manner of determining levels of congregational service in lay ministries.

Once completed, the Congregational Context surveys were sorted, filed and they compiled into simple statistical reports presenting responses according to averages relating to the total number of participants. Each congregation has its own distinct report. These were then shared with the clergy and lay leadership team from each congregation for their own interest and congregational development planning. Individual reports were then merged together to create reports on statistic by diocese. It is these diocesan reports that will be shared in the Reports section of this thesis. The agreement with each participant congregation is that that they will receive full access to all final reports in this project and a copy of the completed thesis. Again, I am thankful for their support and interest in this project.

5.5 Step Five: The Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview

While the Congregational Context Survey allowed for me to collect a large amount of data contributed by the majority of worshipping participants from my research visits to each congregation, the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interviews allowed for me to take a deeper dive into the culture and beliefs of each congregation within the limitations of a two hour conversation that sought to focus on the positive characteristics present in each faith community that might be contributing to membership growth. I have been familiar with the Appreciative Inquiry method for many years. It has been a very fruitful tool for the American, Episcopalian

theologian and historian of Christianity, Diana Butler Bass. Bass undertook a significant research project, sponsored by the Lily Endowment, in 2002 that allowed for her to explore the dominant traits of revitalized Protestant churches in the U.S., the results of this study being published in her text Christianity for the Rest of Us.117 In this project, the primary research tool utilized was appreciative inquiry, which Bass describes in this way:

As we collected qualitative data, we assumed a stance of appreciative inquiry, looking for language of success – especially stories – that could be analyzed and shared with others. Consequently, we chose not to focus our data collection on diagnosing dysfunction or conflict, although we remained open to identifying challenges in our conversations and observations.118

Over the last decade of my own ministry practice, I have used appreciative inquiry in numerous congregational contexts primarily for the purpose of exploring the corporate success stories of church communities. The process lends itself well to group conversations because it allows for each participant in the conversation to offer up answers to questions in a way that weights every response equally. This is done through the use of post-it notes, on which participants write their answers in response to questions asked in the interview. The post-it notes are then collected and displayed on whiteboards or posters which allow for all the participants to visually see the responses and even group similar responses together on the boards or posters. As noted above by Bass, questions are asked in a way that seeks to appreciate the strengths present in the community and to imagine how those strengths might benefit the congregational as a whole in the future.

The participants in the Appreciative Group Interviews were selected because they are serving as lay leaders of various ministries in their congregations. As such, these lay leaders were found to be both committed to and engaged in the relationships and the work of their church, making them as ideal representatives of the faith beliefs of their congregations as might exist. Each

117 Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighbourhood Church is Transforming the Faith. (New York, New York: Harper One, 2006).

118 Diana Butler Bass, as cited in: Tim Sensing’s Qualitative Research: A Multi-methods Approach to Projects for Doctor of Ministry Theses, (Eugene, Oregon: 2011) 175-176.

61 congregation was unique in the ministries that they offer, therefore the representation of each group of lay leaders was different. Some groups included worship leaders, pastoral care associates, administrative leaders/wardens and small group organizers, while others included Christian education teachers, outreach coordinators and congregational evangelists. The size of the groups interviewed also varied by congregation (from 4 participants to 18 participants) depending on the availability of parishioners to attend the interviews. It is important to note that size of the congregation was also reflected in the number of lay leaders exercising ministry. For instance, a congregation like Christ Church, Huntingford, with an average Sunday attendance of around 50 people, would have fewer lay leaders than a congregation such as Trinity East (Little Trinity) that sees more than 300 worshippers on a Sunday.

The format used for the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interviews was as follows:

1) All participants were informed of the terms of consent as prescribed by the Research Ethics Board of the University of Toronto. They were then invited to complete the letters of informed consent. Participants were also notified that the group interviews would be recorded on two recording devices to allow for me, as the researcher, to type up a transcript of these interviews. The reasoning of having two recording devices was to have a back-up should one of the two devices malfunction.

2) Each participant was given a coloured marker, a stack of post-it notes, and two oversized post- it notes. The purpose of using individually coloured markers for the group interview was to allow for all responses to be anonymous while also giving me, as the researcher, a manner by which I could identify individual responses upon the conclusion of the interview in case a participant wished, at a later stage, to retract their answers from the study. Should such a request have been made, I could have then asked the individual which colour they had used in their answers and then collated the responses on the post-it notes with the transcript produced from the recording. For instance, if the participant wishing to withdraw her responses used an orange marker, then I could then go back to the post-it notes (which have been retained with all other project documents) and identify the anonymous orange responses and then remove them from the study.

3) All group members were directed to write their answers to each of the interview questions on the post-it notes provided. If a question asked for more than one response, a single post-it note was used for each individual answer, as opposed to multiple answers being written on one post-it note.

4) After answers for each question were collected and displayed on a poster (either visible on the wall or on nearby tables), they were then grouped according to similar responses. Participants were able to provide feedback during this process to assist in grouping the response by similar themes.

5) Some questions had a follow-up question(s) that allowed for open conversation to take place that didn’t not use the post-it notes. This encouraged conversations to expand in able to include the telling of stories and the sharing of congregational narratives.

5.6 The Interview Questions

In the interview, the first two questions cultivated answers that began describing the culture of the congregation: characteristics that the congregation would be proud of sharing with newcomers and why these characteristics might be considered meaningful to newcomers; their awareness of various groups within their geographic neighbourhood and how the congregation might be active in serving (or not serving) these groups of people.

Q #1: If you were describing your congregation to a newcomer, what three things about your community would you highlight?

Q #1, follow-up119: Why do you believe these things to be important to a newcomer?

Q #2: Tell me about yourself: who are your community neighbours? (Which groups of people live, work and visit the neighbourhood where your church is located?)

Q #2, follow up: What are the groups you are most active in serving in your neighbourhood?

119 While the initial questions asked were answered on post-it notes, the follow up questions were open to group conversation.

Questions three and four began exploring the relationship between the congregation’s ecclesiology (their understanding of themselves as being Church) and their engagement with the Gospel. While the questions are asked in a manner that seeks not to lead participants towards having to speak about Church and Gospel, more often than not the lay leaders began to see their Christian outreach as being a way of fostering new relationships. The manner in which they presented themselves to non-members through their Outreach was often indicative of the theological beliefs that were motivating their ministry actions. After listing the congregation’s outreach activities with post-it notes in question three, question four directly asks: what is the motivation for these activities? My hope in asking this question was to have the lay leaders describe if their theological beliefs were motivating their ministry activities. As the Reports section will present, sometimes this was clearly the case, but not always.

Q #3: What are three ministry activities that your congregation has participated in within the last two years that you believe may have contributed to the building of new relationships with people in your neighbourhood community?

Q #3, follow-ups: What activities do you feel the congregation is really good at doing?

Anything that you would like to do better or differently?

Q #4: Continuing from the previous question, what do you believe the congregation’s motivation was for initiating the previously listed three ministry activities?

Robert Schreiter argues that an important aspect of local theology is how congregations are not only shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their patterns of worship and outreach, and but also how they then articulate it to others through missionary efforts and proclamation:

“Gospel” here means the Good News of Jesus Christ and the salvation that God has wrought through him. This includes, and reaches beyond, the proclamation of the Scriptures. This includes the worshipping context of the local community and the presence of its Lord there. It includes aspects of the praxis of the community announcing the Good News.120

120 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 24.

Question five seeks to get to the heart of the congregation’s proclamation. However, you will notice that the question is worded carefully to not explicitly mention “proclamation”, but rather “communication.” My hope here was that lay leaders might volunteer up their own thoughts of how they talk about their church and their Christian faith to non-members.

Q #5: Name the three most effective ways your congregation communicates with non- members in the community?

Q #5, follow-up: How regular is this communication?

Question six sought to draw out each congregation’s theology of evangelism and growth (as expressed in their own words). The two follow up questions provide a generous space for participants to expand on their answers should they so choose.

Q #6: What are two of three ways that this congregation discerns or prepares for congregational growth?

Q #6, follow-ups: Would you say that growth is a priority for your congregation?

Do you have any expectations around growth?

Tell me what this is saying to you.

Question seven was my discreet effort to inquire as to whether or not the congregation had an ongoing Catechetical process by which a newcomer to the Christian faith might be able to be taught, supported and drawn into the worshipping community. This is the first time in the interview where I have deliberately referred to God (in the person of Jesus Christ). My reason for leaving God out of the conversation up until this point was to allow for the lay leaders to articulate their own relationship with God amongst their perceived ministry priorities. As the Results will demonstrate, some congregations are much more comfortable naming God than others.

Q #7: If a newcomer were seeking to learn more about the story of Jesus Christ, what two or three things does your congregation do to support this quest?

The final question of the interview was approached in a slightly different manner than the rest. In answering this question, participants were instructed to use the larger post-it notes which allowed for them to share more detailed responses. Question eight was my effort in having each lay participant share a theological statement about their congregation. Central to this statement was the role of God in relationship to their faith community. Drawing from the imaginative aspect of the appreciative inquiry process, this question had participants contemplate God’s perspective of their congregation. This resulted in them producing individual statements of local theology. To celebrate each individual contribution, I collected each response and then recirculated them among the members of the group so that each person would read out loud a response crafted by one of their peers.121

Q #8: What do you imagine God’s hopes/dreams for this congregation might be?

Answers written on index cards (large post-it notes). The cards were collected and shuffled and then redistributed to the members of the group.

Responses were then read aloud to be shared with the members of the group.

The sharing of theological statements in this fashion brought a celebratory aspect to the conclusion of the interview process. It is interesting to note that most congregations immediately requested a copy of their responses. These responses were included in the transcripts of the interviews that were made available to each lay leadership group and their clergy following the interview.

As a final check on the accuracy of my documentation of the group interviews, I emailed a typed transcript to the clergy of each participant congregation in order for them to share these with their lay leadership groups. This created a feedback loop to allow for any final comments to be added to the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview transcripts.

121 A special thank you to Janet Marshall, Director of Congregational Development for the Diocese of Toronto, for suggesting the idea of having each respondent read aloud the answers of fellow participants.

5.7 Step Six: The Supplementary Group Questionnaire

One further component to each of the group interviews was having participants fill out an additional questionnaire. This took approximately five to fifteen minutes to complete and happened immediately before or after the group interview.122 There were two primary goals of this supplementary questionnaire: 1) to ask some additional questions that could best be answered with written responses which could then reduce the number of questions asked in the group interview to eight (which I believed to be manageable within the context of a two hour interview); and 2) to have the participants rank characteristics of the congregational experience as they believed to be relevant to membership growth. This second goal allowed for me to test whether the prioritization of congregational characteristics ranked by the lay leaders were in alignment with those expressed by the general congregation members in the Congregational Context Survey. Or, in other words, did the lay leaders of each congregation share the same priorities as those expressed by the congregation? I was also able to note where expressed priorities between the two different groups did not align.

5.8 The Questions

The first question of the Supplemental Questionnaire borrowed from an index of congregational comfort around practices of evangelism.123 The intent of the question was to give participants an opportunity to rank the generalized expression of evangelism of this church. The responses where then averaged together in order to create a final ranking, which will be presented in the Reports section. One challenge of using such as index is that participants noted that some parishioners in their congregation are much more comfortable around evangelism than others. Likewise, some parishioners feel better equipped for evangelism than others. However, the lay leaders did their best to answer this question in a way that was understood as a generalization of their congregation as a whole.

122 In some cases participants were unable to write the questionnaire within the time restraints of the interview process. When this occurred they were able to be emailed the Supplementary Questionnaire and complete their responses following the congregational research visit.

123 The question was adapted from a development day hosted in the Diocese of Huron by The Rev’d Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen, Director of the Institute of Evangelism (March, 2018). Used with permission.

Q #1: On a spectrum of attitudes towards sharing your Christian faith with others, where might your congregation fall on this spectrum? Pick one or two responses.124

Following the selection of one or two responses from the pre-set spectrum of answers, participants were given the opportunity to add any additional comments in response to the question.

Question number two was a direct reproduction of a question that was part of the Congregational Context Survey. This was intentional, as this allowed me to compare the prioritization of characteristics of the congregation (as these were considered to be important reasons for being part of the faith community) between lay leaders and the general responses from the congregation.

Q #2: Please rank the top three (3) following characteristics of this congregation, as you consider them to be important reasons for your being a part of the community.

Participants were able to select from a list of eight pre-set responses.

The third question was the most explicit opportunity that I took as a researcher to explore the ecclesiology (their understanding of how they value the wider Anglican tradition) of the lay leadership of each congregation. I left this question completely open so that participants were not directed towards any particular responses. The Reports section will demonstrate that this led to a very broad range or responses.

Q #3: What are three of the most important gifts that Anglicanism has to offer people today?

The final two questions, (four and five), gave me a final opportunity to ask about how participants perceived growth within their congregational contexts. Did they feel that there were

124 A copy of the Supplementary Group Interview Questionnaire will be included in the Appendices Section of this thesis to present the full spectrum of responses for this question.

68 particular practices that were resulting in growth? Were there any additional factors that might be resulting in growth?

Q #4: What are the two or three most critical things that you believe are contributing to increases in membership for your congregation?

Q #5: Is there any further information that you believe the researcher should know about the contributing factors of numerical growth within your congregation? If so, please elaborate further.

I added the final question because it allowed for participants to honestly share if there might be factors influencing trends of membership that were completely unrelated to our discussion around theological beliefs and ministry practices. A supposed example of an outside influencing factor could be the closing of a neighbouring congregation resulting in sudden transfers of membership.

Voluntary participation in this additional research tool among the group interview members was quite high with 115 of 132 lay leaders completing the Group Interview Supplementary Questionnaire. The multiple methods employed exemplify the use of triangulation in data collection.

5.9 Step Seven: The Clergy Questionnaire

One of the arguments that the study of local theologies puts forward is the role of the community itself as a theologian. Unlike traditional sources of theology being derived from seminaries, academia and ecclesial institutions, Robert Schreiter and many contemporary missiologists who have been influenced by him see the role of forming theology as being a community practice. This makes sense when one considers whom theology is meant to serve. In the study of practical theology, the beliefs of a faith community often begin in response to their experience of the Gospel of Jesus Christ within a particular culture and context. How one culture and context may articulate their faith beliefs may be very different that those expressed out of a different culture and context. Schreiter affirms: “The role of the community in the developing of theology

reminds us also for whom theology is, in the first instance, intended: the community itself, to enhance its own self-understanding.”125 What is important in the process of cultivating local theologies is to allow for lay members of that community, those who may not have the same perspective as clergy and academics, to be enabled to articulate their congregational beliefs in their own words and ways. It is for this reason that I requested clergy to be absent from the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview process. It has been my experience in other congregational interview settings (those outside of this Doctor of Ministry program) that there is sometimes a tendency for lay members of church groups to differ from clergy in the articulation of theological responses on behalf of their congregations. It is often believed, for better or for worse, that since clergy have the seminary training to answer theological questions then they must be better suited to answering them. This may not always be the case. So, in order to best enable the articulation of theology from the perspective of the laity in each congregation (which is a particular focus of local theologies), clergy were not included in the group interview and instead given their own distinct avenue to contribute their opinions on the relationship between theological beliefs held by their congregations and their motivational potential to be fostering practices of relationship growth among new members. Maintaining the spirit of distinction between clergy and lay voices, I made the decision to remove myself from the facilitator’s role in the congregational research visit for my own church of St. George’s, The Blue Mountains. I am thankful to The Venerable Graham Bland, Archdeacon of the Saugeens in the Diocese of Huron and a member of my Ministry Base Group, for acting as facilitator in my own context for ministry. This allowed for my parishioners to share their beliefs and opinions for this project with a reduced influence of my presence in the process. Lastly, to have an objective clergy perspective from St. George’s, The Blue Mountains, I invited my Associate priest, The Venerable Judy Walton to complete the Clergy Questionnaire. Archdeacon Judy has served as the interim priest of St. George’s during my six month research sabbatical. She has also been a parishioner of the congregation for a number of years.

125 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 19.

The Clergy Questionnaire was accompanied by a Letter of Informed Consent126 which follows the Research Ethics Board guidelines of the University of Toronto. In addition to this, the document opened by soliciting a consent statement and signature from each participant. The Questionnaire allowed the opportunity for clergy to answer similar questions as those put to both the general congregation and lay leadership team members. Again, this sought the researcher’s goal of dependability of data through triangulation. There were fourteen clergy members who participated in this aspect of the research project. Twelve of the clergy were Rectors/Incumbents, otherwise known as priests in charge. Two of the clergy were Assistant Curates.127

The questions presented in the Clergy Questionnaire were as follows:

Q #1: Your congregation has been selected for this research study because it has experienced trends of numerical membership growth within the past decade. In your opinion, what factors might be contributing to your congregation’s growth?

I decided to open the Questionnaire by getting right to the heart of the project: what might be setting numerically growing congregations apart from those in decline? This being said, the first question was asked in a way that does not make direct reference to theological beliefs held by the community. I deliberately left the researcher’s assumption of a correlation between local theologies and numeric membership growth to be asked in a later question.

The following four questions have been reproduced from the Appreciative Group Interview to explore if clergy might provide similar responses or different ones from those offered up by the lay leaders from the same congregation.

Q #2: If you were describing your congregation to a newcomer, what would you tell that person about the theological beliefs held by your community?

126 Found in the Appendices section of the thesis. 127 Assistant curates, in the Anglican tradition, are clergy who are newly ordained. They serve in an assistant role in the congregation directly under the supervision of the Rector/Incumbent/priest in charge. In this relationship senior clergy are able to mentor newly ordained clergy.

Q #4: Continuing from the previous question, how were these ministry activities guided/initiated by your congregation’s theological beliefs?

Q #5: How (or where) would non-members/visitors to your congregation hear about your church for the first time?128

In question six, I have asked a similar question to the first question of the questionnaire, but in asking this second time I have made the relationship between local beliefs and membership growth explicit. This allows for me to compare the two responses: one asked in a completely open manner, the other asked through the lens of theological reflection.

Q #6: Are there any theological beliefs held by your congregation that may be contributing towards your membership growth?

Questions seven and eight reflect questions asked on the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview, again to compare with answers shared by lay leaders from the congregation.

Q #7: What are some of the reasons why people continue to come back (seek membership) in your congregation?

Q #8: Describe your congregation’s expectations around church growth.

Questions nine and ten are similar to questions one and five on the Group Interview Supplementary Questionnaire. Question nine allows for the clergy to comment on the congregation’s comfort around practices of evangelism. Question ten has been deliberately asked

128 Question five is asked in a slightly different way than the one presented on the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview. The question from that research tool appeared as: “Q #5: Name the three most effective ways your congregation communicates with non-members in the community?”

72 in an open manner to collect any further contributing factors to membership growth as perceived by the clergy leader of the congregation.

Q #9: How comfortable do you think your parishioners are in sharing their faith beliefs with others?

Q #10: Is there any further information that you believe the researcher should know about the contributing factors of numerical growth within your congregation? If so, please elaborate further.

As a concluding comment to my description of the Clergy Questionnaire, I would like to note that a deeply significant “unasked” question in this research project has been this: what is the relationship between clergy leaders and numerically growing congregations? While it has been my focus as a researcher to place the emphasis on enabling lay leaders to articulate the local theologies of the congregation, I am deeply aware of the leading role of clergy influence in each congregation. At the beginning of this thesis I highlighted a number of personal hunches held before I had engaged with the research phases of this study. One of the hunches highlighted my beliefs regarding the strengths and weaknesses of clergy-centric models for ministry. In the Reports section of this thesis I will directly address the question of the role of clergy in growing congregations, but I will do so from the comments and perspectives of the lay responses. This is in keeping with the previously defined parameters of exploring local theologies from the experience of lay leaders.

6 Data Collection

Within this phenomenological study, my five research tools of 1) a quantitative assessment of diocesan congregational statistics, 2) a congregational context survey, 3) an appreciative inquiry group interview, 4) a group interview supplementary questionnaire and 5) a clergy questionnaire have allowed for me to explore the meaning and motivation of growing congregations from a number of different perspectives. The process has allowed for consultation with both a focus group of experienced congregational coaches and through the feedback of clergy and lay leaders in the allowing for them to see the results of responses from their respective congregations in order to address any errors or omissions in the data collected. I believe that this has provided numerous points of triangulation in the study which strengthen the validity of the data collected.

All data collected within this research project has been digitized and stored on an encrypted hard drive in accordance with the regulations of the Research Ethics Board of the University of Toronto. In the following Results section this data will be categorized within the paradigm of Schreiter’s three roots for constructing local theologies: gospel, church and culture.

Chapter 4 Results of the Study

In this section, the findings of this study will be presented according to the same linear format as I presented the research tools in the previous section. I will report my findings on the following: 1) my analysis of statistical membership trends in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto according to the quantitative component of this research project; 2) a summary of the results from the Congregational Context Survey; 3) a summary of the of the combined results of the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interviews; 4) a report on the answers from the Supplementary Group Questionnaire; and 5) the contributions of clergy leaders towards the study.

Throughout this study I understood my role as a researcher to be one in which I sought to collect as much congregational data as possible. In this Report section I will simply present the data, leaving all analysis to the following section. It will be in the Analysis section that I will engage the findings from these reports through the theological lenses of Schreiter’s three roots of local theology.

7 Membership Trends in the Anglican Diocese of Huron

In order for the Bishop of Huron to select six numerically growing congregations to be included in study, I first compiled a database of every congregation within the diocese between the years 2007-2017 to document trends of congregational growth and decline.129 My primary focus with this database was to present the average Sunday attendance of each congregation in relationship to its status as being an active congregation, a chapel of ease,130 or a deconsecrated church. While Sunday attendance is not the single indicator of congregational vitality or future sustainability, a historical anecdotal rule of thumb in the Diocese has been that it often requires a congregation with an average of one hundred worshipping participants on a Sunday to support a

129 This document can be found on pages 217-225 in the Appendices section of this thesis. 2017 was the most recent year in which statistical data was available from the Annual Congregational Statistical Returns to Vestry in the Diocese of Huron. I am thankful to Canon Paul Rathbone, Secretary/Treasurer of the Diocese of Huron, for providing me access to these returns and for his permission for them to be included in this study. 130 A chapel of ease is a congregation that has ceased to function with regular patterns of Sunday worship. In most cases, a chapel of ease remains in a consecrated state but worship services only occur seasonally, usually around Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. Some chapels of ease have a cemetery onsite. In this case the chapels are often used for funeral services and cemetery decoration days. 74

single priest in a full time capacity for ministry. Within the Diocese of Huron, there is a decreasing number of congregations that can support the one-priest-one-congregation model of ministry. As a result, there has been a significant trend of parish realignment and congregational clustering into multi-point parishes.131

7.1 The Diocese of Huron in 2007

The database documents that in 2007 there were 219 active congregations in Huron. This meant that 219 congregations were offering regularly scheduled Sunday worship services. The smallest congregation had an average of seven worshippers on a Sunday, the largest saw an average of 391 people. In that same year, there were fifteen chapels of ease that were being maintained for seasonal worship services. The Diocese of Huron also reported 6 summer-only congregations.132 In 2007 the average Sunday attendance for the entire diocese was 13,473 worshippers.

7.2 The Diocese of Huron in 2017

My database then compares all the congregations in the diocese from 2007 to the year 2017. Within this ten year span, a number of rapid changes took place within our diocese. These changes reflect similar trends of membership decline that have been experienced across denominations throughout Canada.133 The annual congregational statistical returns document that in 2017 there were 162 active congregations offering regularly scheduled Sunday services in the Diocese. This is decline of 57 congregations within the decade which amounts to a loss of 26% of the congregations that were open year round in 2007. In addition to this change, the

131 A multipoint parish is one in which a single priest, or sometimes team of clergy, administers more than one congregation. Some examples in the Dioceses have seen numbers of up to six or more congregations clustering together in order to afford a single priest stipend (salary). 132 These are churches that are located in tourist areas where services are offered only in the summer months to minister to transitory congregations. 133 For a concise reporting of denominational membership decline in Canada, see Reginald Bibby’s Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, and No Religious in Canada, (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2017) 7-37. For a presentation on the decline of Anglicanism in Canada in comparison to other Christian denominations, see Brian Clarke and Stuart MacDonald’s, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds: Antecedents and Legacies in the Anglican Tradition, ed. Sean A Otto and Thomas P. Power (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016) 199-212.

76 number of chapels of ease increased from 15 to 25. Within the same ten year period, 46 church buildings were deconsecrated. In 2017 there continued to be 6 summer congregations.

7.3 Changes in the Total Average Sunday Attendance in the Diocese of Huron (2007-2017)

The statistics reveal that in 2007 the average Sunday attendance in Huron was 13,473 worshippers. In 2012 (the midpoint of the decade) that number had decreased to 11,196 people, a decline of 2,277 people or 17%. The trend continued into 2017, with the average Sunday attendance dropping to 8,436 total worshippers in the diocese, a decline of 5,037 members, or 37% from the 2007 statistics. In a number of instances throughout this thesis I have commented that average Sunday attendance is not the only qualifier of congregational health and vitality. However, I would argue that it is the single most representative attribute of congregational vitality over an extended period of time. As most Anglican churches continue to host their worship services on Sundays, this statistic is illustrative of the primary gathering and activity (worship) of Anglicans in a congregation each week. Statistics in the Diocese of Huron have also demonstrated, at least in our own diocesan context, that trends of decline in average Sunday attendance are directly related to trends of decline in: 1) the number of baptized members on parish rolls, 2) the number of identifiable contributors to parish ministry, 3) the number of worshippers at Easter services and 4) the number of youth present in Sunday ministries. Mirroring the trends of decline in average Sunday attendance in Huron are the following related statistics.134

134 Taken from a presentation delivered by The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott in a course at Huron University College, entitled: “Bucking the Trend: A Study of Local Theologies Contributing to Thriving Anglican Congregations,” © copyright Grayhame Bowcott, 2018.

Having presented these statistics, I will be leaving commentary and analysis of them to the Analysis and Application section of this thesis.

In my compilation of Huron’s statistical database, I adopted a system of colour-coding that was inspired by similar practices in the Diocese of Toronto.135 The colours correspond to a congregation vitality ranking system that reflects changes in average Sunday attendance over the two five year periods within 2007-2017. If a congregation increased in size it was assigned a green tag. Congregations that experienced a five year decline in average Sunday attendance that was less than ten percent were given a yellow colour assignment. Those who experienced a five year decline of more than ten percent were flagged with red. Lastly, the colour black was used to denote a church deconsecration, the terminating stage in the spectrum of congregational disestablishment. Between 2007-2012, the following statistics were reported (out of a total number of 239 church congregations administered by the Diocese of Huron): • 2.51% of congregations failed to submit the required annual statistical returns

135 Again, thank you to Peter Misiaszek, Director of Stewardship and Development in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, for his insights on practices of tracking congregational membership statistics.

• 24.27% of congregations had experienced numeric membership growth • 11.30% of congregations had declined by less than 10% (over 5 years) • 45.19% of congregations had decline by more than 10% (over 5 years) • 9.20% of congregations were designated chapels of ease • 7.53% of congregations were deconsecrated.

Between 2007-2012, it is interesting to note that almost 1 in 4 congregations were experiencing small measures of membership growth. This is also the period of time when the St. Anne’s Mission Project took place. While some membership growth was being reported in Huron, this five year span saw the deconsecration of 18 church buildings. I was present at most of these services. The majority of them took place in smaller rural communities where rural depopulation was the leading contributor to decline. In many cases, the closing of the Anglican church was also the closing of the last “public”136 building in those communities.

The statistics in the Diocese of Huron between the years 2012-2017 present the following information (out of a remaining total of 224 congregations administered by the diocese): • 0% of congregations failed to submit the required annual statistical returns • 13.84% of congregations had experience numeric membership growth • 8.48% of congregations had declined by less than 10% (over 5 years) • 50.89% of congregations had decline by more than 10% (over 5 years) • 12.05% of congregations were designated chapels of ease • 14.73% of congregations were deconsecrated.

Within this second five-year window of ministry, there were 28 services of deconsecration held.

7.4 Overall, Most Congregations in Huron are in Decline but… Some Congregations are Growing!

Once I had compiled the ten year statistics for the Diocese of Huron, I was then able to explore with my Bishop which congregations had demonstrated numeric membership increases as evidence in an increase in their average Sunday attendance between the years 2007-2017. Over that decade, of all congregations that remained open for full time ministry, 8.64% of these had

136 By “public,” I am referring to the fact that the churches are often considered by communities to be public spaces, as often churches host public community events. However, the buildings themselves are privately owned by the Diocese of Huron.

demonstrated trends of growth. From this grouping, the Bishop of Huron selected the following six congregations for this study137: • St. John the Divine, Arva – 25 % increase over the last five years. • Christ Church, Huntingford – 33% increase over ten years. • Holy Trinity, Lucan – 122% increase over the last five years. • St. Paul’s, Southampton – 34% increase over the last five years. • St. George’s, The Blue Mountains – 14% increase over the last five years. • St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor – 20 % increase over the last five years.138

8 Membership Trends in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The selection process of congregations in the Diocese of Toronto was made in a way that was a little different than those selected from Huron. In Toronto the six congregations were chosen by Peter Misiaszek, Director of Stewardship Development, according to their past record of growth in average Sunday attendance, but also in reflection of their growth in annual congregational givings.139 The following congregations were selected: • All Saints, Whitby – static average Sunday attendance trends140 between 2009- 2016 with a sudden trend of membership growth that resulted from the addition of a new contemporary worship service on Sunday taking place following 2016. The congregation experienced a 21.4% increase in givings during this time which allowed for them to hire an assistant curate.141 • Christ Church St. James, Etobicoke – 13% increase in ASA. 23.9% increase in givings. • St. Paul’s, Minden142 - 56% increase in ASA. 10.2% increase in givings.

137 Based on increases in average Sunday attendance. 138 It should be noted that the congregations of St. David’s and St. Mark’s amalgamated within the first half of the 2007-2017 time period. Congregational growth demonstrated here has resulted post-amalgamation. 139 The Diocese of Toronto maintains their own database of congregational statistics. At the time of selecting the six congregations this database compared annual vestry returns between the years of 2001-2016. For the purpose of this research study we were focusing on comparable trends of growth between 2009-2016. 140 Even static membership trends suggest congregational growth, only at a rate that replenishes trends of natural membership attrition. 141 The insights from the assistant curate are represented in the Results from the Clergy Questionnaire. 142 St. Paul’s Minden is part of a multiple point congregation that includes the communities of Kinmount and Maple Lake. While insights from all three congregations were included in the qualitative research tools, St. Paul’s was initially selected for this study by merit of average Sunday increases in the Minden congregation alone. This being said, ASAs in Kinmount and Maple Lake have also increased during the same period of time.

• Trinity East (Little Trinity), Toronto – 21.34% growth in ASA. 42.1% increase in givings. • St. Martin-in-the-Field’s, Toronto – static average Sunday attendance trends between 2009-2016143 with evidence of membership growth taking place following 2016. Reporting a 15.8% increase in givings. • St. Mark’s Anglican/Lutheran, Midland – 16.09% increase in ASA.144

In comparing the ministry contexts of the Diocese of Huron to the Diocese of Toronto, I am grateful for the work of Peter Misiaszek. The following information is taken from a presentation of his authorship entitled “Church Growth Statistics – Diocese of Toronto.”145 • Total Diocesan Average Sunday Attendance has decreased from 27,698 worshippers in 2001 to 18,448 in 2017. This is a decrease of 33% in ASA within that 16 year span. • The number of identifiable givers has decreased from 31,700 in 2001 to 22,742 in 2017. This is a decreased of 28%. • Between 2001-2017, 64 church buildings were deconsecrated in the Diocese of Toronto. • While in the Diocese of Huron 8.64% of congregations are currently reporting membership growth, in the Diocese of Toronto 25% of congregations are growing both in worship attendance and in financial stewardship.

143 See footnote 132 above. 144 St. Mark’s is the only congregation in the study to report a modest decrease (3%) in congregational givings during the 2009-2016 statistical period. 145 This presentation was prepared in advance of the 2019 episcopal election in which The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil was elected and consecrated as Bishop of Toronto.

The Diocese of Toronto, by merit of its population size and number of congregations, is the leading diocese (in terms of congregational growth) in the context of the Anglican Church of Canada. Growth within 25% of its roughly 230 congregations146 also demonstrates a great diversity of ministry contexts and cultures, as will be further developed in the following section.

9 Contextual Descriptions of the Twelve Subject Congregations

In order to illustrate the diversity of congregational contexts among the twelve subject churches I will provide a brief cultural description of each including: a) residential context (rural, urban, suburban), b) size of the congregation, c) liturgical style/tradition, d) foci of community partnerships and outreach, and e) expressed theological persuasion. This description will help to situate the proceeding reports of congregational data within their ministry context.

146 The reported total number of congregations is taken from the diocesan website: https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/about-the-diocese/profile-of-the-diocese/ (accessed July 24th, 2019).

9.1 The Diocese of Huron

9.1.1 St. John the Divine, Arva

St. John’s is located in a rural community immediately north of the City of London, Ontario. The congregation is one of the oldest in the Diocese of Huron, originally being paired with St. Paul’s church in the “Village of London” prior to St. Paul’s becoming the Cathedral Church of the Diocese. Since the 2000s, the City of London has expanded north with residential development approaching the Village of Arva. This has resulted in immediate population growth within the neighbourhood context of St. John’s. The congregation is made up of both long term residents from the rural community and recent residents living in new suburbs expanding north of London. The ASA has increased steadily over the past decade and currently sees 80 worshippers on an average Sunday. The priest of the parish has served throughout the entire 2007-2017 duration. St. John’s liturgical style would be described as casual, Broad Church.147 There is a single worship service on Sunday that blends traditional and contemporary music with liturgy taken from the Book of Alternative Services.148 St. John’s hosts a small choir and strongly encourages congregational singing. In terms of community partnerships and outreach, St. John’s has recently invested in building relationships with local youth from neighbouring schools. They host regular pizza and theology discussion lunches for the students as part of their outreach. The congregation has a long term youth ministry program and a lay pastor to youth. St. John’s describes both their theological and social persuasions as being liberal.149

9.1.2 Christ Church, Huntingford

Christ Church is located in a small agricultural village north of Woodstock, Ontario. With the recent closure of the United Church, the Anglican congregation is now the only Christian church operating in the community. Interesting to note, the United Church congregation, upon the sale of their building, has relocated to Christ Church. This is a result of a long term relationship

147 For definitions, please see the earlier section of definitions for this study. 148 The Book of Alternative Services is the most recent officially authorized text of the Anglican Church of Canada. Having been introduced in 1985, it is considered to be the contemporary liturgy of the ACoC. 149 See footnote 139 above.

between the two congregations. The United Church community worships prior to the Anglican worship service on Sundays. Numbers from the recently welcomed United Church community are not included in the data of this research study. Christ Church has also been the recipient of an influx of new members since amalgamating with the now closed congregation of Church of the Good Shepherd, previously located in Woodstock. Prior to the amalgamation, both congregations were experiencing modest trends of membership growth. Combined, their current ASA is around 50 worshippers. Another unique feature of the congregation is that they have an arrangement whereby the incumbent of the parish serves as the Chaplain to Huron Church Camp during its operation in the summer months. This is one way Christ Church supports youth ministry in the diocese, despite their congregation being the oldest (in terms of average age of members) represented in this study. A recent development in the community is the expansion of new suburbs north of Woodstock that is resulting in visitors exploring the charm of this rural congregation. In terms of liturgical style, Christ Church offers a Broad Church expression of ministry with worship primarily from the Book of Alternative Services. They feature a small choir that seeks to blend traditional hymns with some modern music. The congregation’s outreach is largely shaped by a routine of hosting seasonal fundraisers to support the ministry of the church. Many of these are related to historical agricultural events in the community of which parishioners have long been supportive. Theologically and socially, Christ Church is liberal in its views although there are a handful of members that affirm a strong conservative stance.

9.1.3 Holy Trinity, Lucan

Lucan, Ontario, is located fifteen minutes north of Arva (another congregation in this study). Similar to Arva, Lucan was historically a rural, agricultural town, although in recent years it has benefitted from population increases and new home construction as a spillover from growth in the City of London. Holy Trinity Anglican Church is a congregation that has experienced rapid growth over the past five years as a result of transformative leadership brought to them by their current incumbent. Up until 2012, Holy Trinity was reporting steady downwards trends of decline, but since 2012 has been marked by an increase of 122% growth in average Sunday

84 attendance (from 49 people to 109 worshippers)150. This has completely redefined the congregation in terms of its energy and future sustainability. The congregation now draws from a large catchment area with members driving in from London, Exeter and beyond. Holy Trinity has also seen a spike in young families. In response to this, they have renewed their focus on reaching out to children and youth. Trinity’s liturgical style is Broad Church, but marked with its own unique emphasis on music. The incumbent is a gifted Elvis impersonator in addition to being a talented preacher. As a result, the worship often showcases gospel music in the Elvis tradition further enabled by a quickly growing choir. There is a single service on Sunday according the Book of Alternative Services. Holy Trinity has a very active presence in their neighbourhood with parishioners supporting numerous local causes: the Kraft Hockeyville contest (of which Lucan, Ontario was the 2018 winner), contributions to the local food bank, a close relationship with the local retirement home and they often host fundraisers in support of local charities. In terms of theological and social persuasion, Holy Trinity Lucan is a liberal congregation.

9.1.4 St. Paul’s, Southampton

Southampton, Ontario is located on the shores of Lake Huron, roughly of equal distance between Tobermory (the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula) and Goderich, Ontario. The town is a vibrant, growing community experiencing both the benefits of increases in cottager seasonal activity and growth in permanent residents enabled by strong employment opportunities as an economic ripple effect of the nearby Bruce Nuclear Power Plant. St. Paul’s has been experiencing steady membership growth over the past five years, seeing average Sunday increases from 44 people on a Sunday to now frequently over 60 worshippers. St. Paul’s, Southampton is a member of the Regional Ministry of Saugeens Shores: partnered with congregations in Tara/Invermay, Chatsworth and Port Elgin. The Regional Ministry has two dynamic clergy members that oversee the pastoral care of a large rural area. In terms of liturgy, each congregation is unique in their style although they would all generally be classified as both Broad Church and casual in format. Services at St. Paul’s, Southampton are held once each

150 This makes Holy Trinity, Lucan the fastest growing congregation in either the Diocese of Huron or Toronto.

Sunday from the Book of Alternative Services. At the time of this study, St. Paul’s was in the process of hiring a new Director of Music with hopes of reengaging a small congregational choir. In recent years the congregation, under the leadership of their incumbent, has had a deliberate focus on partnering with local community groups. One way of doing this was in the building of a brand new community hall that is utilized almost every day of the week hosting various groups (both church related and not). St. Paul’s has sought to have a visible “outside of the church” presence in the community, frequently hosting outdoor worship services, youth ministry camps and beach-side worship services (including baptisms in Lake Huron). Regular community suppers bring together people from across the community. The church has also taken a bold step in hiring a Christian education and youth pastor to foster growth among young families in the community. St. Paul’s self-identifies as liberal, both in social and theological terms.

9.1.5 St. George’s, The Blue Mountains

The Parish of The Blue Mountains is the northeastern-most point of the Diocese of Huron bordering on the northwestern edge of the Diocese of Toronto. The Town of the Blue Mountains is a recent amalgamation (2001) of a number of small rural villages/towns including: Thornbury, Clarksburg, Ravenna, Craigleith and Heathcote. The primary economy in the area is tourism that is centered around a clustering of ski clubs and resorts located in the Beaver Valley and along the Blue Mountain escarpment. The Blue Mountains has now developed into a four seasons tourist community and is seeing a rapid influx of population growth both of permanent residents (largely relocating from the Greater Toronto area) and cottagers. Property values in the area reflect Toronto real estate markets and, as such, require residents to be fairly affluent. Low income families have largely been displaced from the community. St. George’s church has seen steady trends of growth over the last decade of about 1-2% per year in average Sunday attendance. The congregation currently sees an ASA of 95 worshippers between two services. The congregation is unique in that it blends Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans in one faith community as there are no Roman Catholic or Lutheran congregations in the immediate area. The liturgical style attempts to reflect the diversity of the congregational makeup. At the early service the worship is relatively Low Church, with an emphasis on casual worship (coffee in the pews), a minimalistic use of vestments and particularly high levels of lay leadership in worship. The second service is more High Church in expression with a full choir, vested lay

86 readers and accompaniment by a Director of Music. Full traditional vestments are always worn by the clergy at the second service. Both the first and second services use the liturgy from the Book of Alternatives Service. St. George’s is the largest congregation of the five denominations represented in the Town of the Blue Mountains. Their growth has largely been a result of being highly connected to the various community groups in the area. In 2012 the congregation built on the addition of a million dollar parish hall facility. This building is used seven days a week to host a range of community groups: three choirs, various exercise groups, an art school, several card playing groups, the parish Anglican Church Women’s group, the Rotary Club, the Agricultural Fair and Bruce Trail Clubs, a youth jazz band, private music lessons, and three catering groups, among others. In many ways, St. George’s has benefitted from running an attractional model of ministry. Reflecting the diverse denominational makeup of the congregation, the theological and social persuasion of the community is mixed. The majority of the congregation leans liberal, but there are small groups of socially and theological conservative members.

9.1.6 St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor

This parish is the result of an amalgamation that has taken place roughly five years ago. The current church is located in a low-income neighbourhood in the city of Windsor, Ontario. While classified as an urban church, unlike the other urban congregations in this study, St. David’s/St. Mark’s is not a destination church. Instead they are deeply imbedded in their localized community and have drawn the majority of members from a short walking/commuting distance. Since the merger of two relatively poor, but growing congregations five years ago, the newly combined church has continued to increase in membership. Their average Sunday attendance is around 90 worshippers. What makes this church particularly unique is the high percentage of children (upwards of 1/3), making it the youngest congregation (age-wise) in the Diocese of Huron. Reflecting the ethnically diverse neighbourhood, the congregation features both long term residents of Windsor and new Canadians, some who have been recipients of refugee sponsorship by the congregation. The worship style of St. David’s/St. Mark’s is Broad Church, very casual and deliberately youth focused. One particular illustration of this is that all of the children gather up by the altar at the conclusion of the service to commission the entire congregation with the dismissal rite. The dismissal itself is led by the children. Youth and young

families benefit from excellent youth leadership and a well-organized Sunday school program. The congregation is proud to have a small, but enthusiastic choir. Music is a blend of both traditional hymns and contemporary worship songs. Community engagement is a top priority for the congregation. They give away the majority of the financial resources that they have in support of local schools, adult day centers, the Canterbury College student population and local charities serving in the neighbourhood. One particular gift the congregation loves to share is the gift of food. They host a full potluck meal after every service and members from the congregation often prepare meals for various community events and causes. Lastly, St. David’s/ St. Mark’s articulates both a socially and theologically liberal orientation.

9.2 The Diocese of Toronto

9.2.1 Christ Church St. James, Etobicoke

CCSJ is located in a part of the City of Etobicoke that is experiencing rapid population growth through the building of new suburbs and condominium developments. It is classified as an urban context. Within the wider catchment area, CCSJ ministers to residents of the Park Lawn and Mimico neighbourhoods through the offering a numerous outreach projects, seeking to serve the needs of low-income households. The congregation sees an average Sunday attendance of 130 worshippers between two services: a Book of Common Prayer151 said Holy Communion and a Book of Alternatives Services Holy Eucharist. The second service features contemporary music as led by a large praise band, a bulletin-less liturgy with all text projected on a screen, and worship leadership from numerous lay members in the congregation. Occasionally the second service takes the format of a casual, “coffeehouse-style” of worship in which participants gather in the parish hall. CCSJ offers the widest range of outreach ministry programs among the congregations in this study, including: a food bank hosted in the church basement, regular evangelism events and discipleship programming, a number of expressions of church that take place outside of both the church building and Sunday worship – namely coffee-house church

151 The Book of Common Prayer is the original prayer book of the Anglican Church of Canada. It features language from the King James Version of the Bible and was introduced in 1962. The BCP is considered to be the traditional liturgy of the ACoC.

plants in the neighbouring Lakeshore community. The congregation also ministers within local correctional facilities, supports refugee sponsorship and hosts Messy Church ministries focused on fostering relationships with young families. The makeup of the congregation is ethnically diverse152 as a result of new members being drawn into the community through their focus on outreach. The current priest is relatively new to the congregation, having followed a previous incumbent of long tenure. The congregation self identifies as being both socially and theologically conservative.

9.2.2 St. Mark’s Anglican/Lutheran Church, Midland

St. Mark’s is one of a small number of Anglican/Lutheran congregations in Huron and Toronto, resulting from an amalgamation of two congregations roughly five years ago. Since that time, St. Mark’s has defined itself by its blending of the two traditions. The church is located in Midland, Ontario, which has been growing in population as a result of retirees moving away from the Toronto area and cottagers developing on the lakefront in and around Midland. St. Mark’s congregation has grown by 16.09% (ASA) in the past five years since amalgamation and currently sees around 100 people on a Sunday. Worshippers consist of both permanent residents and seasonal cottagers. The liturgical style of the church is unique in its use of both Anglican and Lutheran liturgies.153 Worship music seeks to blend traditional and contemporary styles, with a diversity of members contributing instrumental accompaniment, further supported by the strong Lutheran tradition of congregational singing. St. Mark’s parishioners volunteer at a number of different community organizations including local hospitals, retirement homes, homeless and women’s shelters, community health centers and hospices. The congregation also has a history of sponsoring refugee families. St. Mark’s self-identifies as both socially and theologically liberal.

152 CCSJ is pleased to have welcomed Iranian and Mongolian refugees as parishioners. These relationships were formed through their support of refugee sponsorship. 153 Texts from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada which is in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada.

9.2.3 St. Paul’s, Minden (with Kinmount and Maple Lake)

The communities of Minden, Kinmount and Maple Lake, Ontario,154 have each experienced a trend of membership reengagement and growth over the last five years. Each of these communities is located in rural small villages/towns that benefit from large influxes of cottagers on a seasonal basis. The Minden area is a somewhat diverse community with a blending of affluent cottage families and significantly less affluent long term, local residents. One of the realities faced by these three churches is the local poverty that exists among many residents, in particular the poverty of local young families and children. Each of the three clustered congregations has seen remarkable growth in the past few years as a result of a deliberate focus on local community outreach. St. Paul’s congregation in Minden now sees an average Sunday attendance of between 50-60 worshippers. This is significant growth from an average in the mid- thirties reported by the congregation in 2009. In terms of liturgical style, the three churches feature casual Broad Church worship with lots of music assisted by accompanists on piano, guitar and by small choirs from the three communities. There is a very prominent place given to children in worship with the children often invited into leadership roles. Each of the three congregations has worked hard to reinvent themselves in light of having a community focus. They have discerned a number of local needs and responded accordingly: with the opening of a very busy and well utilized thrift shop in support of low income residents; they host numerous food-related events in support of forming community for shut-ins and seniors; the new parish hall in Minden is busy with a number of social activity groups such as the knitting group, the “Shout Sisters” choir, bible study groups, exercise groups, Anglican Church Women, among others. When asked about the social and theological persuasion of the congregation, St. Paul’s and its sister churches identify as being liberal.

9.2.4 Trinity East (Little Trinity)

Little Trinity is a large, resource sized congregation that draws it membership from all across the City of Toronto. Located in old-town Toronto, it is the earliest surviving church building in the city (dating to 1844). Little Trinity has a distinct congregational identity that is steeped in the

154 Located in the northeastern-most part of the Diocese of Toronto.

Low Church, Evangelical155 tradition of Anglicanism. Attendance on Sundays frequently exceeds 300 worshippers, the majority whom attend the morning eucharistic service. Little T also hosts an evening contemplative service that draws a smaller group of people. In order to foster a sense of community among so many members from various geographic areas in Toronto, the congregation has a number of small groups, referred to as koinonia groups (or k-groups). These allow for members who live in certain neighbourhoods in the city to gather together for times of fellowship outside of the Sunday worship schedule. Little Trinity’s worship style is the best representation of Low Church Anglicanism in the study. This is defined by a minimalist approach to liturgical trappings: simple stained glass windows, no visible presence of liturgical vestments in worship (clergy may wear collars – but not always!), the table is adorned with a simple linen and two very modest candles. The sanctuary does not contain any elaborate ornamentation. Worship at Little Trinity places an emphasis on the role of biblical preaching, accompanied by study resources and materials and often planned according to homiletical themes.156 The second emphasis in worship is on Holy Communion, during which the congregation gathers in a circle around the table to receive the bread and wine. Worship music at Little T is led by a diverse group of musicians to include a praise band, grand piano and multiple vocalists. The music is largely contemporary but may also feature standard hymns in the Anglican tradition. The congregation utilizes the screen and projector approach to worship in addition to offering a full-text seeker’s service bulletin. This bulletin explains the details of the various elements of the service so that those new to the Anglican style of worship can understand the historical meaning and contemporary practice of the worship. Little Trinity alternates between both the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services in its liturgy. Of particular note is how the worship leaders have carefully blended the traditional language of the older prayer book with contemporary explanations of the BCP theology in order to share the relevance of the text among younger generations. The themes of discipleship and youth ministry are central to this congregation’s identity and are clearly articulated in their church branding, worship programming and small group study. Little T has enabled numerous youth leaders which support a flourishing family ministry in which fifty of more children might be present each

155 This use of the term evangelical is a self-identifying characteristic of the congregation. 156 Scripture selections can sometimes deviate from those presented in the Revised Standard Lectionary.

Sunday. High standards in youth ministry are one of the many draws that shape the congregation as a destination church. One of Little Trinity’s greatest strengths is its attractional promotion as being an evangelical expression of Anglicanism. As such, their outreach is largely motivated by goals of Christian discipleship and evangelism. The congregation is currently fostering missional small groups that, like their K-groups, are geographically located in the City. The goal of these groups will be to identify outreach projects that can be carried out by members of the congregation within their own residential neighbourhoods. Little Trinity’s social and theological alignment are both within the conservative tradition. Some members of the congregation self- identify as Anglo-Baptists. More will be shared about what is meant by “Anglo-Baptist” in my Reports.

9.2.5 St. Martin-in-the-Field’s, Toronto

St. Martin’s in located in the High Park neighbourhood in the City of Toronto. While very much being an urban church, with parishioners driving or taking the subway from various parts of the city to attend, the congregation maintains deep roots and relationships within their local neighbourhood. The church is situated on a beautiful parcel of land that boasts spectacular gardens. This garden space is used and appreciated by various community groups and St. Martin’s encourages an overlap between members and non-members alike. On an average Sunday, the congregation will gather between 140-150 worshippers between two services. Where Little Trinity is a clear representation of the Low Church tradition of Anglicanism, St. Martin’s is a great example of the opposite end of the Anglican ecclesial spectrum - they are a High Church or Anglo Catholic congregation. The Anglo-Catholic liturgy is defined by a number of unique customs which include: the wearing of full vestments among three eucharistic ministers (subdeacon, deacon and priest); the use of incense and bells to foster a sensual experience of worship; the singing of prayers and chanting of the Gospel reading; and a general formality in worship for the purpose of emphasizing the transcendent nature of God. The congregation uses the Book of Alternative Services exclusively. Music at St. Martin’s is held to a very high standard of the choral tradition accompanied by traditional organ. The choir is a large draw for the congregation, both in singers wishing to join the choir and in congregants who enjoy worship elevated by music in the choral tradition. Of particular note at St. Martin’s is their engagement with residents in their immediate neighbourhood. A specialization of the community

is in its hosting neighbourhood events such as art exhibitions in their garden and outdoor services for Rogation Sunday, the blessing of animals and the blessings of bicycles. The congregation also welcomes numerous community groups within their church building such as several Guiding groups, 157 a pickle ball recreation league and AA and Cocaine Anonymous groups. One unique ministry that has recently been launched is their neighbourhood outreach of a food and clothing cupboard that is located onsite in the church’s lychgate entry into the garden. Lastly, St. Martin-in-the-Field’s can be described as liberal in both their social views and in their theological beliefs.158 At the same time, the congregation would also self-identify as being “theologically orthodox”. Their use of this term does not necessarily mean theologically conservative, 159 but rather theologically traditional in their Catholic expressions of Anglicanism.160

9.2.6 All Saints, Whitby

Whitby is another city that is greatly benefitting from the continued trends of population migration from the Toronto area. Numerous new subdivisions are being built at a rapid rate. The urban congregation is frequently seeing new retirees moving into the neighbourhood. At the same time that the city is benefitting from new development, it is also home to many low-income families who are not able to afford Toronto’s real estate market. While All Saint’s congregation has been relatively static in terms of the average Sunday attendance around 200 worshippers throughout the 2009-2016 period of statistics used in this study, they have since 2016 experienced the rapid growth of new members who are attending a recently launched service hosted in the contemporary style . All Saint’s offers three services each Sunday: 1) an 8:00 a.m. said traditional Book of Common Prayer service, 2) the new 9:30 a.m. contemporary service, and 3) the 11:00 a.m. traditional service using the Book of Alternatives Services. The new second service was introduced as a pilot project by the Assistant Curate of the congregation. It is more representative of the Low Church style and features contemporary music led from a grand piano

157 Here I am referring to Girl Guides, Brownies, etc. 158 As expressed by the responses of the lay leaders from the congregation. 159 As I have described in the Definitions section of this thesis. 160 In the sense of affirming the traditional creeds of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

93 with guitar accompaniment, an informal approach to community prayers and preaching and a streamlining to include only one scripture reading each Sunday to better allow for the homilist to dig deeper into a single passage (usually the Gospel appointed for that day). The 11:00 a.m. service is hosted more in the Anglo-Catholic style with full vestments, a highly trained choir (in the choral tradition) and has a more formal feel to the worship. In their outreach ministries, All Saints supports a local school through bursary awards, their men’s group supports Joanne’s House (youth housing and support) in Ajax and Mckay House in Whitby (mental health services), they host a Deacon’s cupboard that supplies food and clothing to in-need community members and they host regular Alpha groups as part of their Christian catechumenate. While describing themselves as “socially progressive, theologically orthodox,” by the definitions used in this thesis they would be categorized as both theologically and socially liberal.

10 The Congregational Context Survey

The greatest benefit of the Congregational Context Survey, in this researcher’s opinion, was that it allowed for as many people as possible who were attending worship on the congregational research days to participate in the study. Roughly 95% of the worshippers present completed the survey which resulted in 921 people contributing to the project. The nature of the survey was to ask questions about the culture of numerically growing congregations in terms of age demographics, length of time worshipping in each particular congregation, reasons for initial and continuing attendance at that church, denominational/faith backgrounds of the members and whether or not participants were currently serving in any of the congregation’s ministries. The survey also included a way for visitors to self-identify themselves and describe what brought them to church on that particular Sunday. This next section will simply present the results with analysis to follow in the upcoming sections.

10.1 What are the Demographics of Growing Anglican Congregations?161

In my presentation of demographics for this study, I first divided the subject congregations into groupings based on diocese and then provided an average of the combined results of all twelve congregations. In some cases, congregations had a large number of children who were present in worship on the particular Sunday that research was being conducted. The average age of a membership in the selection of growing congregations in the Diocese of Huron was 62 years old. In the Diocese of Toronto it was 60 years. A combined average of the two diocese was 60.47 years old. In Huron, the youngest congregation was the urban Parish of St. David and St. Mark’s with an average age (including children) of 47 years old. The most elderly congregation was the rural congregation of Christ Church, Huntingford with an average age of 79 years old. In Toronto, the youngest congregation was Little Trinity, Toronto, with an average age (including children) of 45 years old. The most elderly congregation was St. Mark’s, Midland at 68.

10.1.1 A Focus on Youth Ministry

It was wonderful to see that some growing congregations are very much committed to being inclusive of young children and families. In the demographic report I have presented the average age of these churches both in terms of adults only and then with the average age including children.162 One observation that was clear early on in this study is that each of the twelve congregations has been deliberate about providing a youth ministry experience for children and young families every Sunday. In most cases this means that they have either youth pastors or, if a youth pastor is not on staff, then they have volunteers who offer various types of youth programming. Every church had an allotted youth area (location) in the church – even the smallest congregation! There were 137 children under the age of sixteen that were identified in my twelve research visits and every congregation had youth who were present during my research visits. Among the various age categories, the grouping of 16-29 years in both men and women was the least represented. The notable congregation in the study that seemed to be

161 The full report is included on pages 235-237 in the Appendices section.

162 Including children can dramatically lower the average age of a congregation.

deliberately reaching out to this age demographic was Little Trinity, Toronto163 and their efforts resulted in 35 participants in the 16-29 year grouping being present on that research Sunday. Another congregation that that was offering ministry specifically targeting this age group was Christ Church, St. James, Etobicoke, who was hosting an Alpha program for young adults between worship services on Sunday. Two further example of a congregations that have been deliberate in reaching out to and welcoming younger worshippers is St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor and St. Paul’s, Minden. In both congregations children had a very prominent role in worship: often sharing readings, leading prayers, sharing in the music and having set parts of the liturgy where children are the central focus. It was notable how comfortable the children looked in both the sanctuary and among the membership during the fellowship time after worship. One impression of these youth-focused congregations is that they are a little more flexible in accommodating the inevitable disorganization that comes with having a larger youth presence in church. In both cases, it was apparent that the congregation was more than willing to make space for the occasional disruption or messy moment. Lastly, as a comment on the presence of youth in worship, there seems to be a direct correlation between the willingness of congregations to design worship with children and young families in mind and the increase in participation from those age demographics. An illustration of this is shared by All Saints, Whitby, who intentionally created a new contemporary service for young families.164 My experience of that style of worship, and also preaching in that service, was that average age was significantly younger, the congregation was very familiar with the habits of young children (smaller kids were able to play in a play station in the sanctuary during worship) and there was an increased sense of collegiality among the young families because they shared the bonds of similar life experiences. This service was not exclusive to seniors, although most senior members in that congregation chose to attend one of the other two services that might better fit their preferences for worship and spirituality.

163 Little T offers specific programming and mentorship for this age group. There are also numerous musical opportunities for this age demographic to share in the leadership of the worship service. 164 The service was taken from the Book of Alternative Services, was streamlined to less than an hour and included only a single scripture reading. There was a period of worship music at the beginning to set the atmosphere and allow for families to arrive gradually. Children were able to come and go freely in the service. The service concluded with the Holy Eucharist (a children’s version) and all participants gathering in a figure eight around the altar to receive communion. The launch of the service was attributed to the outgoing Assistant Curate of the congregation and has resulted in a rapid increase of membership among children and young families at All Saints.

10.1.2 Growing Senior Congregations

Some of the congregations in the study see few children on an average Sunday and have a much higher concentration of seniors. What is interesting to note is that some growing churches are growing through senior relationships, meaning that the ministries that are offered focus on building relationships among seniors in their community. One benefit of growing a senior congregation (age-wise) is that seniors often have greater flexibility in finding time to volunteer and participate in church ministries. Younger families, in comparison, often have more challenging schedules that are often incompatible with traditional worship times (usually held on Sundays). A quick review of the collective ministries offered by the twelve congregations in this study165 suggests that the vast majority of Anglican ministries are geared towards adults and seniors. It is no wonder then, that the same congregations are generally more successful in welcoming senior members than young families. One final observation in terms of age demographics is that while younger congregations are often able to relate to younger families in ways that senior congregations may struggle to do, some churches in this study are being very deliberate with connecting across the generations. A particular example of this is the work being done by St. John the Divine in Arva. St. John’s congregation is slightly above the average age in this study,166 averaging 64 years old. However, their largely senior congregation has launched a new ministry of hosting neighbourhood school students for free pizza and conversation on a monthly basis. The results of this deliberate intervention has led to the building of new relationships with younger residents in their neighbourhood. They are also gaining the reputation of being “the cool church that cares about kids”.167

10.2 How New Are the Members of the Congregation?

One indicator of congregational growth is the presence over new members who have joined in recent years. Recognizing that congregations have natural attrition rates, as a result of both members moving away and in natural deaths that occur in the community, one way of measuring

165 More will be said on these ministries in the Report on the Appreciative Inquiry group interviews. 166 The average age of the study is 60.47 years old. 167 As was described by one of St. John’s youth members.

97 growth is by documenting trends of new members first exploring the congregation as visitors and then permanently joining as members. The Congregational Context Survey documented that 10 out of the 12 churches had visitors present during the research days. This amounted to 52 visitors in total: 13 in Huron and 39 in Toronto.168 The church that had the greatest number of self- identified visitors was Little Trinity, Toronto with 14 people who were exploring that congregation. When visitors were asked what brought them to church there were a range of answers: roughly 60% of visitors were attending because they were invited by friends and family; 25% were attending because they were visiting the local area and were familiar with the congregation; the remaining visitors came because they had been the recipients of outreach ministries or advertising.

The Congregational Context Survey was also able to measure the duration of time that members had been attending the congregation. One of the most affirming statistics, which documents the presence of growth within each of the twelve congregations, was the percentage of membership that was new to the congregation within the last five years. In Huron, 38.15% of membership was new to their congregations within five years. In Toronto, the percentage was 30.83%. The smallest congregation, Christ Church in Huntingford, has been the greatest recipient of new members, 46.34% of its members having joined in the last five years. When combining the averages of the two dioceses, 33.55% of membership in these twelve growing congregations was new. What this demonstrates is the ability of these churches to grow in a way that is not only replenishing natural rates of membership attrition, but also continuing to grow the overall size of the congregation year over year.

The largest category of membership, in terms of duration of time being members of the congregation, is the “greater than 10 years” category. 53% of Anglicans represented in these twelve congregations had been members for more than 10 years. Many of these respondents continued to note anniversaries in the margins of the survey, the longest serving member

168 Self-identified visitors had their own unique section to fill out on the Congregational Context Survey. This allowed for the survey to separate responses between members and visitors.

98 reporting 98 years of membership! What these statistics illustrate is a loyalty that Anglicans continue to have, not only to their denomination, but also to their specific congregations.

10.3 What Initially Brought You to Church?

When asked: what initially brought you to this congregation?, participants of the survey produced 1193 total responses. In the Diocese of Huron, the top three responses were: 1. Proximity: 38.72% of participants attending because the church is located near where they live. 2. Family attending: 27.42% of participants attending because they have been invited by family members who were already attending the congregation. 3. Invitation: 17.05% are attending because they were invited by friends who were already attending the congregation.

In the Diocese of Toronto, the same three main responses were listed as: 1. Proximity: 40.35% of participants attending because the church is located near where they live. 2. Invitation: 26.43% are attending because they were invited by friends who were already attending the congregation. 3. Family: 23.48% of participants attending because they were invited by family members who were already attending the congregation.

Other reasons for initially joining the congregation included: Anglican tradition, exploring spirituality, they like the priest/pastor, congregational youth ministry and advertising. What the top three responses highlight in both diocese is the fact that these particular growing Anglican congregations are still very much community based churches. Seekers prioritize the convenience of location in their selection of a new church. Next to proximity itself, the greatest indicator of growth (at least according to this study) is the power of invitation. The statistics prove that invitations from family and friends still work towards fostering new relationships. When both family influence and personal invitation are combined in the blended total stats of both dioceses, the result is that more than 50% of members initially explored their congregation because they already knew someone who was a member there. In comparison, only 2.78% of members reported initially attending the congregation because of church advertising.

10.4 What Keeps You Coming Back?

The follow-up question to what initially brought you to church? is: what keeps you coming back? This question on the Congregational Survey was asked in an open-ended manner in which participants could offer up any response they wished. In this way, their responses were likely the first ones to come to mind. Organized by diocese, the following top four responses were reported.

In the Diocese of Huron (from 574 responses) 169: 1. A welcoming congregation: 58.67% of survey participants claim they keep coming back to their congregation because it is welcoming/supportive. 2. They like the priest/pastor: 33.53% of survey participants listed their appreciation for their priest/pastor(s) as a reason for staying in their congregation. 3. Anglican liturgy: 12.14% of participants indicated Anglican liturgy as a reason for attending. 4. 10.98% of participants surveyed claimed they experience the presence of God in their congregation as a motivating factor for attending.

In the Diocese of Toronto (from 1044 responses)170: 1. A welcoming congregation: 56.52% of survey participants claim they keep coming back to their congregation because it is welcoming/supportive. 2. They like the priest/pastor(s): 17.74% of survey participants listed their appreciation for their priest/pastor(s) as a reason for staying in their congregation. 3. Anglican liturgy: 17.57% of participants indicated Anglican liturgy as a reason for attending. 4. God’s presence: 16.87% of participants surveyed claimed that they experience the presence of God as a motivating factor for attending.

There are a number of observations that can be drawn from these responses. The first is that the welcoming and supportive attributes of congregations are greatly valued by congregational members as a reason for coming back to church each week. Combining the dioceses, 57.33% of 921 participants listed the priority of a necessity of a congregation to be welcoming. These are numbers that immediately draw attention to themselves. The many ways that the growing

169 Participants could offer up more than one response. There were 346 participants from the Diocese of Huron.

170 Participants could offer more than one response. The number of participants from the Diocese of Toronto was 575 people.

100 congregations in this study work hard to be welcoming churches will be further expanded in the following Reports and Analysis. The second ranking attribute for allegiance of members to a congregation is their appreciation of the clergy. This characteristic was listed by 23.67% of combined diocesan participants. A popular relationship with clergy continues to be one of the primary reasons why people attend church. There are obviously some strengths and weaknesses to this reality. These will be further discussed in Analysis. One slightly surprising observation for this researcher was that Anglican liturgy, while still be ranked in the top four responses, was considered to be less integral to the majority of worshippers with these Anglican congregations. Less than 25% of participants offered the Anglican liturgical tradition as being a reason for coming to church. More will be revealed about this particular statistic when we explore the denominational background of people who are currently worshipping in congregations included in this study. Lastly, without any preselected answers to choose from, 14.66% of participants declared that they experience God as being present in their congregation as a reason for continuing to come to church. Numerous surveys expanded on this experience to include experiencing God through prayer life, through corporate worship, through times of healing and even through experiences of conversion.

10.5 Have You Always Been Anglican?

As an Anglican priest looking out at my own congregation on a Sunday morning, I often mistakenly take for granted that my congregation is and always has been members of the Anglican Church of Canada. One of the most surprising statistics in this survey is that this could not be further from the case. 46.29% of survey participants from the Diocese of Huron reported that they had not always been members of the Anglican church. Some of them, while attending worship in Anglican congregations, still do not self-identify as being “Anglican.” Many of these have not been confirmed in the Anglican tradition, nor have they completed any sort of catechesis.171 In the Diocese of Toronto this statistic is even greater: 52.79% of members in the growing Anglican churches included in this study have not always been Anglican. Where have they come from? In Huron the top three transfer denominations are: United Church of Canada

171 Catechesis is the religious instruction on what it means to be both Christian and Anglican in preparation for baptism and confirmation.

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(15.43% of participants), The Roman Catholic Church (11.43%) and Presbyterian (3.71%). In Toronto the numbers are slightly different: 18.29% of participants were Baptist, Roman Catholic (6.97%), United Church of Canada (6.62%) and Lutheran (3.83%).172 One notation needs to be made regarding the percentage of self-identifying Baptists. Of the 173 participants from Little Trinity in Toronto who came from non-Anglican backgrounds, 91 of them (53%) were formerly Baptists. This reinforces the comments that some members from the congregation shared about being “Anglo-Baptist” in terms of Little Trinity’s liturgical style and congregational theology. In preparation for my visit to Little Trinity, the Rector of the congregation asked me to be mindful of my use of Anglican terminology as many of the members might find such language to be esoteric or exclusive. The significant diversity of Anglican congregations in terms of past denominational backgrounds echoes the findings of sociologist Reginald Bibby regarding the breakdown of past structures of denominational identity. More about this will be said in Analysis.

10.6 Have You Always Been Christian?

One of the views that Christian congregations like to assume is that our efforts of evangelism, community outreach and carefully planned worship services are amounting to non-believers being introduced to the Gospel message, embraced by our welcoming congregations and moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to experience a conversion to belief in Jesus Christ. Are the ministry efforts of growing Anglican congregations having this effect? The answer to this question is both yes and no. The context of ministry is a very important factor in attempting to discover an answer. In the Diocese of Huron 96.57% of participants survey claimed that they had been raised in Christian households and identified as being Christian for the majority of their lives. Of the 350 people who completed the survey, only twelve people in the Diocese of Huron claimed a conversion experience. Most of these took place in early adulthood as a result of the efforts of evangelism from non-Anglican Christian denominations. Huron’s answer to my question: are Anglicans converting people to Christianity? is a resolute “no.” One factor that should be considered in the context of ministry in Huron is that our Diocese has historically been

172 Roughly 90% of the Lutherans having come from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Less than 10% coming from the Missouri Synod.

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quite homogeneous in terms of ethnic diversity. Until very recent trends of immigration in Southwestern Ontario, most members of Anglican congregations in Huron have come from Anglo-Protestant backgrounds.

The ethnic context in the Diocese of Toronto is vastly different than that of Huron in terms of its diversity. Of the participants from Toronto’s congregations, 13.41% of them declared that they had experienced a conversion to Christianity. While this is a greater number of participants admitting to not always having been Christian, when respondents were asked a follow up question on the survey of “when did you become Christian?,” many of them reported conversion experiences at non-Anglican religious camps, non-Anglican University ministries, and through the evangelistic efforts of churches from other denominations. This being said, there were two Toronto congregations where recent conversion experiences have been reported: at Little Trinity and at Christ Church, St James. It should be noted that both of these congregations self-identify as “evangelical”173expressions of Anglicanism. As such, they place a great deal of emphasis on enabling evangelizing outreach activities in ministry their contexts. Responding to my question of whether or not Anglican efforts are resulting in conversion experiences, even in the Diocese of Toronto, conversion experiences, while not unheard of, are relatively rare.

10.7 A Ranking of Congregational Attributes in Relationship to Church Affiliation (With Pre-set Answers)

Question 13 from the Congregational Context Survey asked respondents to rank congregational attributes as they were considered important reasons for the participants being members of the congregation. This time, instead of an open-ended question (see Section 30.4), pre-set responses were offered for consideration.174 This question was duplicated in the Group Interview Supplementary Questionnaire to compare the responses of the general congregation with those of each congregation’s group of lay leaders. As a researcher I was curious if there would be a

173 Please see my note regarding this term in the Definitions section of this thesis. 174 The full questionnaire is reproduced in the Appendices Section.

103 similar ranking of attributes among the twelve congregations or if this survey would reveal that there is a diversity of values among growing Anglican congregations. Here are the results:

The Diocese of Huron 1. A welcoming congregation: 67.14% of survey participants claimed that a welcoming/supportive congregation is a primary reason for their membership. 2. Engaging preaching: 51.71% of survey participants listed their appreciation of engaging preaching as being a reason for their continued membership. 3. 39.43% of participants indicated that the Anglican style of worship was a reason for attending the congregation.

The Diocese of Toronto 1. A welcoming congregation: 56.99% of survey participants claimed that a welcoming/supportive congregation is a primary reason for their membership. 2. Engaging preaching: 56.13% of survey participants listed their appreciation of engaging preaching as being a reason for their continued membership. 3. 41.11% of participants indicated that the Anglican style of worship was a reason for attending the congregation.

The first observation of this report is that these results strengthen the argument that the welcoming/supportive attribute of congregations is highly appreciated by their membership. This same view was strongly expressed in the previous open-ended question that asked: what keeps you coming back to this congregation? It seems that a welcoming and supportive congregation is the most important characteristic of growing Anglican congregations, at least according to those represented in this study. The second observation is that there is consensus among the twelve subject congregations in terms of the attributes that they value the most. In all congregations engaging preaching and a reverence for the Anglican liturgical style were ranked as priorities for membership. Many respondents commented in the margins of the survey that the Anglican liturgy is what drew them to the denomination from their previous church affiliation. Very few participants in the survey expressed indifference to the Anglican liturgy.

This results of this survey may be witnessing to three of the greatest strengths of Anglicanism in Canada: 1) a welcoming and inclusive Christian community, 2) a tradition where good preaching is held in high esteem, and 3) a rich liturgical tradition that is different from those expressed in other denominations. In regards to point number two, some of the congregations in this study have reputations for clergy who are renowned for their gifts as preachers. In a few of these contexts, the role of preaching is allotted a higher priority than

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pastoral care or parish administration. In these situations, lay leaders have taken a greater responsibility in overseeing pastoral and administrative ministries in the congregations in order to allow for clergy to dedicate more time in their weekly schedules to preaching and teaching ministries. I should note that I have observed this mainly in larger congregations. In smaller churches, there is a much more demanding emphasis on clergy to be pastoral visitors and parish administrators. A final comment in regards to the ranking of Biblical teaching among these priorities. Teaching about the Bible ranked fourth overall in the survey. Some respondents expressed disappointment that “engaging preaching” and “Biblical teaching” were offered as separate choices. Their argument continued to explain that, in their opinion these two attributes are one and the same. This view is not expressed by all of the congregations in this study. Some of them ranked Biblical teaching as a very low priority, with youth ministry and pastoral care being given a greater emphasis in their congregations. This small variation in ranking being shared, it is affirming to conclude that the top ranked three priorities were overwhelming endorsed by all twelve congregations.

10.8 Individual Participation in Congregational Ministries

The final question on the Congregational Context Survey was intended to explore the levels of personal commitment of participants to the ministries in their home church. There is a long-held maxim that, in “most” churches, 10% of the congregation carries out 90% of all the work. Was this maxim true among growing Anglican congregations? The question explains that individuals can serve in ministry in numerous ways: by singing in the choir, volunteering with outreach ministries, being a liturgical server, reading in worship, etc. Survey responses report that there was a consistent trend among the twelve congregations. Regardless of size of the congregation or the ministry context (rural, urban, suburban), the congregational averages reflected that roughly 60% of membership in growing congregations are personally serving in the ministries of their church. 40% claimed that they were not currently serving in any ministry role. Some of these commented that they were new to the congregation and would be looking to serve in the future or that they were senior members of the congregation who used to serve and have now stepped back from ministry service. A 60% rate of participation was higher than I honestly expected to find for this question, but when you begin examining the number of outreach ministries that these congregations are maintaining it’s possible to conclude that without such high levels of

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volunteerism and commitment these congregations would simply not be able to sustain their current levels of ministry. Members in these growing congregations also commented, often in the margins, that serving at church gives them a sense of purpose and community identity.

There are two additional comments that I would like to add in response to this question. The first is that one church in particular demonstrated incredibly high levels of membership participation in congregational ministries. That church is Christ Church, St James, Etobicoke with 72.5% of parishioners actively serving in various ministry roles. This statistic was reinforced in my Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview when the lay leaders shared about the many ways that they were serving groups in their local community. There was such an abundance of outreach ministries reported for the size of the congregation that I at first wondered if there might be some slight exaggeration taking place as a result of the lay leaders’ enthusiasm sharing responses. I later discovered that this was quite the opposite, that Christ Church St James is an incredibly mission-focused congregation that truly feels called to serve the community around them. In this regard, they “punch above their weight” as a leading congregation in the Diocese of Toronto in terms of their outreach and evangelizing ministries. The other surprise for me in these results was that my own congregation of St. George’s, The Blue Mountains, scored the lowest in response to this question, with only 48% of parishioners reportedly serving in ministry roles. This gives me something to explore further in my leadership of the congregation. It may be that there are future opportunities of enabling members to explore their own Christian vocation and consider testing out new service roles in our community.

By way of concluding remarks to my Report from this particular research tool, I will say that I was quite pleased with the levels of intentionality that participants held in filling out these surveys. Many expressed appreciation in being included in the study. I believe that the collective responses have shared many insights that will be further explored in the Analysis section of this thesis.

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11 The Appreciative Inquiry Group Interviews

Where the nature of the Congregational Context Survey was to ask a limited number of questions with the intention of collecting as many participant responses as possible to best represent the general membership of the twelve subject congregations, the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview sought to take a deeper qualitative dive into the culture of each church from the perspective of the lay leaders serving those communities. In total, there were 132 participants interviewed in twelve group gatherings. This amounted in more than 26 hours of recorded discussions that were later transcribed into twelve congregational reports.

As already described in the Methods section of this thesis, the group interview questions were designed to begin with broad questions explored the cultural context of each church and then narrowed in scope to focus in on specifics regarding each congregations expressions of Gospel proclamation and evangelism. Explicit references to God were left to the final questions in order to explore whether or not congregations directly connected their ministry activities and outreach to their theological beliefs on their own without prompting. For the purpose of this report I will present congregational responses in a linear fashion based on the order in which the questions were asked in the interviews.

11.1 The Composition of the Lay Leader Groups

As was described in the Methods section, participants in the Group Interviews were selected because they were leaders of various ministries within their congregation. Many of them serve on their respective administrative councils in their home church. In the interviews, at the beginning of the process when I was informing participants of the research ethics guidelines, I began asking the participants to identify how many years they had been members of the congregation. It surprised me that almost all the lay leaders had been members of their congregation for ten years or more. Of the 132 lay leaders, only four of them were new to their respective congregations (i.e., had attended less than five years). On the one hand, this suggested that the leadership of each of the twelve congregations was prominently represented by long term, committed Anglicans. On the other hand, this suggested that the lived perspective of newcomers to their churches was narrowly represented at the leadership levels of all the

107 congregations, or nonexistent. When asked if they had ever considered inviting a newcomer to join parish council, the most common answer was: “we’ve never considered that.”

11.2 How Would You Describe Your Congregation to a Newcomer?

The group interview opened with a question that focused on sharing positive attributes that described the culture of the congregation. The Appreciative Inquiry method focuses on strengths of the ministry context. Participants were asked to, more or less, offer a sales pitch of their church to a supposed newcomer. Responses were individually submitted on post-in notes. These were then grouped by similar theme. Each participant used a different colour of marker so that the research could track how many participants submitted a similar answer according to the following themes: 1. A welcoming congregation: 122/132 (92.4%) of participants commented that they would tell a newcomer that their congregation was welcoming. This response was overwhelmingly consistent across every congregation in this study. Repeated answers such as “welcome to our church,” “we are a welcoming community,” “your children are welcome here,” and “we welcome one and all” were found across the board. No other response in this interview came close to the support that this primary theme had for the lay leaders included in this study.

2. We love our priest: 32/132 (24.2%). The role of clergy as a representative of the congregation was valued very highly in this study. Some lay leaders boasted of the charisms of their priest/pastor, others commented on the authenticity of their clergy. Numerous comments were made along the lines of: “meet our priest!” “we have a caring priest,” “our pastor is a great preacher,” and “we love our priest.” Each of the twelve congregations, even if they didn’t articulate their clergy as the most important attribute to be shared with a newcomer, highlighted their clergy in their responses.

3. A caring community: 28/132 (21%) of respondents wished to highlight the caring nature of their congregation. Common answers were: “we are a caring church,” “we love and care for our community members,” “we care for you in your time of need,” “we care for

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all people.” There was a direct correlation between the congregations that ranked pastoral care as a high priority in the Congregational Context Survey and how lay leaders from the same congregations commented on the “caring” nature of their church.

4. An emphasis on community fellowship: 25/132 (18.9%) of participants mentioned that they would tell a newcomer that there was great fellowship in their congregation. Often this fellowship was described around food and conversation following Sunday services. Comments included: “Join us for coffee after church,” “you’re invited to lunch after worship!” “we have great fellowship time,” “come and get to know us at coffee time.”

5. A Christ-centred community: 23/132 (17.4%) of lay leaders highlighted that their congregation was a Christ-centred community. They used comments such as the following to describe this: “we seek to be Christ-centred in all we do,” “Jesus is at the heart of our church,” “we believe in Jesus,” and “the Gospel of Jesus is central to our beliefs.”

Other themes that were shared by lay leaders included a promotion of their youth ministries (mentioned by 1/3 of the congregations interviewed); a diversity of worship styles on Sunday (1/3 of congregations); a focus on Bible-based preaching (2/12) and the highlighting of congregational music (2/12). Two congregations stressed the importance of the liberal theological stance of their communities. St. Martin-in-the-Field’s was very proud to describe their Anglo-Catholic liturgical tradition. St. Mark’s, Anglican/Lutheran congregation was very much focused on wanting to help newcomers to their community. Some lay leaders commented on the authenticity of their congregations.

This first question was followed up with a second question where participants could voluntarily expand on their answers. The question asked was: “why do you think a newcomer would find these attributes meaningful?” Common responses were grouped around the following themes: 1) that newcomers may have reservations about church that they (church members) wished to dispel these; 2) that all people are seeking a place of belonging – therefore an inclusive welcome is so important; 3) that the church has many gifts to offer newcomers if only they are willing to try it

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out; 4) that the perception of many outside the church is that Christians are self-serving and that this isn’t the case; 5) that the lay leaders have had their lives touched/transformed by God in church and they hope others can experience this too; 6) the belief that God is working through our congregations and that we are called to reach out to all people, and 7) that the Anglican tradition has much to offer Christians today.

11.3 Who Are Your Community Neighbours?

The second question continued to focus on the cultural context of each congregation by having participants describe their neighbourhood. It was noticed that the smaller congregations had an easier time answering this question than the larger ones. Smaller congregations often immediately jumped to identify schools, hospitals, retirement homes, service club organizations (like Rotary and the Masons) and other local churches. Larger congregations in contrast often began to describe their community in terms of the geographic areas or residential neighbourhoods that surround their church. For example, in Etobicoke the following groups were highlighted: the Stonegate Community, the Park Lawn Neighbourhood and the Mimico/Lakeshore Community. These neighbourhoods were often further described by their status as being “low income” or “affluent” in terms of the residents that live there. In some case the community is of a mixed economy of residential status: poor and wealthy together. Neighbourhoods in urban centers were often described in terms of the ethnicity of residents. In Windsor, Toronto, Etobicoke and even Midland conversations highlighted the settlement of immigrant communities and often the Anglican churches had served a role in sponsoring them. Some congregations described their neighbourhood in terms duration of residency, for example: cottagers vs. permanent residents; new home owners vs. lifelong families. In Toronto residents are often defined as locals or commuting members. Where rural and suburban congregations may still identify with a geographic parish boundary,175 the urban congregations often recognize their ministry scope as serving an entire city or commutable area. When lay leaders from Little

175 To date, each Anglican congregation still retains a historic sense of a geographic boundary in which the church was held responsible for pastoral care. However, members often no longer live within that boundary. Many travel through multiple parishes to arrive at the church they worship at on Sunday.

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Trinity, Toronto were asked to describe their neighbourhood, some answered: “the whole city.” Within their context of having koinonia groups throughout the city, this is a true statement.

Further common responses of the interview participants were to identify each of the social services in their local area. These ranged from methadone clinics to mental health facilities. They included foodbanks, youth outreach programs, hospices and abuse shelters. What was made clear from these descriptions was the fact that each congregation was very familiar with the helping agencies in their neighbourhood.

The follow-up question to these descriptions of congregational culture and context was a relational question: “Out of the groups and organizations that you have listed, which of them does your congregation directly serve?” Sometimes this question proved very difficult for lay leaders to answer. In some cases, the congregations had a direct relationship with certain community groups in their neighbourhood, such as the raising of money of goods for another local charity. In other cases, the only relationship factor between their congregation and the neighbouring groups was the chance that some of their membership might volunteer with them. This question created a noticeable distinction between two different groups of congregations in this study. 7 of the 12 congregations were deeply imbedded in their communities through their support of multiple outreach projects and community partnerships. These prioritized outreach outside the wall of their church. The other 5 congregations were more focused on being attractional congregations and focused their ministry efforts on hosting programs and community groups within their own church facilities. Both models can have effective results in fostering new relationships if the congregations are intentional about having members relate to and welcome non-members into conversations about faith and ministry.

A small number of congregations in the study concluded that, as a result of the interview process, they felt that they should better get to know their neighbouring community. Some comments suggested that their understanding/perspective of the neighbourhood might be “out of date.” It was promising to hear that some lay leaders were advocating for greater involvement of their

111 congregations in serving the needs of their local community. Some conversations about creative new ministries began to take place. One recurring theme in these discussions was that for these particular congregations, there was a correlation between their levels of neighbourhood involvement among various groups and the number of visitors and new members that were drawn to their congregations. St. George’s, the Blue Mountains was one congregation whose lay leaders took a moment to reflect on what originally drew them to attend their particular church. Many of the group members were transplants from the Toronto area176 and were drawn to the Anglican church because of its community partnerships with local groups such as the Rotary Club.

11.4 Relating New Ministries to New Relationships

The third interview question asked group members what three recent congregational activities/ministries may have directly related to the fostering of new relationships. In answering this question, it is most fair to say that each congregation had their own unique manner of building relationships. 1. Special Events Some specialized in hosting annual events that were open to the wider community and served to raise awareness of their church among non-members and often raise funds in support of the congregational ministries. Most of the special events involved food. These ranged from summer barbeques to Christmas turkey dinners. Some were geared specifically for youth and children, others were in the fashion of a community block party where are ages were well represented. Some special events were focused around liturgical practices of the churches including community Christmas pageants, St. Francis Day blessing of the animals or Harvest Thanksgiving banquets. Regardless of the variety of the special event, each congregation took the opportunity of hosting non-members as a way of sharing a little bit about their congregational beliefs and values. Sometimes this was simply in the inclusive hospitality of others, but other times there was a much more explicit Christian message such as the sharing of Christian praise music at a public

176 Meaning that they had retired from the Toronto area to live in the Blue Mountains.

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community event or the collection of prayer requests from members of the wider neighbourhood.

2. Outreach ministries Some congregations reported that they were seeing new relationships form through the offering of long-term outreach ministries. One example of this is how St. Paul’s church in Minden, Ontario operates a thrift shop. This ministry came about after a period of holy listening to the needs of members in their community. The congregation discerned that there were many local residents that struggle to make ends met. One way of serving them was to provide the research of the thrift shop that was desperately needed. This little store brings in a steady flow of community members who are greeted by volunteers from the church. The proceeds of this ministry are often given away in support of other local causes and charities. Some of the members of St. Paul’s identified in the Congregation Survey that they are currently attending the church because of this unique outreach. Other examples of outreach included food banks, community meals, library sharing programs, clothing drives and gifts of financial assistance.

3. Discipling relationships Another grouping of new ministries that was reported by congregations is one that combines relationship building with discipleship. Half of the congregations in this study are currently hosting the Alpha Program, an evangelistic small group ministry that is geared toward seekers and new Christians.177Participants of these ministries include teens, young adults, new Canadians and people who have limited or no experience with the Christian Church. Alpha is often recognized as an entry point into the worshipping life of a church community. Another teaching ministry that has been very successful in fostering new relationships is Messy Church. Six of the congregations in the study are currently hosting Messy Church ministries that have welcomed young families to explore stories and themes of the Bible within the context of a monthly or bi-weekly gathering

177 The Alpha Program is a ministry export from Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Brompton, England. For more information on Alpha, please see: https://www.alphacanada.org/ (accessed July 27th, 2019).

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including crafts, games, story telling and food. One congregation, Christ Church St James in Etobicoke, has had considerable success in hosting coffee-house style discussions about life and faith outside the context of Sunday services and beyond the doors of the congregation. These take place in coffee shops located in neighbouring subdivisions or wherever the congregation feels God is calling them to reach out to non-members. Two congregations shared they have hosted pub nights where members and non-members come together in prayer and conversation over a pint of beer. Most of these discipleship ministries take place in the small group format during weekdays. Lay leaders have described small group fellowship and Christian study to be the most effective way of encouraging newcomers to explore congregational life without feeling overwhelmed by larger group experiences like worship. This is especially important for some congregations that see over 100 people attending their Sunday services.

4. Refugee Sponsorship Many of the congregations in this study have been advocates and supporters of refugee sponsorship to Canada. While worshipping with the twelve congregations I was introduced to parishioners from Sudan, Mongolia, Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Iraq and Iran. Each of these told stories of the hospitality and love shared with them by Anglicans. In response to this love and the ministry partnerships of the congregations in this survey, these new Canadians have decided to call the Anglican Church of Canada their faith community.

11.4.1 Which of These Have You Been Best At? Which Have You Struggled the Most With?

My follow up question to the lay leadership groups was to have them evaluate the ministries that they feel they were best at doing and those they struggled the most with. Their answers were both comical and telling at the same time. Very few congregations identified ministries that they had struggled with. However, this needs to be qualified! With further prodding, some lay leaders explained that they didn’t waste too much time on ministry activities that haven’t taken off or impacted the lives of others. In this sense, some congregations have had ministry failures, except these were then either adapted to try new approaches that worked, or they were discontinued in

114 favour of other ministries that seemed to work well. When St. Martin-in-the-Field’s in Toronto was asked which of their numerous new ministries they were “good at” they cheekily answered: “We’re good at all of them!” They then shared how it is often difficult to find volunteers to maintain a large diversity of outreach ministries. This challenge was expressed by most of the lay leaders. If there was one common area that most congregations in the study wished they could do better, it was in the area of youth and family ministries. What was hopeful in each of these interviews was the all of the congregations were making efforts at trying new ways to reach out to younger generations. Some congregations have a lengthy history of having a focus on youth ministry, for others this has been a new addition to their ministry priorities. If there is one central message that came through loud and clear in the group interviews it was that none of the congregations regretted taking risks in area of expanding new family ministries. All of the described efforts of hosting pizza parties for local students, increasing spending in youth ministry budgets, hiring youth pastors, launching Messy Church projects or hosting youth ministry planning sessions have all resulted in the fostering of new relationships, often in ways that welcomed not only youth, but also related parents and grandparents.

11.5 What Motivates Your Ministry?

Of all the questions in the group interview, this question gets to the heart of my exploration of local theologies. My thesis question has been testing if there is a relationship between what congregations believe and how their beliefs inform and motivate their ministry activities. Notice how I deliberately asked this question without any reference to theology. I believe this fact makes the following response all the more significant: 1. God is calling us: 46/132 (34.8%) of lay leaders described their motivation for initiating ministry activities that have be fostering new relationships as being a Christian calling or the fulfilling of God’s will. They have described this calling using phrases such as: “It’s God’s calling for us,” “we’re called by Jesus in the world,” “we’re living the Great Commission of Jesus,” and “we serve because that is who we are as disciples of Jesus.” While most of the lay leaders in the study were quite comfortable in articulating a relationship with God as being a motivating factor in their mission and ministry activities, there was one congregation that was incredibly hesitant about naming God as their motivation. It is interesting to note that lay leaders

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from this congregation were quick to comment that they believed it was “not Anglican to be too pushy about our faith” and that “God-talk is best left to the preacher.” This one congregation might be representative of other Anglican congregations in Huron and Toronto. However ,in this study, this congregation was the exception to the rule. The 11 other congregations were very explicit about the primary role of God as being the motivation for their ministry efforts. One theological element that was remarkable absent in these responses, however, was any articulation of pneumatology, or references to the activity of the Holy Spirit. Reference to the Holy Spirit was only made three times within the responses to this question. Each of these was a rather vague reference to “spirit-led” ministries.

2. Caring that shares God’s love: 44/132 (33.3%) of participants described the motivation for their ministry activities as being an extension of the gift of God’s love. Another way of describing this is of a blessing that is being passed on. They shared descriptions such as “we are expressing God’s love to everyone in tangible ways,” “we are sharing God’s gifts to with the people entrusted to us by God,” “they will know we are Christian by our love,” and “because we are a small congregation that cares, we can share God’s love in big ways!” A couple of lay leaders described their acts of giving as directly participating in God’s love in ways that “the more they give, they more they receive in experiencing God’s love.”

3. Evangelism and congregational growth: 45/132 (34%) of group members explicitly expressed the importance of congregation growth as a priority for their churches. It should be noted that there was a variety of reasons why growth was highlighted in importance. A small number (5) participants described the need for evangelism as a participation in God’s salvation: “the Church exists to save souls.” Greater numbers (17) described evangelism and church growth as the future salvation of the Church itself: “We need to grow or die.” Still others saw evangelism as an extension of God’s activity in our lives: “we are living out the Gospel message in ways that are accessible, not threatening, but welcoming.” In regards to this third perspective, there were a small number of vocal lay leaders (4) who wish to express their belief that

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“Anglicans don’t proselytize!” When asked what they meant by this, each lay leader further explained that they didn’t believe in condemning, labelling, excluding or shaming people who don’t hold similar religious beliefs. There was some confusion in their responses that proselytization could take many different forms. In fact, they themselves were likely unknowing evangelists in their own way. What these exchanges confirmed for me is that there continue to be certain theological terms that carry a great deal of emotional/experiential baggage for Anglicans. Sometimes, this baggage makes these terms unredeemable obstacles in theological conversation.178

4. Building up Christian community: 35/132 (26.5%) of lay leaders described the motivation of fostering Christian community as a foundational belief for forming new relationships. Some participants described this as living out the rule of “love God and love your neighbour.” Others stated that Christians were morally responsible for the benefit of the wider community. Still further comments included: “Christian fellowship is important to us,” “we invite newcomers to join our family,” “Church gives us a sense of belonging.” A few of the participants stressed the relationship between the deepening of community involvement as being a “deepening in their relationship with God”.

5. Fundraising: 20/132 (15%) of group interview respondents shared a very practical motivation for hosting new ministries in their congregation. These admitted that the primary goal of some events and projects was simply to raise money to maintain church operations. This response was most represented among the rural congregations in the study. One of the urban congregations in the study admitted that while they have been growing significantly in recent years, especially in terms of young families and children, these new members have very little in the way of resources to share. Therefore, mandatory fundraising activities are a difficult reality for their church.

178 This argument was noted by myself and Ephraim Radner in the Definitions section of this thesis.

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11.5.1 Discerning the Theological Motivation of Church Growth

This round of questioning in the group interview supports the connection between theological beliefs and ministry action. It also suggests that some growing congregations do regularly reflect on their theological beliefs and are aware of how these beliefs inform their ministry plans and implementation. One element of theology that I hoped to see present in these conversations that is notably absent is the articulation of a Trinitarian theology or even a more in-depth understanding of ministry as being a participation in God’s activity. The closest that was expressed to this was that congregations sought to be “missional” or that they were living out a “Christian vocation” in their efforts of outreach and evangelization. While most of the congregations did articulate a motivational sense of God calling them to ministry, almost nothing was voluntarily shared as to how this might be a participation in the mission of God. This being said, it should be noted that some lay leaders made reference to “living out the Kingdom” or “building up the Kingdom.” It is possible that this could be their way of expressing the missio Dei.

11.6 Communicating with Non-Members

One of the underlying roots of local theologies is the ways in which congregations are able to articulate the Gospel and their faith beliefs to others. Another word to describe this activity is proclamation. In order to unearth each congregation’s views regarding proclamation, I had them describe the ways that they communicate with non-members. Again, I deliberately left out any reference to the Gospel in hopes that they would make this connection on their own without any prompting. Here is a report of the results:

1. Word of mouth evangelism: 63% of the lay leaders interviewed referred to “word of mouth evangelism” as the best way of connecting with non-members. In many ways, responses demonstrated a depth of Christian spirituality and certain degree of comfort in their own faith beliefs. A few examples of responses to this question include: “I’m willing to discuss faith when I’m asked and divulge that I’m a non-traditional church goer.” “I am happy to share my own involvement in church activities: council, choir, Sunday school as being important in my life.” Many respondents stressed the importance of listening to others express their own faith needs before articulating their own. There

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was a desire for most participants to share their faith with others, but only in ways that were “open and caring” and not “critical and accusing.” One particular participant shared the insight that human relationship is all about the giving and receiving of stories. Our role as Christian, she said, is to “never be ashamed of the place of God as the author and animator” of our lives. More about the comfort levels of growing Anglican congregations sharing their faith with others will be discussed in the Report on the Supplementary Questionnaire from the group interviews.

2. Hosting Special Events: 36% of the respondents in the group interview described the hosting of special events, usually on the church premises, as an effective way to communication with non-members. Some of the expressions of these events have already been shared in this study. There are congregations in the study that have a long history of hosting successful events as fundraisers or community fellowship activities. An underappreciated role of events in the group conversations was the nature of how these ministries might be an ideal opportunity to share some of their Christian story with others. An oft repeated comment in our discussion was that Anglicans should not be “pushy” about their faith, but rather adopt a passive approach which somewhat resembles this order: a) Anglicans should do good things for non-Anglicans, b) hopefully non- Anglicans are thankful for the good things that they receive, and c) maybe this thankfulness will draw them in to explore what it means to be Anglican and even Christian. Flowing out of these conversations was the concept of what began to be described as “quiet evangelism.” Quiet evangelism, according to the group discussions, is ways that congregations can actively talk about their faith with non-members in ways that are not considered to be “pushy”. Here are a few examples of quiet evangelism that surface as a result of this interview question: 1) congregations printing placemats that feature service times, community values, outreach ministries and a personal invitation to be read by guests awaiting their meal at a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner. 2) welcome cards expressing why members love their home church being placed in bags being used to store items for foodbanks and thrift shops. 3) labels being printed on meat pies, tarts and other baked goods that share upcoming Christmas service times and a word of invitation. Each of these are examples of how congregations are sharing a little bit about

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their values and story if a way that comes across as generous and inclusive. This was one way that lay leaders considered of maximizing the evangelising nature of hosting events. As these stories were shared, many participants exclaimed: “I wish we had thought of this earlier!”

3. Advertising: It is a fact that each congregation in this study utilizes the tool of advertising as a form of proclamation. A relevant follow up question is this: How effective are these advertising efforts. If the Congregational Context Survey is any indicator, only 3.85% of members from the congregations in this study reported were drawn to church because of advertising. In the group discussion many comments were heard about how “advertising doesn’t work”. Is this truly the case? One story shared in the group interviews was of an urban congregation that sought to foster new relationships with young families around Christmastime. Towards this end, they took an advertising risk. They placed a mailout advertisement that would be circulated among roughly 600 residential mailboxes in their condominium-packed neighbourhood. The ad presented a new Christmas Eve Pajama Mass where families could redeem a coupon (in the ad itself) to receive a special Christmas costume for each child. Fortunately for the host congregation, they were prepared for a best-case scenario. That year around 144 participants came to their new Pajama Mass service. Roughly 70 children’s gifts were redeemed with the ad coupons. The advertising risk had was deemed a success. Sadly, the story continued to report that the congregation did not duplicate the advertisement the following year. The result, an abysmal turnout and the cancellation of their Pajama Mass service. Within the group interviews there were mixed stories of success and failure with advertising. The takeaway from the conversation seemed to be that congregations who were continuously trying new methods of advertising often stumbled upon the celebration of connections with non- members. Equally, congregations who were not willing to take risks in advertising generally had few or no experiences of advertising successes.

4. Social media and signage: A quick comment about these twelve congregations and their use of social media. Each of the churches in this study hosts an online presence, often utilizing a website, Facebook page and in some case hosting media files sharing service

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content online. Lay leaders repeatedly confirmed that a social media presence is a must in today’s contemporary patterns of communication. While the twelve congregations are great examples of churches branching out with social media, some of them have also re- adopted low tech forms of communication with numerous stories of effectiveness. These include regularly employing advertising banners on the exterior of the church179, using read-a-graph church boards and traditional sandwich boards to highlight upcoming events, and the placement of church-related poster in local community hubs and centers. Low tech approaches to advertising continue to be as effective as many new forms of social media advertising (at least as expressed by the lay leaders in this survey).

11.7 How Does Your Congregation Discern/Plan for Growth?

It is one thing for congregations to claim that they would like to see new members join their church. It is another thing entirely for congregation to actively plan to foster new relationships. This question was intended to cut to the quick of our discussion about growing churches by asking lay leaders to articulate their planning efforts. The responses to this question were mixed to say the least. A summary of the response groupings can be made in the following three categories:

1) Some congregations regularly reflect on and plan for growth. Without naming the congregations who are leading the pack in terms of discernment for growth, there are some whose lay leadership teams are constantly engaging in cycles of theological reflection and praxis. This takes the form of congregational education incentives, of ministry leader retreats, of hosting congregational coaches and speakers on ministry. Roughly one third of the congregations in this study talk regularly talk about growth as being a priority of the practices of mission and evangelisation. Lay leaders for these congregations could barely contain their excitement to talk about the strategic planning practices. Their attempts at building new relationships are active and continuous, defined by a flexibility in their methods and a creativity at trying new relational approaches.

179 Four churches in the study were advertising their Alpha Groups on the exterior of the church during my research visits.

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2) Some congregations focus on hospitality. If hospitality produces growth – bonus! A second grouping of the congregations in this study, (again roughly 1/3), don’t plan or discern growth explicitly, however they do place a great deal of emphasis on hospitality. Lay leaders from these churches talked about their focus on being “inclusive” congregations. What they mean by this is that they pay attention to making visitors feel welcome when the do arrive. This approach could be described as passive because it is dependent on a traditional model of church where people come to them and the congregation isn’t really expending any effort to go beyond the walls of their community. For the most part, the congregations that fell in this category are really good at the attractional model for ministry. Since the results of membership growth have been maintaining and, in some cases, growing their congregation sizes, they don’t necessarily feel the need to adopt a difference approach.

3) We have no expectations whatsoever about church growth. The final grouping (1/3) of congregations in this study admitted that they don’t tend to think in terms of growth at all. The language expressed by their lay leaders often expressed a desire for these congregations to be “authentic to themselves”. While they are also happy to see new members and even worry about what the future might hold for them, these congregations admitted to not talking about changing their congregational habits in order to actively reach out to new members. I was careful as a researcher to not express any judgement on these stated views. However sometimes there was a sense of defensiveness as participants asked: “Isn’t it alright if our members just focus on our own Christianity instead of worrying about others?” In the same breath, these lay leaders also expressed a desire to have their faith passed on to their children and to future generations. What seemed to not be present in their local theologies was a sense of being personally responsible to enabling the faith of future members. One lay reader put it this way: “We leave the future of the Church in God’s hands and concentrate on worrying about our own faithfulness.”

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11.8 How Do I Learn More About the Story of Jesus?

The second last question in the group interview intended to test whether or not each of the subject congregations had a process of catechesis in their church. How were they sharing and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ with newcomers? In attempt to capture the imagination of the interviewed lay leaders, I asked them to imagine me being a newcomer to their church, walking in from the street and suddenly asking them this question: Where can I learn more about the story of Jesus? How would they respond?

Somewhat comically, the first response of many of the participants was in comments such as: “Wow, that’s a really deep question!” or “Who would actually ask that?” and, my favourite, “I wish someone would ask that of me!” Answers to this question were all over the place. It was apparent that some congregations in the study were very well prepared to answer this question. For others, this question was an eyeopener for them as they began to reflect on how their preparation (or lack thereof) would be experienced by visitors. In a telling response by some participants, they immediately answered by referring the imaginary seeker to their priest. Some of the lay leaders did not feel equipped to answer questions about Jesus Christ. In their minds the priest or pastor was the educated teacher, therefore it was that person’s responsibility to field faith questions. Others welcomed this invitation. In particular, some of the Lutheran lay leaders in Midland expressed incredibly personal statements of faith in Jesus and a beautiful willingness to share their “witness” with others. Just a few examples of a relational approach to this question include: “Jesus and I welcome you,” “Jesus cares for you and so do we,” and “Did you know that Jesus will never abandon you? You’ve come to the right place!” Other approaches to this question were to refer the seeker to various ministries offered by their congregations. These included an invitation to the Alpha Program, an introduction to the welcoming committees that exist in some of the congregation in this study. Some churches have produced welcome materials that any parishioner can share with visitors that tell the story of their church community, that provide an introduction to Anglicanism and even offer invitations to newcomer events and barbeques.

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In terms of hosting a regular cycle of catechesis in their congregations, 3/4s of the congregations in the study did not offer this. One frequent comment was that clergy are often the ones who administer teaching ministries and they take place within the expressed need of candidates for baptism or confirmation. In contrast, ¼ of the subject congregations shared that they regularly host small group ministries that are the ideal context for persons new to Christianity and the Anglican tradition. Some of these groups follow structured curriculum,180 others are less formalized and aim to encourage an openness to asking faith-related questions within safe and affirming conversations between new and “well-seasoned” Christians.

The most common response of lay leaders to this question was an invitation for seekers to join them in worship. One person put it this way: “Come watch us work – in our worship, our love and our generosity to others!” A majority of Anglicans in this study believe that their worship liturgy, prayers and preaching are the most effective way for a newcomer to immerse herself in the story of Jesus Christ. This being said, some lay leaders, such as those at Little Trinity, Toronto, emphasized that resources need to be available for seekers unfamiliar with the language and customs of the Anglican church to understand the meaning of the liturgy and its relationship to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every Sunday, Little Trinity offers an instructional service bulletin that unpacks the meaning of the worship for seekers and those unfamiliar with the Anglican tradition. Participants from other congregations described practices of having parishioners sit with and guide visitors through parts of the service. Some churches have educational materials or even libraries that they offer to guests in order for them to further explore their faith. A final response to the seeker from this question was to invite her to attend a Bible Study, prayer group or even to share a cup of coffee.

180 Five of the twelve congregations in the study made reference to a new resources produced by Wycliffe College: Judy Paulsen, Patrick Paulsen and Susan Bell, Christian Foundations: A Grounding for a Life of Faith. (Toronto, Ontario: Wycliffe College, 2016.

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11.9 What Do You Believe God’s Hopes and Dreams for Your Congregation to Be?

The final question of the two hour group interview once again drew on the imaginative aspect of the Appreciative Inquiry method in order to invite each participant to create their own mini theological statement pertaining to their understanding of God’s will for their congregation. 181 This was one of the few questions in the interview that sought to have participants explicitly describe their congregational beliefs about God’s, on behalf of their faith community, from their individual perspectives. This question was where theologies, such as those highlighted in the Theology Framework and Assumptions section of this thesis, could be articulated. 133 personal theological statements were collected. Together, they demonstrated a spectrum of theological diversity present within the Anglican Church. There were, however, some recurring themes: A) Inclusivity of non-members was perhaps the most important theme expressed by the lay leaders – that newcomers would be at home in their congregations. B) Future growth and sustainability – that their congregations would be able to continue to minister to future generations in their particular community with the resources necessary to do so. C) Peace and harmony among members and non-members – that congregations would reflect the nature of the Kingdom of God which unites all peoples under the loving reign of Jesus Christ in the world. D) Loving service to their communities – that their churches would continue to identify the places where God was calling them to serve others in their neighbour and in the world. E) A deepening of both congregational and individual relationships with God, and F) That congregations would be filled with the presence of God and respond through worship, prayer and service. The following is a small sampling of the 133 theological statements:

“God’s hope is for our church to grow and the people will learn of his love for us all. That the children will feel his love and keep coming to church.”

181 I am aware that this question can easily open debate regarding whether or not God does in fact have “hopes and dreams” for our individual congregations. Debate is not the intent of the question, rather the purpose of the question was to utilize the strength of the Appreciative Inquiry process, which is to lead the participants into a deeper sense of theological reflection through their engagement of imagination. Again, I am not using the terms “hopes and dreams” systematically.

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“That those who have not known God in their lives may begin a journey. You do not have to have previous experience or expertise to participate. That all God’s children can learn to accept themselves as being a reflection of Jesus.”

“That we will continue to grow spiritually so that our corporate and personal witness will demonstrate the love of God in such a way that others will want to feel and share in that love.”

“Revival! To go deeper – healing ministry! Discipleship so that every born again Christian comes to understand who they are in Christ and the true Gospel message is demonstrated by the activity and the fruits of the Kingdom lived out in the each of us. Teaching to enable lay ministry to be active disciples in doing the same things that Jesus taught his disciples to do in healing, preaching the Good News, deliverance from evil spirits. To Grow the Kingdom of God beyond this physical congregation.”

“I think God wants us to make a difference in the world. God wants us to live out our faith in love and service. God wants us to love our neighbour and to show that love in our individual and corporate lives. We should be a place where people come and feel accepted, included and loved.”

“We hope and pray that though our church has been through: 1. Fire, 2. Departure of (our curate) to another church, and 3. Announcement of (our incumbent) leaving but to a well deserved position. We all know God has a plan for us and only gives us as much as we can handle.”182

“That we continue to grow in faith, bringing when and where we can, others in the community into relationship with Christ.”

“God’s hope for us, IMO are to spread the word of Jesus. To live a Christian life. To love one another. To help and reach out to others. To spread his word of love.”

“God wants us to continue to be welcoming to all who come in our doors and he wants us to spread God’s word to those we meet who are not believers, or those who are unsure what to believe.”

One of the trends that I noted in the sharing of responses among lay leaders in question eight was

182 I included this particular statement because it reflects a grouping of responses that were very contextual to what is going on particular congregations at particular times. In this instance, on the Sunday of my research visit, the Incumbent of the parish had just announced a pastoral transition. Notable in this response is how the loss of much- loved clergy is comparable to the church burning down. This, I believe, is further evidence of how integral clergy relationships can be in the fostering of congregation identity and beliefs. Names of individual clergy have been removed from the quotation.

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that often, in this act of listening to other group members, respondents commented, “That’s what my answer was missing,” or “I wish I had thought of that,” or “that is so true!” In this regard, congregational theologies were being articulated, but this was work of all the members of the group. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each response was slightly different yet added to the construction as a whole of the group members’ understanding of their own congregation. When Robert Schreiter talks about the “community as theologian,”183 he is summarizing this insight that it takes numerous members from a community reflecting and sharing together to begin articulating a local theology. My experiences in the group interview component of this study have found this to be true.

12 The Group Interview Supplementary Questionnaire

Within the same timeframe that I interviewed the lay leader groups from each congregation, I invited the participants to complete a supplementary questionnaire. As shared in the Methods section, the purpose of the question was to seek triangulation of answers between lay leaders, the general congregation and clergy. The questionnaire also allowed me to ask some additional questions that would have greatly extended the group interview past the allotted two hour period. The following is a presentation of the results from the questionnaire.

12.1 Congregational Attitudes Around Sharing Their Faith

The first question draws from an assessment exercise, borrowed from The Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen.184 The exercise presents various responses representative of a spectrum of attitudes regarding evangelism. Participants are to consider the responses and select one or two that they believe best express (in general terms) the comfort level of their own congregation in terms of sharing their faith with others. Respondents found this question to be challenging because congregations are made up of individuals who can be both comfortable and uncomfortable with practices of sharing their faith. However, each participant did their best to depict a generalized representation of the majority of the members in their congregation. The responses were ranked

183 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 19. 184 The question was adapted from a development day hosted in the Diocese of Huron by The Rev’d Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen, Director of the Institute of Evangelism (March, 2018). Used with permission.

127 on a scale of one to ten: one indicating a complete lack of comfort with practices of evangelism and ten indicating an explicit readiness to share the Christian faith with others.185

Diocese of Huron congregations: • St. John the Divine, Arva: 7 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our own congregation.” “We feel comfortable in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

• Christ Church, Huntingford: 5 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.” “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

• Holy Trinity, Lucan: 5 responses. Average score – 6 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.”

• St. Paul’s, Southampton: 6 responses. Average score – 4.5 “We know that the whole Church is supposed to share the faith, but we don’t know the basics well enough to share it ourselves. “We would love to share our faith with others, but don’t know how to do it without offending others.”

• St. George’s, The Blue Mountains: 15 responses. Average score – 7 “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

• St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor: 12 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.” “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

Diocese of Huron Average Score: 6.17

Diocese of Toronto congregations: • Christ Church St James, Etobicoke: 7 responses. Average score - 8.88 “We are excited to share with the people in our lives what our faith means to us!”

185 The full range of responses is reproduced on the Supplemental Group Questionnaire document attached on pages 231-232 in the Appendices section of this thesis.

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“We regularly experience the sharing of faith with others.”

• St. Mark’s Anglican/Lutheran, Midland: 13 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.” “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

• St. Paul’s, Minden: 16 responses. Average score – 7.5 “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.” “We are excited to share with the people in our lives what our faith means to us!”

• Little Trinity, Toronto: 8 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.” “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

• St. Martin-in-the-Field’s, Toronto: 17 responses. Average score – 7.5 “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.” “We are excited to share with the people in our lives what our faith means to us!”

• All Saints, Whitby: 8 responses. Average score – 6.5 “We are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our congregation.” “We feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.”

Diocese of Toronto Average Score: 7.23

The results from this exercise conclude that, for the most part, the congregations in this study are relatively comfortable is sharing their Christian faith with others in a responsive manner. What I mean by this is that most lay leaders suggested that their congregations are more comfortable in talking about faith if they are asked about it by a friend or family member. The same congregations would far less comfortable in actively initiating conversations of faith with others. Of the twelve congregations, St. Paul’s Southampton was the least comfortable in sharing their faith. Lay leaders from this group suggested that the role of talking about faith should be the responsibility of the clergy. In the further comments section of this question, members from Southampton suggested that they would be ill-prepared to answer questions regarding the Christian faith if asked outright by a friend or family member. Yet, there were two comments from the same group that suggested the congregation was aware of their struggles in expressing

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their faith. The Incumbent of the parish has recently introduced the Christian Foundations186 resource to being small group study around the theme of sharing their faith. The congregation that expressed the greatest comfort around evangelism was Christ Church St James, Etobicoke. Members from this lay leader group describe congregational efforts of evangelism as a primary focus in their church. It is notable that the majority of evangelistic ministries hosted by their congregation are lay-led. These include Café Church on the Lakeshore,187 Celebration Café Morning Edition,188 their hosting of the Alpha and Beyond Alpha programs, and their Messy Vacation Bible Club.189

12.1.1 The Role of Clergy in Fostering Practices of Evangelism

One of the most significant insights that has been gleaned from the follow up responses to this question has been the widely held belief that clergy are the ones responsible for initiating conversations about evangelism. In this way, clergy are expected to be the teachers and enablers of the congregation in regards to practices of sharing faith with others. They are also expected to be the front line agents of evangelism on behalf of the community. While most of the congregations represented in this study had their lay leaders suggest that evangelism “should be” the ministry of the entire congregation, the majority of participants in this questionnaire were unsure of their own role in these activities. More often than not, respondents underestimated their own gifts and opportunities as evangelists and instead fell back on a clergy-centric model where the priest is expected “to bring new people into our church.” A final comment to this question, it should be noted that 10 of the 12 congregations commented that there are individuals within their churches who have natural gifts in terms of evangelism. These individuals were all described as members of the laity and deeply involved with various ministries of welcoming newcomers to church.

186 Judy Paulsen, Patrick Paulsen and Susan Bell, Christian Foundations: A Grounding for a Life of Faith. (Toronto, Ontario: Wycliffe College, 2016). 187 A missional expression of church that hosts weekly gatherings at the Big Guy’s Little Coffee Shop. https://www.facebook.com/The-Big-Guys-Little-Coffee-Shop-377721500128/ (accessed July 28th, 2019). 188 An alternative worship service that takes place on Sundays on a semi-regular basis. 189 An outreach project designed to welcome children and young families into the Christian faith.

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12.2 Do Lay Leaders Share the Same Values as their Congregations in Terms of Ranking Ministry Attributes?

The second question of the Supplementary Questionnaire sought to test the alignment between lay leaders and their congregations in terms of ranking ministry attributes in their congregations as reasons for being members of their respective church communities. This question was identical to Question #13 on the Congregational Context Survey. The results suggest that there is a very high alignment between the views held by lay leaders and those expressed by the general population of their congregations. 11 of the 12 groups of lay leaders identified the same top three congregational values: 1) a welcoming congregation, 2) engaging preaching, and 3) Anglican style of liturgy, as were expressed in the results of the congregational survey. The only congregation that deviated from this trend was the group of lay leaders from Little Trinity. While there is a strong relationship of responses between the leadership team and the general members, the lay leaders (as expressed in a smaller group of 8 participants) did not rank “a welcoming congregation” as high a priority. Instead they had a much greater emphasis on the congregation’s youth ministries and on the focus of Biblical teaching in their Sunday services. It is also possible that they may assume that a warm welcome is implicit. It should also be noted that participants in this group argued for the merging of some categories. In particular, it was suggested that the priority of Biblical teachings could not be separated from engaged preaching. However, in the wider study, there is much evidence to support some congregations that value engaged preaching but do not have a particular emphasis on Biblical teaching.

12.3 The Gifts of Anglicanism for People Today

Question 3 was the most explicit probing of Anglican ecclesiology that was applied within the parameters of the study. The question was asked in a way that was unrestrictive and sought to elicit the respondents’ first thoughts in regards to the unique contribution of Anglicanism. Respondent answers to this question were incredibly diverse. I have attempted to group them according to theme and have ranked them based on the frequency of their use.

1. The theme of inclusivity. Many lay leaders described the Anglican Church as being an expression of Christianity where each person is important, valued and welcome regardless of their faith, ethnicity, gender, age and sexuality. Other comments

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expressed a belief that “all people are equal in the sight of God,” that Anglicans are “less likely to condemn people than more conservative Christian groups.” Some responses noted that the Anglican Church was a good place for people unsure of their spirituality, that it was a safe place to explore one’s faith.

2. Uniqueness of the Anglican liturgy. Although expressed in a variety of ways, the participants described an appreciation for a structured, historic Anglican liturgy that was also flexible in its ability to be adapted to numerous worship contexts: High Church and Low Church, formal “Cathedral style” and informal “Café style”. Central to this appreciation was the place of the Holy Eucharist. A number of lay leaders described a strength of the Anglican tradition as being “eucharistic.” The clearest articulation of a valuing of Anglican liturgy was expressed by the members of St. Martin-in-the-Field’s who specified their reverence of the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism. Some participants in the study also stressed the importance of the liturgical calendar in the patterns of Anglican worships as being a great gift to a secularized country where many people are growing disconnected with religious observances. As one person put it: “the Anglican liturgy draws us into the calendar of God’s activity found in the reliving of the story of Jesus Christ in our own lives.”

3. A way of relationship with Jesus Christ. Some responses appreciated the Anglican tradition as being “based on the teachings of Jesus.” They described the doctrine and worship of our Church as being “conducive to fostering a relationship with Jesus through the centrality of the Gospel in our worship.” Other respondents talked less about practices of worship and more about practices of discipleship. They suggested that Anglicanism encourages a personal relationship and belief in Jesus Christ which they believe to be necessary for individual salvation. A few lay leaders described Anglicanism as “a way of being Christian” where patterns of corporate worship and prayer direct us to the person of Jesus Christ.

4. A community of belonging. One of the more popular responses was presented in the form of personal testimony that the Anglican Church is a place where the participants

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feel they belong and have found a sense of “community” or “family.” They further than many people are longing for a place to belong and that this is a gift that Anglicanism has to offer. Descriptions of friendship, welcoming and community care were also shared within this theme of “community belonging.”

5. An openness to faith questions. Some participants highlighted this theme in sharing that “reason” was a foundational pillar of Anglicanism, that there is a place for intellect, questioning and debate within Anglican faith beliefs. Others were more specific to suggest that the Anglican church was a safe place for seekers who had questions about Christianity in general. Still others wanted to highlight that “Anglicans are allowed to disagree with each other” and that there is room for questioning and disagreement within our faith tradition.

6. A tradition grounded in scripture. A repeated theme in response to this question was that Anglicanism is “Bible-based”. Often no further explanation was offered. A couple comments suggested that the founding of the Anglican Church was “Apostolic” meaning that our Church traces its historical roots back to the apostles of Jesus Christ and the events documented in the Bible. A number of comments simply said: scripture and creed. I take this as an appreciation of the authority of both sacred scripture and the ancient Christian creeds that is held within the Anglican tradition.

There were a number of themes relating perceptions of Anglicanism that I had expected to find among the responses of the lay leaders to this question that were not well represented or absent entirely. There were only two references made regarding our church as being part of the wider Anglican Communion. There was no mention of congregations being part of a diocesan family of churches. In terms of theology, there were no responses that talked about the Trinitarian beliefs held within Anglican doctrine and worship. There were only two references made to our relationship with the Holy Spirit. The first commented: “the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: partaking in bread and wine.” The second commented that the Anglican Church is “spirit-led.” A further description of Anglicanism that was completely absent from the 119 completed questionnaires was any reference to the nature of ordained ministry as ordered by deacons,

133 priests and bishops. Lastly, it was interesting to note the contrast of both liberal and conservative theologies expressed by lay leaders. A couple of participants celebrated what they referred to as “progressive Christianity” as being the authentic theological alignment of their congregation. In similar fashion, other respondents reported the “historical orthodox theology” that was representative of another congregation. Both of these theological expressions were shared as being gifts that Anglicanism has to offer to Canadians today.

12.4 Any Other Factors Contributing to Growth?

The last question of the Supplementary Group Questionnaire allow for lay leaders to add any additional comments as to why they believe their congregation might be experiencing numeric membership growth. The responses to these questions often offered up reasons for growth that are unrelated to locally held beliefs or even ministry practices.

• St. John the Divine commented that their Incumbent is incredibly gifted at building relationships and inviting people to church. They also noted that when the local United Church congregation closed many of its members came to St. John’s because they knew and liked the priest. • Christ Church in Huntingford had two lay leaders muse that if their congregation hadn’t merged with another Woodstock congregation a number of years back they would have likely already been closed. These leaders did not remember the fact that prior to the merger both congregations had experienced five years of steady membership growth. • Members from Holy Trinity, Lucan recognized that their recent growth (122% increase in membership) is largely due to the charismatic gifts of their Incumbent. They expressed concern about what might happen if he were to ever leave the parish. • St. Mark’s Midland praised the compatibility of the Anglican and Lutheran traditions. Lay leaders commented both Anglicans and Evangelical Lutherans should be more deliberate about sharing ministry resources with each other. Both traditions have gifts to offer each other. • St. Paul’s Minden, (with Kinmount and Maple Lake) commented: “We aren’t afraid of growth! If it doesn’t work the first time, we’ll just try something new!”

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• St. Paul’s Southampton shared that they largely attribute their growth to their dynamic priest. They admitted that the lay leaders of their community need to step up and take responsibility for continuing to enable trends of seeking out and welcoming new members. • Lay leaders from Little Trinity credited two additional characteristics of their congregation for their recent increases in membership: 1) their emphasis on excellence in youth ministry and support for young adults. As one leader shared: “When to come to Little T you can envision what your future might look like in the congregation because there is a role and a place for each age group.” 2) We identify as “an evangelical Anglican church” and we believe that those who come through our doors are looking for this. • St. Martin-in-the-Field’s commented about local demographics: “Our neighbourhood has one of the highest birth rates in Canada with several thriving churches of different types. Many families who were previously Roman Catholic are looking for a more inclusive mainline church. We’re middle ground. Also, we like gay people.” • All Saints, Whitby, was forced into a challenging day of reflection during my research visit. They had just experienced the transition of a much loved curate weeks prior and on that particular Sunday they had receive word that their Incumbent had been appointed to be Dean of the Diocese of Toronto. Additional comments talked about how important the role of clergy is in setting the pace for an entire congregation. Positive clergy, they claimed, resulted in a positive outlook for their whole church. • St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor shared stories of how they have tried to reach out to any community organization that needed their help. The result, many people come back and we welcome them!

The range of responses from this final question alluded to the truth that there are many contributing factors to congregational growth. Not all of them have to do with theological beliefs. However, an underlying theme that continues to surface is of local beliefs that empower congregations to be inclusive and welcoming. While a local church may close and displaced members might come through the door, the likelihood of them staying if the congregation isn’t welcome is very slim. Even if a congregation has a talented priest that might even, say, be Elvis

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Presley resurrected, newcomers will not likely be held to the congregation unless they can relate to and appreciate the beliefs of that community. Finally, the quantitative aspect of this research project demonstrates that congregations can be situated in areas experiencing population explosions and still find themselves closing unless the congregation has the capacity to reach beyond their doors and foster new relationships.

13 The Clergy Questionnaire

The final component of this research study was to collect the insights of clergy who serve numerically growing congregations. As clergy members had been separated from the group interviews in order to better enable the articulation of local theologies by lay leaders, it was important to present an avenue to clergy to engage with the research project. There were 14 clergy who contributed to these responses. In order to maintain the anonymity of the participants, I will not make reference to their congregations and will seek to generalize their responses.

13.1 What Factors Do Clergy Think Contribute to Congregational Growth? • Building trust over the long term. Some of the clergy in this study have been serving in long-tenured positions in their congregation. This has allowed them to build up long term relationships in their community. Two respondents talked about the importance of building trust between clergy leaders and congregants. “Trust takes many years to build and is the most important element in seeking to change congregational culture,” one cleric posited.

• Experiencing God’s grace through congregational hospitality. A number of clergy talked about embracing congregational theologies of “radical grace and hospitality”. This was reinforced by practices of preaching and leading by example. One priest said that he could sum up his congregation’s theology in one word: grace. He comments that his primary goal in ministry is to have each visitor and members experience God’s love and grace every Sunday. Radical hospitality is further described as making sure that there is no barrier in the congregation that comes between any person and God. The congregation’s role is to remember that

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their actions need to reflect the actions of Jesus – “Jesus is our template for radical hospitality.”

• Being prepared for when God brings people to the door. A number of clergy in this study attributed their growth to being prepared to welcome newcomers. This begins with fostering a congregational culture of welcome where all members have an increased awareness and appreciation for visitors. Often congregations need to be “trained” on how to avoid responses that are exclusive and adopt practices that are inclusive. Numerous examples of preparing to welcome new members included enlisting welcome committees, creating user-friendly worship materials, ensuring building spaces are accessible, offering welcome gifts and packages to guests and regularly offering teaching ministries on enabling the entire congregation to be part of the welcoming process. Each of the twelve congregations in this study have been experiencing visitors on Sunday. The real question is “are we ready for them when they arrive?”

• Introducing more and different types of worship services. Each of the twelve congregations has a central core of Anglican parishioners who prefer a fairly traditional style of worship service. These members might not appreciate experimentation with worship styles on Sunday. Some respondents shared the insight that different worship styles appeal to different age groups and types of spirituality. The secret, they share, is to explore worship styles in response to “needs based evangelism.” One prime example of this is the introduction of a third Sunday service at All Saints, Whitby. This particular service was designed with busy young families in mind. The clergy leaders listened to the expressed preferences of a small group of young families that were members of their congregation. They then responded by custom designing a service according to these needs. Sure enough, other young families in the neighbour are hearing about this new service and starting to drop in. By adding a new expression of ministry without taking away from existing ones the congregation has grown with new relationships without frustrating existing ones. A number of the clergy in these

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questionnaire shared accounts of recently introducing new contemporary services with promising returns in membership growth.

• Joyful worship services contribute to good word of mouth! A selection of clergy commented that there is an authentic experience of joy that is present in their weekly worship services. “We don’t take things too seriously. We laugh a lot,” one priest commented. Another commented that their congregation takes time each Sunday to appreciate important milestones in the lives of parishioners like birthdays, anniversaries, and recovery from sickness. One congregation regularly hosts theme-based Sundays to foster fun and fellowship in the community. Examples of this are ‘Holy Humour’ Sunday and invitations to wear favourite hockey jerseys at certain times of the year. At the other end of the spectrum, one congregation, which worships in a much more formal manner, celebrates their joy in the ways that parishioners engage publicly with their local neighbourhood outreach. Their members are always visible doing things in the community and this allows for members to express the joy they have in their Anglican heritage with non-members.

• Enabling missional teams in the congregation. One way of fostering new relationships to recruit, train and their support lay led-missional teams. Recognizing the limitations of a clergy workload, some participants have been intentional about equipping lay leaders to envision, plan and implement new missional experiments. Small group projects are the perfect fit for needs based evangelism. Some clergy in the study also commented that their worship is now largely led by congregational teams. This is another way of enabling lay leaders to explore their own vocational ministries.

• Outreach is key! A quarter of the clergy questioned replied that congregational outreach was directly result in membership growth. Whether this was in the form of food banks, youth ministry programing or even prison visitations, these ministries foster a reputation in the community that the congregation cares and

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reflects God’s love for all people. The most important characteristic in outreach in not the act of charity to those in need, instead it is the building of relationships of trust and mutual support. Outreach projects that allowed for existing Anglican members to directly meet new people have been recognized as more conducive to relationship building than supporting projects simply through financial generosity.

• A faithful commitment to powerfully preaching God’s Word. Some of the clergy contributing to this research study are very gifted preachers. Most have stressed the importance of the homily as an act of proclaiming the Gospel. As the vast majority of services hosted by all twelve congregations on Sunday are eucharistic, this means that there is very little room within the Anglican liturgy to expound Biblical teachings. The Congregational Context Survey demonstrated that engaging preaching is one of the most valued characteristic of church among Anglicans and one of the top reasons why members keep coming back. It might be concluded that if there was a single facet of ministry that clergy should be most particular in pouring their energies it would be in the weekly homily.

• Excellence in children’s ministry. One priest commented: “You can never pour enough resources into children’s ministry. The return on investment is always worthwhile. Why then are some many congregations stingy when it comes to kids?” It is possible that many Anglican congregations don’t recognize the ripple effect of having a vibrant children’s ministry. This may be because children have been absent from congregations for so long that the memory of these benefits has been lost. Children represent a hope for the future. However, like all human relationships, children will only remain in congregations if they believe they belong and feel valued. Two of the congregations in this survey are among the absolute youngest (age-wise) in their dioceses. Their clergy are quite clear in expressing that this is a direct result in setting excellence in children’s ministry as a top priority for their churches. Lastly, excellence doesn’t have to be expensive. One congregation is absolutely bursting with kids, but they are one of the poorest

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in their diocese. They resource their children’s ministry not with money but with their time and attention.

• Utilizing congregational strengths and not begrudging the weaknesses. Each congregation has strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes churches can fall into a sense of community despair and lament the things that they are unable to have or do. Some clergy shared insights regarding the appreciation of things that congregations can do well. Not all congregations are gifted with relationships among children. However, they might be good at offering a place of belonging for seniors. What is wrong in a model of church based on growth among seniors if it is the perfect fit for that particular community? Some churches might be too small to offer certain types of ministry. This doesn’t mean they can’t partner with neighbouring churches and together offer a more diverse expression of ministries. One beautiful example of two churches working together for years that led to a congregational merger was the story of Midland’s Anglicans and Lutherans combining their ministries. Each tradition brought gifts into the relationship. As a result of this union, some of the parishioners now proudly identify themselves as Anglo-Lutherans!

• Making space for parishioners to explore their own faith. The last theme that was articulated by the clergy of this study was the theme of discipleship and exploration of faith. One insight shared was that before any congregation can grow numerically, the membership must first have the capacity to do so. This capacity is built up by nurturing parishioners in the exploration of their own faith. How can we expect our members to be apostles (sent out into the world as evangelists) unless they are first disciples? Discipleship, as one cleric states, “is a voluntary process.” Parishioners have to find Jesus on their own terms. Congregations need to offer various avenues for them to do this. Some of the congregations are very deliberate in offering ongoing catechesis for members in the form of Bible Studies, prayer groups, support groups, Christian education initiatives and Bible-based children’s ministries.

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13.2 How Would You Describe the Theological Beliefs of Your Congregation?

It is not surprising that this question gathered up a variety of different responses. Here I will share a few examples: “The community is beginning understand the importance of forgiveness, and there seems to be a sense of “not all who go to church are the same.” The theology of a loving God who desires only the best for us, not a demanding judgmental God, seems to be emerging, as well as an understanding of God's loving presence is emerging.” “I think that the term evangelical would be a historic identifier of our community – however in this day and age it has come to signify something we wouldn’t want to linked to – however the four key identifiers of an evangelical still stand – commitment to scripture – the rejuvenating work of the Spirit – the need for conversion – the call to mission would certainly be central. We have many non-Anglicans – people in the main have come from more evangelical traditions – but many have stories of hurt and pain – so I would say we are evangelical with some of the hard edges rounded.” “We are a truly welcoming community where nobody needs to feel they had to “hide” their problems in life and faith. You will be welcomed just the way you are right now.”

“I would say that the community has a deep theological understanding of the role of sharing God’s love, grace and mercy with the people that they encounter. Though they may not have the theological language to express that they do live it out. It is a place for all regardless of where they are on their theological journey, new or old, faithful or doubting. It’s a community that is growing in theological understanding.”

“Theologically orthodox, socially progressive—for the most part, although certainly as in any parish there is a diversity in this as well.”

“That God is love, and that God’s love is for everyone. That our expression of faithfulness is reaching out to our neighbourhood and offering what we have in God’s name. That transformation is an ongoing daily event, as God participates in their lives in an unending flow of interaction, through us and through those around us. ‘Ordinary people….Loved by God, seeking Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit.’”

One of the central themes that I recognize amongst the diversity of theological descriptions is the theme of ongoing theological development in almost all congregations. Clergy describe their congregations as growing into their theological identity. This, for me, reinforces the idea that theological beliefs are not static, but instead are contextual, responding to the individual faith experiences of the collective community. Another theme that is certainly present within clergy answers is the theme of inclusivity. Congregations have become more attentive to how their

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theology is perceived by non-members. There seems to be a growing awareness that some theological traditions can be hurtful and drive people away from their relationship with a faith community. Inclusivity is not understood as just being welcoming for the sake of growth. Instead inclusivity is being expressed as an attribute of God’s own nature that congregations are seeking to imitate. “Ordinary people….Loved by God, seeking Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit.” In many ways this comment is a good summary of what many of these clergy have articulated is a variety of ways. Our congregations are not claiming to have all the answers or be made up of perfect Christians. They consist of ordinary people who need God’s love as much as all humans do. There is a humility is admitting that they are still seeking Christ while at the same time a sense of confidence that they are being guided by the Holy Spirit.

A final comment: while local theologies are a product of an entire faith community, Robert Schreiter would argue that often “professional theologians” are needed to help the community express their beliefs. As two halves of a whole, the theological insights offered by clergy help to complete the whole expression of local theology experienced by the laity. Schreiter writes:

To ignore the resources of the professional theologian (or seminary trained cleric)190 is to prefer ignorance over knowledge. But to allow the professional theologian to dominate the development of local theology seem to introduce a new hegemony into often already oppressed (or under-appreciated)191 communities. In the development of local theologies, the professional theologian serves as an important resource, helping the community clarify its own experience and to relate it to the experience of other communities past and present.192

Within this project, clergy serve as a theological lens to help further understand how congregations articulate their locally held faith beliefs. In addition to this, my role as a researcher is to gather together the various strands of theological expression for the purpose of presenting a

190 My addition to Schreiter’s argument. 191 Another personal addition. Schreiter’s quote falls within the context of liberation theology in which local theologies were being cultivated from community’s emerging from past colonialist oppression. Often the trained theologian has been affiliated with this oppression. 192 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 20-21.

142 tapestry of sorts (this thesis) that seeks to be representative of the theology active among growing Anglican congregations.

13.3 The Theological Motivation Behind Fostering New Relationships The majority of the questions in the Clergy Questionnaire were focused on the correlation between new ministries that were taking place within congregations that have been contributing toward membership growth and the faith beliefs that may be motivating them. As many of the various descriptions of these new ministries have already been presented in this thesis, I am going to focus in on the faith beliefs that clergy have identified as inspiring them. Here are some of those responses:

“We believe that we are called into restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, we believe that coming to know Jesus, and falling in love with him at some level, is instrumental to that relationship and shapes many of our sermons and education programs. Our theology on presence and incarnation are also key to our outreach and evangelism ministries.”

“There is a fundamental belief that there is no one greater than or less than in our parish. We are all equals in the eyes of God. Therefore, all people feel called to reach out to others through love.”

“I think that we simply take to heart the basic teachings of our faith, no more and no less: We are all imperfect (i.e. sinners). None of us is “better” than the other, and that includes all members of the ordained clergy. None of us needs to rely on personal “merits” in the eyes of our loving God. Christ welcomes us all! The unconditional love of God in Christ is there welcoming and guiding us all under any circumstances and any time!”

“Mission and turning outward for the sake of others is central to our theological convictions to make Jesus known.”

“The Eucharist is the heart of our parish identity and life, so the praise of God is key to who we are, and the sense of the Body of Christ, both within the Eucharist and moving out from the Eucharist into the world is crucial. There is a strong sense that faith is embodied, that we are the hands and feet of Christ in the world, called to be living witnesses of his love. We believe in the importance of God’s invitation and welcome of us in the Incarnation, and so our call to reflect that invitation and welcome to those around us.”

“There is no place where we are called to serve that the Holy Spirit isn’t already present with us, animating our ministries and drawing us and others into God’s will and kingdom.”

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At the heart of the theological motivation expressed by the clergy of this study on behalf of their congregations are a number of themes: a) the theme of all people being equally worthy of God’s love; b) that Christians are called by God through the teachings and Gospel of Jesus Christ to be sent out into the world; c) that God’s presence abides with us both in the incarnation of Jesus in his Church (of which we are his hands and feet in the world) and also by the animation the Holy Spirit which draws us into God’s will; and d) the unconditional gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ is the Good News story that Anglicans are called to share and that our world desperately needs to hear. The clergy participants in this study have shared that there is in fact a deep correlation between locally active theologies and how they are inspiring congregations to “turn outward” to “participate in God’s mission” and to “approach the growing of new relationships not as a means of survival for the future of the congregation, but as the living out of our Christian vocation.”

13.4 Congregational Expectations Around Growth

In my report of the Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview responses I identified three different attitudes held by lay leaders in terms of their expectations around growth: 1) some congregations regularly reflect on and plan for growth; 2) some congregations focus on hospitality and growth in faith. If these result in membership growth – bonus! and 3) some congregations have no expectations whatsoever about church growth. How do clergy perceptions around growth for their congregations line up in this study? • 6 clergy expressed that their congregations regularly reflect on and plan for growth.

• 4 clergy reported that their congregations focus on hospitality and growth in faith but are very happy to experience membership growth as a by-product of these efforts.

• 2 clergy shared that their congregations have no expectations of growing.

In comparison to the lay leaders interviews in this study, clergy representatives were a little more optimistic about congregational perceptions of growth. Half of them shared that their congregations are actively reflecting on ways of building new relationships, not because they are operating out of theology of scarcity, but because they believe in the abundance of God’s love and its relevance in the lives of those who lie beyond the membership of their churches. 1/3 of the clergy participants reported that while their congregations do not intentionally plan for

144 growth, they believe that growth has been a result of their focus on hospitality towards all people (members and non-members alike) and on deepening their Christian faith. Lastly, there were two clergy that admitted that their congregations are very much concerned about their future survival. These congregations are not opposed to membership growth by any means, it is just that their energies seem entirely consumed by preserving their current ministry models. The same clergy hope that by continuing to build up the confidence of their parishioners they may, over time, recognize that they already possess the needed gifts to share their faith with others.

Chapter Five Analysis and Application of Results Limitations of the Study 1 Analyzing Congregational Data within the Three Roots of Local Theology

From the beginning of the design stage of this research project I have been inspired by Schreiter’s definition for local theologies and his three contributing roots to cultivating them: Gospel, Church and Culture. In this Analysis section, I will seek to frame the congregational data from the Results of the study within the paradigm of Schreiter’s three roots. This phenomenological study employed a number of research methodologies to unearth locally held theological beliefs using both quantitative and qualitive approaches, engaging a broad research sample of participants with the Congregational Context Survey and then digging deeper in intentional dialogue with lay leaders and clergy using both interviews and questionnaires. An immense amount of data has been gathered from this research project. What does it tell us about the theological motivation of numerically growing Anglican congregations?

1.1 The Culture of Growing Anglican Churches

This study has explored the culture of growing Anglican churches through the statistical analysis of trends pertaining to averages of Sunday worshipping attendance, through the articulation of values from the general membership itself, from the viewpoint of congregational lay leaders within an appreciative inquiry process and from the perspective of clergy serving as priests in these congregations.

Statistical analysis of average Sunday attendance (ASA) in both the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto demonstrates that a seismic shift has taken place in the culture of Anglicanism in Ontario within the last two decades. The current reality of membership loss at rates of roughly one third of all membership per decade have shaken the existing structures of each diocese as they attempt to adapt to new models of ministry while maintaining past structures of administration. Will this continue into the future? The evidence, at least from my demographic study in the Diocese of Huron, suggests that we should expect the same rates of congregational closure within the next decade. Currently, 50.89% of congregations in Huron are declining at a 145

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rate of more than 10% over a five year span.193 This trend presents what I would argue to be the greatest threat currently facing the Diocese of Huron. Is our Diocese responding to this threat with our full attention and resources? In some ways, I would liken our response to the proverbial frog in a boiling pot of water: most congregations have been content to carry on with traditional models of ministry where the focus has been on the faith development of its existing members. Drawing on the wealth of resources from historical endowments, many of these have been able to maintain familiar forms of ministry until those resources for ministry are depleted. It is in these final years of scarcity and fear that the contemporary Anglican lament kicks in: too old, too few, too tired, too poor – nothing will change or get better! I believe this mentality describes a majority of declining congregations in the culture of our Diocese.

Congregational decline is a reality in Huron and Toronto, but some congregations are bucking the trend! What is the cultural context of these growing congregations? By exploring questions regarding each congregation’s neighbourhood and relational outreach this study has demonstrated that growth is possible wherever there are populations of people in need of being served and ministered to by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While it is true that some communities are experiencing trends of depopulation (which is largely impacting rural areas in Huron), there are parishes where significant population growth is occurring. Each of the twelve congregations in this study is located in areas that are benefitting from population growth. Some are experiencing growth through condominium developments in urban areas. Others are located on the outskirts of larger cities that are expanding with suburban neighbourhoods. Four of the congregations in this study are directly benefitting from seasonal tourism and the influx of growth as a result of the cottage industry. Each of the twelve congregations has affirmed that visitors, many of whom are new residents in their local neighbourhoods, are showing up in worship services on Sunday. This is good news! However, congregations cannot rely solely on

193 These figures are taken from my document: “Bucking the Trend: Diocese of Huron Statistics 2007-2017 (A Quantitative Analysis)” included in the Appendices section of this thesis.

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passive approaches to building new relationships. There needs to be a motivation to being outwardly focused.

A growing reality in many Anglican congregations in this study is a change in the ethnic diversities of their membership. In urban centers, population growth through immigration is resulting in a multicultural flavour to many Anglican churches. This diversity should be embraced as a gift to the life of our Church because it brings new perspectives, new energy and a changed identity as to how we see ourselves in relationship to the neighbourhoods in which we serve. While the past cultural expression of the Anglican Church in Huron and Toronto may have been white, Anglo-Protestant, in many places this has changed considerably, and continues to do so. While not covered within the scope of this research project, many of the fastest growing Anglican congregations are ethnic churches that are flourishing as a result of their connection to the international cultures of immigrant communities.

This research project was also able to explore the cultural makeup of the membership of twelve growing congregations. Demographics in our churches reveal that the majority of our membership consists of seniors with the average age being around 60 years old. The benefit of this particular age group of parishioners is that many seniors are retired and have greater flexibility in their lives to serve and participate in congregational activities. Some of the churches in this study could be classified as senior-specialists, meaning they have had great success in fostering relationships among local communities of seniors. Another very hopeful attribute of the congregations in this study is that every single one of them is being intentional around fostering relationships with youth and young families. There seems to be a change in the culture of these particular congregations from lamenting the absence of youth in their churches to actively seeking it out in their community. The greatest example of this is St. John the Divine’s pizza lunch outreach to their local school. It is evidence of a desire for congregations to foster multigenerational relationships. The other hopeful sign of renewed energies in connecting to youth was the visible presence of children in each of subject congregations. In some cases these relationships are new, having been established in the last five years as a result of outreach efforts

148 that have included the introduction of new children’s programing, the resourcing of youth pastors and volunteers and the exploration with new, family oriented worship services.

Congregational culture also consists of the hopes and dreams of a community. Robert Schreiter writes:

Culture is the concrete context in which this (faith) happens. It represents a way of life for a given time and place, replete with values, symbols, and meanings, reaching out with hopes and dreams, often struggling for a better world.194

The dreams of many congregational leaders were expressed in their statements of local theology as shared in the group interviews. They spoke of a desire for Anglican congregations to be welcoming, inclusive communities where the love of God was shared with members and non- members alike. They dreamt of future ministry, spanning generations, with the Church continuing to serve the needs of those in their communities. Lay leaders and clergy spoke of the desire to enable their membership to better know and follow Jesus Christ in discipleship, worship and acts of evangelism. While there were some who expressed a fear of uncertainty for what the future might hold for them, there is a resounding confidence that Anglicanism has numerous gifts to offer people today and that God is present and active in our ministries, in our outreach and in our worship. The most affirming declaration that I have heard at the center of discussions with lay leaders was their desire to grow, in terms of fostering new relationships for the Gospel. There were no congregations against the idea of growth, although some expressed an uncertainty and a lack of familiarity in how to go about seeking out new relationships.

When articulating the values that define the culture of Anglicanism, members highlighted the importance of our shared historic Anglican liturgies while at the same time celebrating the diversity of both theological expressions and worship styles that are present in our congregations. The most significant attribute defined in the culture of growing Anglican congregations in this study. with a triangulation of responses from membership, lay leaders and clergy, was the

194 Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, 24.

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intentionally welcoming nature of each of the twelve churches. While there are many reasons why someone might walk through the doors of an Anglican church, the vast majority of members have remained because they have found their congregations to be spiritual families of inclusivity, welcome and support. If the welcoming atmosphere of a congregation is absent, the wisdom of the collective responses of this study suggests that fostering a welcoming and supportive community should be the number one priority of any ministry efforts. Why should our congregations be places of welcome? The participants in this study have answered: our churches are called to reflect the love of God that we have already experienced through Jesus Christ.

1.2 How do growing congregations relate to the larger Church?

Schreiter argues that there can be no such thing as local theologies without the larger church.195 Each of the congregations in this study is a product of faith that has been passed down over the generations through our particular Anglican tradition that roots us within the one, holy and apostolic Church. Lesslie Newbigin explains that when St. Paul referred to the Church, he used the Greek ekklesia tou Theou, which translates to “the assembly of God”. Newbigin continues to share that this assembly was in fact a summons to “all the citizens”, Christian or otherwise, to gather in God’s presence.196 Newbigin interprets this to mean that each and every local church is not a branch of something else (i.e. a smaller part of the Catholic Church). Instead, the local church is the ekklesia tou Theou. In other words, each local church exists to be God’s summons to all people in the community: to gather with God in Christ, to worship and to be transformed into Christ’s likeness. Newbigin is very clear in never referring to “church” as a place. Instead he argues that each congregation is “the Church of God for that place”.197

While the congregations in this study are well aware that they are called to be the Church of God in their neighbourhoods, while they articulate theologies of incarnation by claiming a responsibility to be “the hands and feet of Christ in their world,” and while they are conscious

195 Ibid., 24. 196 Weston, Paul, editor, Lesslie Newbigin, 132-133. 197 Ibid., 133.

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that they are part of a larger family of churches within a diocese, there still remains a spirit of congregationalism that is prevalent in each description of congregational ecclesiology. I have come to understand this as being an authentic component of local theologies. In many ways it is easier for people to identify within a community that is known to them, localized and familiar. This is reflected in the top reasons why people come to church in the first place: 1) it is located close to home, 2) they may already have family there, and 3) they might find themselves invited by friends that they already know and trust. In some ways, fostering close knit relationships is really the secret to fostering growing churches. Nevertheless, despite the attempts of Anglican leaders to enable theologies of “communion” and participation in a wider church, the default identity setting of the Anglicans surveyed in this study tends to be their congregational family. A congregationalist mindset can be advantageous if there is a strong presence of missional theology that motivates a faith community. When a community’s faith beliefs inspire them to share their Christian convictions with others, this can open the door to the fostering of new relationships. As my mentor, Bishop Terry Dance, says, “The greatest evangelism is like one beggar telling another where they just got the best meal of their week!”198 One example in this study that immediately comes to mind for me is the evangelistic mission statement of Little Trinity, Toronto: “Love God, Grow Together, Serve Our World.” Notice the three directions of relationship in their mission: upwards toward God, inwards towards themselves and outwards towards the world. Some of the congregations in this study are experiencing a great sense of joy as a result of them living out a missional ecclesiology that shapes the community to be relationally outwards facing. But the down side of the presence of a congregationalist mindset is when an Anglican church does not possess a sense of missional identity within their local theology. If this same church is less inclined to be open to new ideas or theologies shared by the wider family of faith which is the diocese and denomination, then how then can their congregational culture be influenced in a way that counters the pervasive theology of the contemporary Anglican lament? I have a suspicion that is derived from the findings of this study, that the more congregationalist a church becomes, the more vulnerable it will become to the

198 It is most likely that Bishop Terry Dance was quoting Daniel Thambyrajah Niles of Sri Lanka, a 20th century ecumenist and noted preacher. For more on D.T. Niles, please see: http://exhibits.ptsem.edu/jamesreeblectures/48- 2/d-t-niles/ (accessed August 19th, 2019).

151 contemporary Anglican lament. While it is certainly possible for some congregations to be motivated by strong evangelizing local theologies, as is clearly the case with Little Trinity, Toronto, others may not possess this vital characteristic. If the contemporary Anglican lament takes hold and a congregation is not open to new ideas or theologies from outside sources, then a defeatist, self-fulfilling prophecy will occur. This, I believe is something that bishops, clergy and lay leaders need to be accurately aware of (if they aren’t already), in order to prevent congregations from turning inwards on themselves and refusing to believe that any outside help, or change, is possible. Sometimes this includes closing themselves to the belief that God has a future intended for their church. This is a primary reason why local theologies need to be better understood within the Anglican context, because they have the power to bring about missional change and congregational transformation among declining churches if interventions can take place before congregations give up hope and move for disestablishment and closure.

1.3 How Are Growing Congregations Responding to and Proclaiming the Gospel?199

One of the common characteristics shared by all the congregations in this study is their love of the Gospel of Christ and their belief in the transforming power of God in their lives. Having spent six months visiting with lay leaders, in hearing them share their stories of faith and express their dreams for the future of the Anglican Church, there is no questioning that the foundation of Anglicanism is the Gospel. Yet Gospel, as a root in the formation of local theologies, is more

199 About the Gospel: It should be noted that there seems to be a spectrum of understandings regarding what ‘Gospel’ actually means among the congregational responses. On the surface level, some participants describe Gospel as being synonymous to ‘the story of Jesus.’ There were comments shared that there are worshippers within each of the congregations that likely do not know the whole story of Jesus, nor have they ever read the four Gospels for themselves. The next level of understanding Gospel included the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus. Sometimes this was in relation to Jesus as being a teacher, role model and humanist. Other times Jesus was described within the context of soteriology and the Gospel described with reference to the cross, Christ’s death and resurrection and the sacrament of Christian baptism as being a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. Very few responses noted the need for a conversion experience or the repentance of other worldly powers and the affirmation of Jesus as saviour and Lord. Soteriological perspectives were only referenced in three of the twelve congregations. There were also a number of references to the Gospel in relationship to the Kingdom of God. Some participants described the Kingdom of God as being present in our world and loosely connected this concept to the ministries of their church: “we are doing the work of the Kingdom”. Others seemed convinced that the Kingdom of God is only realized through our mortality and seem to equate it with life after death. The diversity of these responses suggests that further conversations and education should take place within Anglican congregations about the meaning of the Gospel and its central place within the teachings of our Church.

152 than just a belief in the Good News of Jesus: it includes all the ways that we, as Christians, respond to and proclaim the Gospel. This includes how we experience the presence of God in our worship, how we participate in God’s activity through our caring for others, and how we proclaim the truth of the Gospel to those beyond the doors of our churches. In many ways, Anglican worship remains the central act of the church that shapes and forms our congregational and Christian identity. For some congregations, the experience of the Gospel within Anglican worship embeds a sense of missional responsibility into its membership. This missional responsibility causes them to be outwardly focused, attentive to fostering new relationships in drawing others into their corporate experience of the Gospel story and motivating their congregations to reach out in service to the neighbourhoods in which they are situated. In this case, missional outreach, and the new relationships that are formed through this activity, is a natural outpouring of their encounter with the Gospel – mission becomes their identity and their response to the Gospel.

One of the insights from this study is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a single “type” or “style” of worship experience that is more conducive to growth than others. The diversity of worship expressions encountered among the twelve congregations has varied in formality from the ritualistic (Anglo-Catholic) to the uber-casual (Café Church). They have included very traditional expressions of prayer (The Book of Common Prayer) to contemporary ones (Messy Church). I have experienced Anglican worship that has been revitalized through its encounter with non-Anglican traditions: Anglo-Lutheran and Anglo-Baptist partnerships. Lastly, the twelve churches have varied greatly in size and complexity from small rural congregations led by a single priest supported by congregational volunteers to urban, resource-sized churches that host large worship teams and multi-staffed ministries. What has been common amidst this diversity is the centrality of Christ at the heart of the worship experience. Participants have witnessed to encountering Jesus in the communion of Holy Eucharist, in the power of community prayer and in the sacramentality of preaching. The by-product of these encounters has been described as joy, thankfulness and confidence in congregational faith. Respondents have shared that it is a result of their joy, thankfulness and confidence that they desire to share the Gospel with others. Repeatedly, in the responses in the study, the Gospel has been described as a gift that is meant to

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be given. What is most important, at least according to this researcher, is that within the local theologies of growing congregations is a call to missional action. The belief that the Gospel needs to be shared with others must be held by the congregation in order to motivate them to want to grow numerically. Unfortunately, I know that not all congregations hold this to be true. I have experienced numerous congregations that seem completely uninterested in sharing the Gospel with others. Even some of the congregations in their study did not feel it necessary to be evangelistic. To be honest, this surprised me. I had hope to find this as a given among each of the twelve congregations. This does demonstrate that some congregations can grow without being evangelistic.200 However my suspicion is that growth that is not the result of evangelism will be short lived and therefore unsustainable for the congregation in the long term.

1.4 Creating Space for Theological Reflection

One of the greatest benefits of this study, as has been shared with me by appreciative comments from participants, was the intentional creation of space for theological reflection that the project introduced for many congregations. In essence, the “intervention” element of this thesis hasn’t been to ask congregations to deliberately change anything about their identity or how they live out their ministries. Instead, the intervention has been to cause each congregation to pause a moment and reflect on who they are in terms of their cultural context, their relationship to the wider church, and their own unique experiences of encountering and living out the Gospel. My purpose in facilitating these moments of reflection was to live out my own vocation as a student of ministry, hoping to learn and grow from the insights of other congregations. Yet in these interactions, as each congregation reflected on their own faith beliefs and ministry practices, they could not help but be moved by the spirit of change. “I wonder if that might work for us?” “That gives me a really good idea!” and “We have always been curious to try….” are all remarks that were heard in the group interviews. As stories of new approaches to evangelism and outreach were shared between the 12 congregations, each group of lay leaders seemed to take heart that

200 Congregational growth can be the result of many factors: congregational mergers, the closing of another local church, increases in the population of the surrounding neighbourhood. These may not have anything to do with the local theologies present in the congregation.

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there were other congregations who were taking risks for the Gospel too!201 I believe that these stories need to be celebrated and shared within the wider context of the Anglican Church of Canada. Remembering back to my own experiences of the Vital Church Planting Conferences held in Toronto, I am thankful that I was introduced to how other missional churches were sharing their ministry hopes, success and failures in ways that were drawing attention to the place of local theology in relationship to congregational growth. My hope for the findings of this study is that they may serve the purpose of further expanding the discussion of how significant the study of local theologies is within the wider context of Anglican theology today.

1.5 Responding to My Five Hunches as a Researcher

Before commencing the research aspect of this study I put forward five assumptions or hunches regarding characteristics that I hoped to find among the growing congregations in this study. As a concluding component of my analysis, I will briefly address each of these as they have been informed by the data collected in this study.

1.5.1 Growth from encounter with the Gospel

Have the congregations in this study grown as a direct result of their encounter with the Gospel? In their engagement with the life and teaching of Jesus motivating them to change? Have they been responding to the commissioning of Jesus to be sent out into the world? Responses collected in this study have concluded that, yes, congregations are often motivated to foster new relationships because they have been reoriented by the Gospel towards an outwards missional focus which guides their ministry activities. When parishioners talk about being the “hands and feet of Christ,” they would further describe their hands as called to serve others and their feet as being led to walk to the place where needs are greatest in their community. The most repeated theme of Gospel-inspired outreach is the understanding that Jesus commissioned/commanded his followers to love God and neighbour and to baptize all nations. Different congregations have

201 It would have been interesting to hear feedback from clergy in response to the various examples of missional outreach and relationship building that are taking place among the twelve congregations in the study. Unfortunately, due to the deliberate separation of clergy responses in this research project (the reasoning being explained in the Methodology section of this thesis) I was unable to gather clergy feedback in regards to congregations other than there own.

155 interpreted this vocational call in different ways – some are much more active and involved in living this out than others. Yet, it cannot be denied that congregations have grown because they believe that God wants them to foster faith relationships with non-members. Is this the only reason why churches are growing? Certainly not. But, I can confidently posit that is a primary reason why some Anglican congregations are growing.

1.5.2 A Concerning Observation: The Absence of Prayer

It is here that I want to share a concerning observation regarding congregational growth that was noted across all of the churches in this study. In the group interviews, one of the questions that was asked was: How does your congregational prepare for/discern growth? Having already addressed the responses to this question in the Reports section of this thesis, allow me to now share what was entirely absent in the responses: prayer. Out of the 132 group participants, not one answered that their congregation actively prays for God to bring new members to their congregation. It should be noted that at St. David and St. Mark’s, Windsor, one participant did say that their Wednesday prayer group had prayed for an increase in members, but in terms of congregational prayer that takes place in the center of worship, the petition to grow as a faith community was not articulated by the participants in this study. In a few of the interviews I asked: “Do you ever pray to God to bring new people to your church?” The responses were similar: “I guess we’ve never thought about it that way before.” In my personal reflection following the group interviews I have questioned the absence of this practice. Christians pray when we are sick, we pray when we are afraid, we pray when we are dying. We believe that God listens to these prayers and we ask for “God’s will to be done” in answering them. If Anglicans truly believe that we are called by God to foster new relationships, why aren’t we praying every Sunday for this to happen? A secondary effect of the repetition of prayers in a faith community is that it changes the way that community is receptive to what they are praying for. There can be formational value to prayer. If every Anglican congregation prayed each Sunday for God to bring newcomers for them to welcome, perhaps this might make our membership more responsive to receiving then when, inevitably they arrive on our doorstep. Or even better, perhaps this might inspire our members to seek out and invite others to join us. Prayer, I am convinced, is one of the many ways that we as Christians can participate in the mission of God, seeking to reach each person with the Good News of Christ.

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1.5.3 Flexibility of Spirit – The Willingness to Take Risks

When I put forward this supposition, it was in reference to congregational growth as being the result of ministry innovation and taking risks. Are innovative and flexible Anglican congregations the ones that are growing? Well, I have found this to be both true and not entirely true. It is true that some congregations have fostered new relationships by exploring new or “fresh expressions” of ministry. St. Paul’s, Minden has developed an entirely new grouping of relationships through the outreach of opening up a much needed thrift shop in their community. All Saints, Whitby has seen a resurgence of young families and children by having the courage to hire an assistant curate, who then developed an intentionally seeker-friendly service that has been quite successful. St. John the Divine, Arva, has developed new relationships with a local school because they took a risk in trying out a new ministry. Sometimes, new expressions of ministry can work. Yet behind each of these successful ventures are stories of ideas that didn’t work out so well. Often the measure of success, as reported by the congregations in this study, was in the repeated attempts at ministry innovation until something finally worked. Admittedly, not all congregations share this entrepreneurial spirit, but the insights from this study suggest that, more often than not, the benefit potential of building new relationships far exceeds the risk of failure. I believe it is also important to comment that some congregations have been incredibly successful in maintaining what might be considered very traditional ministries. Contemporary services and café churches are not always what seekers of Christianity (or denominational transfer)202 are looking for in their lives. Some of the congregations in the study were very proud to self-identify as “traditional,” however in their traditional expression of ministries they are also being very deliberate about inviting others to join them and welcoming the people that God brings through their doors.

202 Here I refer to Christians from other denominations who are exploring different Christian traditions. This type of membership growth, while benefitting the local congregation, should probably not be considered “church growth” in the wider ecclesial sense because it comes at the cost of decline in other Christian denominations.

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1.5.4 The Body of Christ as a Partnership of the Ministry of Clergy and Laity

In my preparation for the comprehensive exam for the D.Min program, I came across a similar study to my own that was conducted within The Episcopal Church203 in the United States by John Dreibelbis. In this study the author and his research team asked the question: what are the leading factors to congregational growth or decline amongst Anglican congregations in The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the U.S.A.? Their research findings argued that the most significant factor in congregational development was clerical leadership. The study continued to suggest that clergy who have been identified as “effective” can stimulate the vitality of their congregations while “struggling” clergy more often than not had congregations that are marked with stagnation or decline. These findings were based on Dreibelbis’ “Towards a Higher Quality of Christian Ministry” research project which was sponsored as a national research program in TEC.204 About the time that I was considering Dreibelbis’ study in relation to my own, a clergy colleague who had been following my work called me up and asked: “So Grayhame, have you figured out by now that it’s all about the priest?” My colleague continued to suggest that all the best congregations in our diocese shared the common trend of “competent clergy.” This comment greatly discouraged me, the reason being that it suggested two things: 1) that the contributions of gifted lay leaders were being either underappreciated or completed disregarded in the evaluation of “the best congregations,” whatever that actually meant; and 2) that the future of Anglican congregations was dependent on having enough “competent clergy.” While these suggestions didn’t sit well with my own experiences of ministry, I could help but wonder, in light of Dreibelbis’ finding, if they might carry an element of truth to them?

This is what I can now honestly conclude from the findings drawn from my own study. Each of the twelve congregations in this research project are being led by remarkably gifted clergy.

203 The Episcopal Church (TEC) is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion based in the United States. 204 John Dreibelbis. “From Maintaining to Building Communities of Faith.” Anglican Theological Review 92, no. 1 (2010): 147-155.

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These clergy are also very much appreciated by their membership. One only has to look at the high valuation of “I like my priest” in the ranking of reasons why people continue to come back to their respective churches to recognize this as a given. Some congregational leaders described their clergy in ways that would best befit a messiah figure. There were times in the study when this appreciation even came across as veneration. This being said, a closer understanding of the cultures of each of the twelve congregations reveals that wherever growth has been present it has been largely supported by the efforts of incredibly committed lay leaders. Take for instance, as has already been shared as an example in this thesis, All Saint’s initiative of a seeker friendly service: yes, it was the initiative of a charismatic and innovative young curate, but when I experienced the service myself, this cleric had already transitioned to another congregation and the implementation of the worship was being carried out by gifted music leaders, congregational volunteers as readers and intercessors, and supported by the welcoming presence of the general membership. While the curate may have been an agent of innovation for that particular congregation, the success of the ministry will be based on the gifts and commitment found already present in the membership itself.

There is one congregation in this study that was immediately noteworthy because of its astronomical increase in membership growth which, practically overnight, transformed a congregation of 49 on a Sunday to a robust 109 weekly worshippers (a 122% increase). What happened there? The answer is found in a particularly talented priest. This individual brought a number of charisms to a congregation that had become rather “stuck” in what I have called the contemporary Anglican lament: this priest emphasized a theology of God’s abundant love and grace as preached from the heart in his sermons; he brought a level of relational energy that the congregation had not experienced in a cleric for years; he brought a missional focus on reconnecting with the local neighbourhood; and lastly, he brought sequin be-jeweled jumpsuits! In addition to being an incredibly gifted priest, this individual is also a renowned Elvis impersonator. The Elvis persona has introduced a sense of creativity and fun to the congregation which has been drawing people in for miles. The congregation’s financial worries began to melt away as the pews became cozier and cozier and the collection plate became heavier and heavier. A new critical mass for membership began to materialize with many new members coming from

159 lapsed Christian practices or from other denominations where they had felt discouraged or turned away. The message from the pulpit was music to their ears (sometimes literally): All are welcome!

To return to my clergy colleague’s comment: was it then, all about the priest? Would an Elvis impersonator in every Anglican church save our denomination from trends of membership decline? I believe the answer is no. Here’s why: this particular priest has certainly been an agent of change in his particular context. It is quite likely that had he not been appointed by his Bishop in that parish, there was a very real possibility that it would have closed. But there are a number of reasons why this individual worked in this context: 1) he was essentially a change from past ministry styles and sometimes change brings new energy, 2) he is open and honest about how the Gospel has transformed his life and he is not afraid to share his own imperfections – this makes his membership more comfortable in accepting their own, and 3) he equips his congregation to explore their own God-given talents.

The real test of the impact of clergy leadership is found when a priest transitions away from the ministry that has benefitted from his or her leadership. If the ministry falls apart, often this demonstrates that a clergy-centric model has been operating in that context wherein the membership became dependent on the gifts of their leader. However, in some contexts the ministry of the laity has been reawakened and enabled so that following a transition the congregation recognizes that they possess their own unique charisms as the body of Christ that can continue to foster vitality and growth in their congregation. John Dreibelbis might be right in recognizing the transformational value of gifted clergy, but if the future of our congregations is dependent on clergy efforts alone, we are in great peril. Already too many clergy feel the pressure of mounting messiah expectations and it is burning us out. The alternative is to enable the inherent gifts of the laity where each person has a role in living out the ministry of an inclusive welcome, of Gospel-shaped witness and of open and honest discipleship. As an endnote to my response to this particular personal assumption, I would like to include a parishioner’s letter describing her experience of “the Elvis church,” which cannot but share the credit of her encounter with all the congregants of that community:

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What a joy it was to celebrate with you and the congregation this past Sunday. Your website says "welcoming" and it was! Often when there are new-comers they are left to feel awkward and out of place, but that was not the case at Holy Trinity.

We thoroughly enjoyed the celebration and were pleasantly surprised throughout the hour. We were most impressed with the opportunity for children to be involved, and much to our surprise our children participated willingly in both Kid Talk and Sunday School.

For a long while my family and I have been searching for a place of worship that fits, which has been challenging; and we (well at least the adults) were a bit anxious about trying something new. We left church on Sunday knowing we were coming back. Which is an incredible and long-awaited feeling.

The bulletin made all the responses clear and answered any questions we had about process and what a Catholic can or can't do regarding communion. The instructions were so clear it didn't leave us guessing for one moment if we were going the wrong way down the aisle. This was greatly appreciated. We were even coached by a lovely women in the pew behind us that likely saw the look of panic on my face when my children were ushered to a location where I couldn't see them. She told us what was happening and what our kids would be doing in Sunday School. The Sunday School teacher was also amazing, explaining the program and what happens; and even showing us the new space that the program will soon take over. And there were my kids, safe, happy and having fun.

The sermon was poignant, insightful, amusing, and uplifting. And I could relate your words to my own life and use it for personal reflection.

Throughout the hour people laughed, joked, talked to one another... there was a sense of community and casualness but also deep tradition. When the time came for people to greet one another and share a handshake I was shocked by people leaving their seats and moving all over the church to say hello and God bless to others. The atmosphere and space felt rich and alive.

Every night over dinner we play a game called Roses and Thorns. A rose being something good that happened in your day and a thorn being something difficult or challenging. Our family was unanimous - our "rose" was church that morning. Which is an absolute first (and I've been going to church for over 38 years)!

What a positive impact you made on us; we are extremely grateful.205

205 The letter was offered up for reproduction in this thesis with permission of the author.

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1.5.5 Evangelism through Proclamation and an Emphasis on Discipleship

These last two assumptions are ones that I feel have been well tested by the exploration of local theologies in this study. In some ways proclamation and discipleship are two sides of the same coin. Within each of the congregations studied, there is an invitation that draws both newcomers and long-time members into the story of Jesus Christ. Through worship, prayer, fellowship and Christian education Anglicans are experiencing discipleship to be the fostering of a relationship with Jesus. The goal of discipleship is often expressed as “seeking to become more like Christ in our lives.”206 There is no doubt in the mind of this researcher that a foundational building block to growing Anglican congregations is the primary emphasis of Christian discipleship in their personal and corporate lives together.

Discipleship forms Christian identity. It gives us a story to tell that we have experienced in our own lives – the story of how we have found God’s love through our relationship with Jesus. Evidence of spiritual maturity as a result of practices of Christian discipleship can be found when disciples grow in the confidence and joy of their shared story in Jesus that they long to tell the story and to share that joy with others. Proclamation, therefore, is a natural outgrowth of discipleship. This can be recognized in the natural progression of Jesus’ own followers in the New Testament. That in order for them to become apostles, ones ‘sent out’ to proclaim the gospel, they first spent many years being formed in their faith as disciples.

It has been a pleasure in this study to hear the insights of many Christians who I would describe as possessing a deep spiritual maturity and a confidence in their faith. Many of the new initiatives of outreach and evangelism as reported by the congregations in this project are being led by lay leaders. More to the point, without these lay leaders most congregations would lack the capacity to support their current initiatives in evangelism. The fact reinforces the need for

206 This quote taken from the response of a lay leader at Christ Church, St James, Etobicoke.

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continuous practices of discipleship to be sustained in every Anglican congregation.207 Next to cultivating a welcoming atmosphere in our congregations, discipleship is likely the second most important component to congregational growth. I also have a hunch that by fostering practices of discipleship, congregations will also benefit by becoming more welcoming as I believe this is part of the transformative power of drawing closer in our relationship to God through Christ.

2 Limitations of the Study

There have been moments over the past three years where I have questioned the scope of this research project: have I attempted something that is out of my depth? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? A repeated theme in the mentorship of the Doctor of Ministry program in the Toronto School of Theology is “the D.Min hug-down.” This refers to how many students need to be encouraged to scale down and focus their ambitions, to attempt a project that is both manageable and achievable. While there is much common sense to this approach, throughout my studies I have felt a calling to resist this well-intentioned advice. I have sought in this study to gather up as many voices as possible within the constraints of a very generous six month research sabbatical208 and with the support of numerous experienced ministry leaders. The result of these efforts, I believe, have amounted to a unique collection of perspectives that showcase a diversity of local theologies. These locally held beliefs are impacting the way Anglicans understand their own congregational ministries in relationship to the Gospel and to their role in participating in the mission of God.

At the end of the day, however, this study recognizes its own limitations: the findings of the study are solely representative of just twelve Anglican congregations. While I may have succeeded in entering into a short time of theological reflection with each congregation, Bishop Laurie Green would remind me that “theological reflection” is only one of four stages of the

207 Although outside the scope of this thesis, it would be interesting to study how Anglican congregations are nurturing discipleship and what forms these practices are taking. 208 Thank you to Archbishop Linda Nicholls of the Diocese of Huron for her permission and support in this endeavor!

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“Praxis Model” of contextual theology within congregational ministry209. Nor can I claim the authority of being an ethnographer within this research project, but instead have relied upon the phenomenological interpretation of the experiences of others to shape my conclusions. This research study has demonstrated a strong correlation between congregational growth and the presence of certain key local theologies. However it admits that there are many additional factors that can contribute to membership growth – some have nothing to do with theological beliefs whatsoever. Lastly, I am acutely aware that there are examples of congregational growth in both the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto that are not represented in this study. These include: a) the numerous expressions of ministry that do not take place in the context of Sunday worship or within a traditional church setting,210 b) the recent phenomenon of growth within many ethnic Anglican congregations in the Diocese of Toronto,211 and c) an examination of growth trends taking place in the largest of Toronto’s congregations.212 This study has also not included any of the indigenous ministries in either Huron or Toronto and, as such, is not representative of them. Further study in each of these areas, particularly with a focus on locally held theologies, would greatly increase both the validity and applicability of the project’s findings for the benefit of the wider Anglican Church of Canada.

209 For the full description of Green’s Praxis model of contextual theology, see the Theology section of this thesis. 210 A report of missional projects in the Diocese of Toronto was recently compiled by John Bowen and Beth Fisher Adams entitled “Churches Turning Outwards: Missional Projects in the Diocese of Toronto, 2017, A Report.” 211 Particularly in the York-Credit Valley area of the Diocese. Some examples of these are of Ghanaian, Punjabi and South Indian congregations. 212 St. Paul’s, Bloor Street, Toronto has seen an increase of 21.88% in ASA between the years 2009-2016 and an average attendance exceeding 700 worshippers on a Sunday. St. Clement’s, Toronto has experienced an increase in ASA of 33.85% in the same period with attendance exceeding 300 on a Sunday. St. Paul’s, L’Amoreaux, Scarborough has seen a 14.85% increase with attendance exceeding 300.

Chapter Six Conclusions, Recommendations and Potential Benefits

1 This Study’s Contribution to the Practice of Ministry

This research project began out of the inspiration of my experiencing hope for the future of the Anglican Church in Canada through the hearing of stories told by other Anglican congregations about how they were not satisfied with succumbing to the malaise of the contemporary Anglican lament. These congregations were seeking inspiration to turn their cultures outwards in mission. They claimed to find their inspiration through scripture, through Christian witness and through the ecclesiological gifts found within the Anglican tradition. What I didn’t know at the time was that these conversations were talking about local theology. They were evidence of the power that local theology has to inspire missional transformation and new growth.

These narratives led me to explore my own role in ministry as a priest in the Diocese of Huron. They encouraged me to seek out growth where many people thought renewal was impossible. This resulted in the St. Anne’s Mission Project in Port Franks. The St. Anne’s church reboot allowed for me to experience the full expression of Bishop Green’s praxis model of contextual theology with a dedicated group of lay leaders. Together we lived out Schreiter’s three roots of local theology, exploring the meaning of church, gospel and culture, and as a result a congregation came back from the dead. Having practiced missional renewal firsthand, I was then drawn to seek it out among other growing Anglican congregations.

This study was ambitious in its hopes of seeking local theologies that have the power to offer an alternative to Canadian trends of decline and membership loss among Anglican churches. Where would I find them? Missiologist Robert Schreiter encouraged me to look for them in the stories, the values, the traditions and the dreams of ordinary Anglicans. Wherever the community was reflecting on their faith beliefs in relationship to ministry practices, there I might find the theological inspiration for growth. While my research findings didn’t necessarily reveal theological concepts described in the language of “The Church as Trinitarian Community-in- mission” or in the participatory Christian vocation of “Missio Dei,” as articulated by Michael

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Moynagh or George Lings, I did discover that there exists a strong correlation between what Anglicans believe and how these beliefs shape our ministry activities. Some Anglican congregations are growing because they have confidence that God wants them to grow. They have described their own encounters with the Gospel that have transformed their lives, resulting in a joy that they desire to share as a gift with others. Anglican lay leaders have argued that the welcome of the Church needs to reflect the love God that they have experienced in their lives. They invite others into their faith communities, telling them that you can find Jesus Christ at the center of their fellowship, at the center of their outreach and at the center of our Anglican faith.

How will this study contribute to the practice of Anglican ministry? I believe that its first contribution is to raise awareness of the significance of local theologies in the life of our Church. The study has revealed that the underlying roots of gospel, church and culture can be recognized as a local source of inspiration that can be harnessed for positive change in the predominant culture of decline that continues to overshadow us. Perhaps this study might encourage congregations, deaneries, dioceses and even the national Church to be intentional about celebrating the places where Anglican growth is happening, because it is not a myth! I also hope that this study may convince others to seek out theologies that have the power to lead declining congregations out of the illusion that decline is the only option going forward.

2 Recommendations of the Researcher

There have been a number of insights that I have been blessed with in my discussions with Anglicans across Toronto and Huron. I am so thankful for the ways that each congregation embraced this research project and openly shared their hopes and dreams for their Church with me. Their stories of ministry experimentation, innovations within worship and risks taken to foster new relationships could easily fill the pages of a “How-to” guide for growing Anglican congregations, but that has never been the point of this study. Instead allow me to suggest four recommendation that I believe may have the potential to change the culture of Anglican congregations in a subtle reorientation towards God’s mission in the world.

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2.1 Introducing Explicit Prayers for Growth

I believe that it is time that we should start praying for relational growth in our corporate worship every time we gather. That Anglicans should be regularly praying that God might bring new people into our congregations. That God would enable us to better receive and welcome each visitor. And that our existing members might recognize their own unique roles in turning outwards in participation of God’s mission in our local neighbourhoods.

2.2 A Restoration of the Catechumenate in Every Congregation

If the findings of this study are true and that an emphasis on congregational discipleship does in fact enable a congregation’s comfort in evangelization, then there would be great merit in having every Anglican congregation host an ongoing process of Christian catechesis. Some of the congregations in this study are already doing this. Yet, in my studies of the Diocese of Huron I have discovered that the majority of our parishes do not offer opportunities for catechesis (unless in preparation for baptism or confirmation – and that is not always the case either). Many congregations don’t offer opportunities for discipleship because they feel they lack access to discipleship resources. These resources already exist in various formats. What I think is lacking is an intentionality in engaging with them. This is where two actions might be effective: 1) having bishops decide that it is no longer helpful for congregations to not be offering ongoing cycles of catechesis in every ministry context, and 2) that lay leaders in every congregation be deliberately trained, equipped and enabled to host different forms of catechesis in partnership with their clergy. This study has demonstrated that Anglican congregations are becoming much more diverse in their denominational and ethnic composition. We can no longer take for granted that everyone in the pew has been discipled in the ways of the Anglican faith or in the teachings of Jesus. If Anglicans do not take responsibility for this formation, where else in our society is this taking place?

2.3 A Re-claiming of the Anglican Church as the Neighbourhood Church

Some of the congregations in this study are growing because their practices of outreach have caused them to re-engage with their local neighbourhoods. This study has shown that proximity

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continues to be the number one reason why newcomers “drop-in” to check out a congregation. When this happens, Anglicans are benefitting from low-hanging fruit in terms of new relationships literally walking through our doors. Simply being good at welcoming people through our doors is a passive approach to ministry. A more missional prospective causes us to ask how we are being sent out into the world. Well, the world is a big place, so what if we start by taking baby steps into our own neighbourhoods? What if Anglican congregations started reclaiming the traditional models of a “parish church”? Meaning, what if we start renewing the relationships that we have among communities and groups in our local neighbourhood? When my GPS died in my efforts to find St. Martin-in-the-Field’s church in Toronto, I found myself just a few blocks away from its location. Sucking up my pride, I sought out a local cyclist to ask for directions. Keeping my expectations low, I asked if perhaps she knew where the local Anglican church might be? “Anglican, not sure,” she replied, “But there is a church over that way a few blocks with a lovely garden that hosts a blessing of the animals service each year.” Why was this cyclist aware of St. Martin’s? Because their congregation has been deliberate in defining itself as a community-focused church that is active in their immediately neighbourhood. I strongly believe that this is the way of the future for us.213

2.4 Using the Study of Local Theologies as an Assessment Tool

The last recommendation that I put forward in the concluding remarks of this thesis is to suggest that Anglican ministry leaders might come to recognize the study of local theologies as being a way to gauge the presence (or absence) of hope and motivation in individual congregations. If I had the time and energy to interview every congregation in the Diocese of Huron, this new study would reveal a great diversity of local expression of theology. It would also, I suspect, reveal that some congregations are deeply, theologically sick. That there exists certain beliefs are that quite contrary to the Gospel, that there are certain cultural expressions of church that are damaging to current members and anathema to newcomers. We might refer to this as “toxic church.” The

213 A truly inspirational text that argues this very point is Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight Freisen’s The New Parish: How Neighbourhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community, (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014). A second text that challenges Anglican ecclesiology to extend its missional practices beyond our familiar routines and buildings is David Fitch’s Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines that Shape the Church for Mission, (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, 2016).

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problem with toxic churches is that they may be so inwardly focused as to fly under the radar of notice within a diocese. Their membership may be stifled in both spiritual and relational growth. If dioceses were to encourage congregational clergy and lay leaders to understand what local theologies are and how they are influencing congregational patterns of ministry, then perhaps this might allow for theologically sick congregations to be able to identify and address the beliefs that are feeding what I have called the contemporary Anglican lament. A deeper awareness of local theologies might be the intervention that is currently needed in many Anglican congregations to open them to alternative theologies that might have transformational inspiration to allow for them to buck contemporary trends of decline and disestablishment.

3 Potential Benefits to the Wider Church and Society

In 1988 Lesslie Newbigin wrote an essay entitled “On Being the Church for the World.”214 In this text he developed an argument that the localized church was not simply a smaller part, or franchise, of a much larger entity. Instead, he had come to believe that each local church was called to represent the fullness of the Kingdom of God for all people in the context of its own local neighbourhood. Each congregation was called to participate in the ministry of God in outreach to the secular world, following in the commandment of Jesus to his followers, in Matthew Chapter 10, when he says; “As you go, preach the good news. And say to them that the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Newbigin believed that this should be the motivation of not just a particular branch of the church, or of specialists, or of clergy, but a shared responsibility of the entire community of the faithful in the local church. Interestingly though, despite his efforts of ecumenical (interdenominational) dialogue and partnerships, the question of the specific role of denominational tradition often was raised in terms of how Christians traditions might differ in their understanding of mission. Newbigin had this to say about it:

The denomination, either singly, or together, cannot be the bearer of the challenge of the Gospel to our society, because it is itself the outward and visible form of an inward and spiritual surrender to the ideology of that society. And, therefore, if we are to recover the sense that the local church is the Holy Catholic Church for that bit of the world in which

214 Lesslie Newbigin, ”On Being the Church for the World.” In G. Ecclestone, editor, The Parish Church? Explorations in the Relationship of the Church and the World, (Oxford: Mowbray, 1988) 25-42.

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God has set it (and that is the parish principle), then we have to challenge this whole acceptance of the denominational principle as being the normal form in which Church life is expressed. I find this both a necessary and frightening thought. I cannot avoid it if I try to be faithful to the scriptures, but I find it terribly challenging.

As a Church of South India Bishop himself, I do not believe that Newbigin meant any offense to denominations, least of all his own, in this statement. Instead what I see him doing is elevating the understanding of the local church to be something more than just a denominational outpost. That the local church had its own vocation to live into, and that this vocation was the living into the fullness of being the “Holy Catholic Church” for their own neighbourhood.

It is in this vein that I suggest that the study of local theologies is certainly not an Anglican idea, especially noting that the original conception of the idea came from Robert Schreiter, a Roman Catholic missiologist. The phenomenon of local theologies exists in every Christian church, regardless of denomination, and that the further exploration of gospel, church and culture in local congregations can be of immense benefit to all Christian denominations. My specific contribution within this research study was to simply apply the particular lens of understanding local theologies to my own ministry context. This project has amounted to a theological exercise in appreciating the presence of local theologies as a way of exploring the correlation between Christian beliefs and congregational growth. How might this benefit others? On the one hand it is correct to state that my research findings are only representative of a small selection of growing Anglican congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto, for this is the truth of the limitations of the study. In this regard, I hope that my research findings may be of some “usefulness” to bishops, congregational development coaches and congregations in their effort to harness the energy of theological beliefs as a way to bring about missional change and relational growth within many declining congregations. On the other hand, I believe that this study may have also revealed a microcosm of the wider Church in its expression of a congregational diversity of theological beliefs, interpretation of Anglican traditions, presentation of differing worship styles and honest attempts to live out the call to mission within each localized context. In sharing the insights of almost one thousand Christians, I believe that there has been some wisdom presented that transcends a “simply Anglican” expression of Christian mission. For instance: 1) the overwhelming emphasis that they are seeking a welcoming and supportive local

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church to call home, 2) that engaging preaching is being valued above any emphasis of particular denominational doctrines, with the expectation that preaching makes present the Gospel to its listeners, and 3) that they are craving a relationship to liturgy that roots them in the same apostolic tradition as the disciples of Jesus, the ones who heard, first hand, his commandment to “Go, preach the good news. The Kingdom of God is at hand!” That the vocational role of the localized church as living out, as Newbigin says, “the Holy Catholic Church” has been found in contrasting styles of worship: in the solemnity of Anglo-Catholic celebration, in the creative chaos of Messy Church and in the simplicity of gathering with other followers of Jesus around the body and blood of Christ in a Café church. I think that this wisdom suggests, again as Newbigin hinted, that the most authentic expressions of church are the ones that may transcend denominational descriptions and barriers. Perhaps this is the case with the findings of this study. If so, I am deeply appreciative and humbled to have discovered this for myself in the process.

Lastly, perhaps the greatest insight that I have gleaned from this study is the fact that in enabling congregations to explore their own local theologies, in the intervention of inviting them to reflect on their beliefs and ministry practices, together we come to better understand how the missional efforts of some Anglican congregations are being intentional in aligning themselves with the mission of God in the world. I am heartened by the hope, creativity and excitement that can be found these congregations. Their living out of the Gospel is contagious and, consequently, is drawing others to join them. These churches should be credited for their faithfulness to the Anglican tradition215 while also being courageous in taking risks and exploring new ways of sharing the transformative story of Jesus with others. As leaders in the Church we need to celebrate these examples and further explore how the locally held beliefs that are motivating them might be our best way forward in bucking the nationwide trend of congregational decline.

215 And to the tradition of our sisters and brothers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

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Avis, Paul. The Vocation of Anglicanism. London, UK: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2016.

Badcock, Gary D. The House Where God Lives: Renewing the Doctrine of the Church for Today. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Bowen, John P. Green Shoots Out of Dry Ground: Growing a New Future for the Church in Canada. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2013.

Cadwallader, Alan H., editor. A Kaleidoscope of Pieces: Anglican Studies on Sexuality. Hindmarsh, South Australia: AFT Limited, 2016.

Cray, Graham, editor. Mission-Shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context. London, England: Church House Publishing, 2009

Foust, Thomas F. et. al., editors. A Scandalous Prophet: The Way of Mission after Newbigin. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002.

175

Fitch, David E. Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, 2016.

Hardy, Daniel W. Finding the Church: The Dynamic Truth of Anglicanism. London, England: SCM Press, 2011.

Kilby, Karen. “Perichoresis and Projection: Problems with Social Doctrines of the Trinity.” New Blackfriars, Volume 81 Issue 957 (November 2000), 432-445.

Norman, Edward. Anglican Difficulties A New Syllabus of Errors. London England and New York, NY: Morehouse Publishing, 2004.

Paulsen, Judy, Patrick Paulsen and Susan Bell. Christian Foundations: A Grounding for a Life of Faith. Toronto, Ontario: The Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College, 2017.

Platten, Stephen, editor. Anglicanism and the Western Christian Tradition: Christianity, Change and the Search for Communion. Norwich, Norfolk: The Canterbury Press, 2003.

Radner, Ephraim. Hope Among the Fragments: The Broken Church and Its Engagement of Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2004.

Radner, Ephraim and Philip Turner. The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006.

Slocum, Robert Boak. The Anglican Imagination: Portraits and Sketches of Modern Anglican Theologians. Ashgate Contemporary Ecclesiology Series. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015.

Thompson, John. Modern Trinitarian Perspectives. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Walker, John. Testing Fresh Expressions. Ashgate Contemporary Ecclesiology Series. Abingdon, Oxon, U.K. : Ashgate Publishing, 2014

Webster, John. “The Self-Organizing Power of The Gospel of Christ: Episcopacy and Community Formation” in Word and Church: Essays in Christian Dogmatics. New York, NY: T & T Clark, 2001, pgs. 191-210.

Weston, Paul, editor. Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian. A Reader. London, England: The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2006.

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4) Definitions and Methods for Cultivating Local Theologies

Branson, Mark L. Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.

Gench, Roger J. Theology from the Trenches: Reflections on Urban Ministry. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.

Graham, Elaine and Anna Rowlands, editors. Pathways to the Public Square: Practical Theology in an Age of Pluralism. Münster: Lit, 2005.

Graham, Elaine. Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty. Eugene, ON: Wipf and Stock, 2002.

Green, Laurie. Let’s Do Theology: Resources for Contextual Theology. London, UK: Mowbray, Continuum Books, 2009. Hopewell, James F. Congregation: Stories and Structure. Philadelphia, U.S.: Fortress Press, 1987.

Pappas, Anthony G. editor. Inside the Small Church. [Washington, DC]: The Alban Institute, 2002.

Ray, David R. The Indispensable Guide for Smaller Churches. Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.

Ruddy, Christopher. The Local Church: Tillard and the Future of Catholic Ecclesiology. New York, New York: Crossroad, 2006.

Schreiter, Robert J. Constructing Local Theologies. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002.

Sedmak, Clemens. Doing Local Theology: A Guide for Artisans of a New Humanity. The Faith and Cultures Series. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002.

Tilley, Terrence. Storey Theology. Theology and Life Series #12. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier Books, 1990.

Tisdale, Leonora Tubbs. Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.

5) Qualitative Research Resources

Booth, Wayne C. et al. The Craft of Research. Fourth Edition. Chicago, U.S.A.: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.

177

Creswell, John H. and Cheryl N. Poth. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. Fourth Edition. California, U.S.A.: Sage Publications, Inc., 2017.

Denzin, Norman K., and Yvanna S. Lincoln. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Fifth Edition. California, U.S.A.: Sage Publications, Inc., 2017.

Graham, Elaine, Heather Walton and Frances Ward. Theological Reflection: Methods. London, England: SCM Press, 2005.

Sapsford, Roger and Victor Jupp, editors. Data Collection and Analysis. Second Edition. California, U.S.A.: Sage Publications, Inc. 2006.

Sensing, Tim. Qualitative Research: A Multi-Methods Approach to Projects for Doctor of Ministry Theses. Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A.: Wipf and Stock, 2011.

Silverman, David. A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research. California, U.S.A.: Sage Publications, Inc., 2007.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers: Of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Eighth Edition. Chicago, U.S.A.: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Appendices

Approved D.Min Thesis Proposal

Bucking the Trend

A Study of the Local Theologies Contributing to Numerically Growing Anglican Congregations

Grayhame Bowcott, ID# 990947972

D.Min Thesis Proposal Submitted to the D.Min Thesis Proposal Committee Toronto School of Theology In partial fulfillment of the D.Min Thesis Proposal Evaluation and Oral Defence

January 8th, 2019 – Final Version

178 179

Outline

Part #1: Background and Ministry Base Context

Context of Research and Ministry Base…….……………………………………….page 3

The Problem and Research Interest………………………………….………………page 4

Part #2: Theoretical Framework and Theological Assumptions

Cognate Areas of Study within this Project…………………………………………page 6

Anglican Membership Statistics in Canada……………………………………….…page 6

Contemporary Anglican Missiology……………………………………………...... page 9

The Study of Local Theologies: Gospel, Church and Culture ……...…….…….... page 13

Part #3: Project Description and Scope

Thesis Statement …………………………………………………………………...page 15

Research Methodology…………………………………………………….. ...……page 16

Project Description and Steps………………………………………………………page 19

Part #4: Projected Outcomes and Contributions

Projected Outcomes and Interpretation…………………………………………….page 24

Potential Benefits to the Church……………………………………………………page 26

Part #5: Bibliography

Trends of Christian Denominational Membership Statistics in Canada…………...page 28

Definitions and Models of Church Growth……………………………………..….page 29

Anglican Contributions to Contemporary Ecclesiology……………………...……page 31

Definitions and Methods for Cultivating Local Theologies…………………..……page 32

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Part #6: Appendices

Part #1: Introduction

Context of Research

My research plan is to enter into a dialogue with twelve Anglican congregations, six in the Diocese of Huron and six in the Diocese of Toronto, that have been statistically proven to be numerically growing in their membership1, or, if not growing, expanding their ministry reach in a way that has the potential to lead to numerical growth in the future. My motive for entering into this dialogue is to explore the theological reasons why some congregations may be growing at a time when general membership trends among Christian denominations in Canada, and specifically with the Anglican Church of Canada, are marked by decline.2

Ministry Base

As part of this research project, one of the twelve congregations surveyed will be St.

George’s, The Anglican Parish of the Blue Mountains, of which I serve as both priest and rector.

St. George’s has been identified as a strategic congregation in the Diocese of Huron in terms of potential membership growth because of the influx of people moving to the Blue Mountains

1 The statistical evidence of numerical growth will be based on data that has already been reported by each congregation in the mandatory annual statistical returns that are filed with their respective Diocese. My research will be looking at membership trends between the years 2007-2017. The final selection of the twelve congregations for this study will be made in consultation with the Bishops of Huron and Toronto. 2 For a concise reporting of denominational membership decline in Canada, see Reginald Bibby’s Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, and No Religious in Canada, (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2017) 7-37. For a presentation on the decline of Anglicanism in Canada in comparison to other Christian denominations, see Brian Clarke and Stuart MacDonald’s, “No Need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds: Antecedents and Legacies in the Anglican Tradition, ed. Sean A Otto and Thomas P. Power (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016) 199-212.

181 from the greater Toronto area.3 In the past decade, the membership of St. George’s has grown by twenty percent, while the average Sunday attendance (in just the last five years) has increased by fourteen percent. There are a number of reasons why St. George’s is growing: 1) the congregation has fostered many relationships with outside community groups and projects4 which has led to growth through attractional ministry5; 2) there has always been a strong tradition of lay-led groups and involvement which has fostered greater congregational participation and commitment in worship, administration and missional outreach; 3) the church is regularly advertising its ministry activities through various types of media in The Blue

Mountains6 and 4) the greatest contributor to growth has been the willingness of current members to invite, welcome, support and teach new members about what it means to be

Christian in the Anglican tradition. The congregation’s articulation of faith and the sharing of it with others has directly led to growth.

Research Interest: The Challenge of Decline Among Anglican Congregations

Prior to my appointment as Rector of St. George’s, I served as Domestic Chaplain to the bishops in Huron, assisting in special liturgies throughout the Diocese. The most frequent of

3 Last year alone saw an increase of 500 permanent residents to the population of the Town of the Blue Mountains. 4 St. George’s currently hosts the following community ministries/organizations onsite: two community choirs, a high school band, two private music instructors, a biweekly potluck and movie night, two art schools, two yoga groups, two card groups, the Rotary Club, the Agricultural Society, a monthly Messy Church group, two developmental needs programs (one for children, one for adults), three food catering groups, the Anglican Church Women’s group and additional tenants for one-off community events. 5 The attractional ministry model seeks to showcase the value of a church based on its location, facilities and services. The limitations of this model are that, if effective, it can often disable a congregation from reaching out beyond their own walls. Simply put, this is a “Come to us” model of ministry. 6 This includes the use of newspapers, Facebook, website, sandwich boards in the community, mailouts, annual community events and by word of mouth evangelism.

182 these was the closing of congregations and church buildings7. As these congregations found themselves trapped in a downward spiral of declining resources and membership, many claimed that they lacked any theological motivation that might have helped them break the cycle that ultimately led them to disestablishment and deconsecration.8 My deep concern for the Anglican

Church of Canada in our current time in history is that many congregations are lamenting a sense of theological barrenness as they experience decline in the Church. This lament has been expressed with each application to Diocesan Council of a congregation to disestablish9 and in the collective gathering of the Church for services of deconsecration that mark the end of ministry in that place.

These anecdotal experiences of church decline have led me to ask the question: is this the future of the Anglican Church of Canada or are there places where the Church is bucking the trend of denominational decline? While I believe that these trends have already become an epidemic across the Anglican Church of Canada, I have also experienced remarkable glimmers of hope that prove, at least in some cases, that the by-product of a strong missional identity and

Gospel-centred approach to ministry can result in congregations that buck the trend of stagnation and decline. One such example is the success story of St. Anne’s Mission in Port Franks, Ontario

7 In consultation with the Rev. Canon Dr. Duke Vipperman, we have calculated that 61 churches have been deconsecrated in the last 20 years. There have been even more that have been closed but not yet deconsecrated. 23 of these have been in urban areas. The remaining have been in rural areas. 8 My thesis will acknowledge many challenges facing Anglican churches today. In his book Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), Dr. Alan Hayes outlines six factors that have directly impacted the existence of the Anglican Church in Canada today: 1) the changing theologies and practices around mission, 2) the Church’s role in society, 3) effectiveness of models of Church governance, 4) division within the Church around Anglican Church styles of liturgy and sacramental theology, 5) the Canadian trends of societal secularization, and 6) the responses within and outside of the Church to issues regarding gender and sexuality. 9 In the Diocese of Huron, congregations are closed through a process of having their parish council apply for disestablishment through the Diocesan Bishop and Diocesan Council. Congregations are not forced to close against their will.

183 which began with the belief that a small group of people could accomplish great things in the power of the Spirit if Christian discipleship was their primary theological motivation to grow numerically. This motivation inspired a church reboot to begin new missional practices such as: learning the history of early missionary efforts in the Diocese of Huron, being deliberate in inviting friends, neighbours and strangers to explore the reopened doors of their church, reengaging the catechumenate as a process of making disciples and seeking to create new habits in their lives that intentionally sought to nourish their personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

Starting with six committed members, St. Anne’s grew to a group of more than fifty-five regular worshippers. This congregational transformation took place in a village with population of 700 permanent residents, without any financial resources from the Diocese, and in a building that would require significant renovations in order to be suitable for ministry. Defying the odds, St.

Anne’s Mission overcame these challenges. Since they didn’t have the ministry assets of a large population of people, or outside financial support, or even a building that could be the basis for attractional ministry, this suggested that the contributing factor to their growth was their theology of ministry and the actions by which the congregation was living out their Christian beliefs.

Part #2: Theoretical Exploration: Theology of Ministry and Areas of Specialization

Cognate areas of Study: In preparation for this research project, I have focused on three cognate areas of study that are interconnected with the problem of congregational decline in the

Anglican Church of Canada: 1) membership statistics and trends of congregational decline among Anglicans and other Christian traditions within Canada; 2) contemporary Anglican theology, especially focusing on recent contributions to Anglican missiology; and 3) the cultivation and analysis of local theologies within congregations.

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Anglican Membership Statistics in Canada

Anglican Church of Canada. It was at this point in Canadian history that immigration from

English speaking countries began to decline. Funding from U.K. missionary societies for the building of Anglican churches in Canada concluded with the end of World War II. In terms of frontier development, most of Canada had been “settled” with the Anglican vision of “an

Anglican church in every community” having been achieved.11 In 1971, 11.8% of the population of Canada was Anglican12. Our membership peaked at 2,543,180 souls.

10 Reginald Bibby’s “Project Canada” Survey Program has been the most comprehensive study of Christian membership trends in Canada. See my attached bibliography for Bibby’s complete lists of publications. 11 Alan Hayes’ text, Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), presents the most comprehensive account of the theology of Anglican colonial expansion in Canada that I have read thus far. 12 As reported by the Canadian Census. 13 Clarke and MacDonald, “No need to Turn Out the Lights: Anglicans in Canada in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” in Reformation Worlds, 199-212. 14 According the annual statistical returns to Synod in the Diocese of Huron (2007-2017).

185 worshippers in the pews on Sunday; 3,486 fewer contributors to financial resources; and 2,346 fewer children learning God’s story through their experience of Sunday youth ministries. While the impact of these statistics has been experienced through church closures and shrinking ministry budgets, the reality of the seismic shift in the ministry landscape for Anglicans in Huron may not be fully recognized by most congregations. What is clear from my studies in membership statistics is that past attractional models of ministry (build a church, identify it as

Anglican and new members will come) are failing in most contexts. In fact, some of the most recent church deconsecrations in Huron have been of newer buildings that featured desirable facilities and locations in their community. Even the appeal of these ‘assets’ failed to offset the continued trends of membership decline.

Studies in Contemporary Anglican Ecclesiology

In order to better understand the identity of Anglicans in Canada and the beliefs that mark us as distinct from other Christian denominations, my studies have included a broad survey of contributions written by Anglican theologians within the last decade. As Anglican membership declines not only in Canada, but also in the United States, within the U.K., Australia and New

Zealand15, what are our theologians writing about? Are they writing in response to membership decline or are their contributions focused elsewhere?

The leading issues of the day within the Anglican Communion of which theologians such as Paul Avis, Ephraim Radner, Stephen Platten, Rowan Williams, Daniel Harding among

15 Here I will be careful to note that Anglican membership is expanding at a very rapid rate in the Global South and in Asia. See David Goodhew (editor), Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to Present, The Routledge Contemporary Ecclesiology Series (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, The Taylor & Francis Group, 2017) for a comprehensive summary of growth trends throughout the Anglican Communion.

186 others are writing about are: the ongoing debates regarding human sexuality, models of governance and jurisdictional authority within the Church, the role of maintaining communion among international branches of the Worldwide Anglican Church that hold conflicting cultural and theological views, and lastly, the role of scriptural authority in the shaping of doctrine. These debates have influenced a number of divisions within the Anglican Communion and also, to a lesser degree, within the national and diocesan debates of the Anglican Church in Canada. This being said, at the congregational level of church, my sense is that these divisions are not quite so prominent. In the front lines of ministry in Canada, my anecdotal experience tells me that

Anglicans are concerned about future sustainability. They are struggling with the question of: what is the future vocation of Anglicanism in Canada? While some are desperately holding to traditional identities shaped by familiar worship services and past parochial models of ministry, others are exploring how Anglicanism needs to adapt to continue to be relevant in our society.

To what benefit is a congregation that resists all change only to find itself disestablished due to lack of membership and quickly forgotten within the wider community? In some places of study, dialogue and experimentation, Anglicans have been revisiting the mission of the Anglicanism by asking: what would God have us do differently? One response within the Anglican Communion to trend of congregational membership decline has been the Fresh Expressions movement.

Originating from the advocacy and theological contributions of the 2004 Mission Shaped Church report within the Church of England,16 the Fresh Expressions movement has been reopening past conversations of ecclesiology for the purpose of allowing for flexibility in forming new approaches to the creation of new Christian communities.

16 Graham Cray, editor., Mission-Shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context. (London, England: Church House Publishing, 2009.

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Contemporary Anglican Missiology

If Church isn’t our buildings, our denominational structures or a guarantee of sustainability for future ministries, what is it? Archbishop Rowan Williams has defined Church as “what happens when people encounter the Risen Jesus and commit themselves to sustaining and deepening that encounter in their encounter with each other.”17 While some might critique this definition as being overly simplistic, the central emphasis is on our relationship to Jesus and to others. In a time when we measure congregational success according to budget deadlines, diocesan council motions and membership statistics, how often do we return to the true sense of our Christian calling? To be in relationship with Jesus and others? For this reason, the core of all definitions for mission, evangelism and church growth is the central theme of fostering relationships with new members18 for the purpose of drawing them into the worship and discipleship of Jesus Christ.

In my research of models of congregational growth in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., I have explored business models of success19, secular philosophies of organizational management20 and spiritualties of leadership and church governance21, but not all of them

17 Graham Cray, Mission-Shaped Church, v-vi. 18 New members can include the “unchurched” (those who have never been part of a Christian church community before), the “de-churched” (those who have left a past church community). 19 As found in Thom Rainer, Breakout Churches: Discover How to Make the Leap, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005) and Carl F. George, The Coming Church Revolution: Empowering Leaders for the Future, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell, 1994. 20 As presented in: George Barna, User Friendly Churches: What Christians Need to Know About the Church People Love to Go To, (Ventura California: Regal Books, 1991) and in Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2010). 21 In Jackson W. Carroll, God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006 and Michael Volland, The Minister as Entrepreneur: Leading and Growing the Church in an Age of Rapid Change, (London, U.K: The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 2015).

188 focused on the relational core component of being church. In his book Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, A Heart for Mission, Tim Dearborn has penned a theological statement that is at the heart of the Mission-Shaped Church theological movement in the Church of England and the many denominational renewal projects that ripple out from the innovations in the U.K.: “It is not the Church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission who has a Church in the world.” 22 This statement reminds us that the continued existence of all Anglican congregations, be it in Canada or anywhere else in the world, is for the purpose of aligning ourselves with the mission of God. It is not to perpetuate our own congregational sustainability, but to allow ourselves to get caught up in the actions of knowing the Risen Jesus and being drawn into relationship with other people of faith who have been touched by their relationship with Christ. The mission of the Anglican Church must begin as a response to our encounter with

God through Jesus Christ. I might go so far as to say that the Mission of the Church is a by- product of divine encounter. Therefore, we need to believe in missional growth if we believe that we are continuing to encounter God through Jesus Christ. If missional growth is primarily a response to our fears of congregational decline, it might unintentionally neglect the core component of relationship with God and others. Neither relationship is a commodity to be manipulated and exploited in our deepest fears of ensuring the future existence of the Anglican denomination.

The Theology of Missional Growth

If the mission of Christ is to draw the world to himself, shaping us and redeeming us and gathering us into community with each other, then it is natural to follow that congregations that

22 Tim Dearborn, Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, A Heart for Mission, (U.K.: MARC, 1998), 28.

189 seek to participate in Christ’s mission will be communities that will be inspired to grow numerically through membership. One of the indicators that a congregation is participating in the missio Dei might be numerical growth. If growth is not present, this may be evidence that the community has not been seeking to expand relationships of faith with others. In his book,

Church for Every Context: An Introduction to Theology and Practice, Michael Moynagh argues that congregations who participate in the Mission of God are congregations that feel compelled to be sent out into the world. Fulfilling the example of our Trinitarian God who sends the Son and the Spirit for the sake of relationship with humanity, congregations are to be sent into the world gathering others into the faith community. It is within the very nature of God to be self- giving and self-sending. Participating within the Missio Dei, the Mission of God, means that congregations are drawn into the same actions of relationship – they too become self-giving and self-sending!23 Moynagh concludes: Simply stated, missional congregations are called to reproduce. Why? Because “if self-giving typifies the life of the Trinity, it is not surprising that self-giving is at the heart of divine missions to the world….. When the church reproduces, it offers a piece of itself to others.”24 Continuing from Moynagh’s argument, it is my belief that when congregations understand their role, as Christians, to be participants in the self-giving, self- sending mission of God, evangelism becomes an important priority to all of their ministry practices. However, not all congregations hold the belief of participation in God’s mission as part of their local theologies. Perhaps this a missing motivator within some numerically declining congregations?

23 Michael Moynagh with Philip Harrold, Church For Every Context: An Introduction to Theology and Practice (London, U.K.: SCM Press, 2012) pg. 127 24 Michael Moynagh, Church For Every Context, pg. 128.

190

In my ten years of active ministry leadership, I have been involved with seven different

Anglican congregations within the communities of London, Turkey Point, Lucan, Grand Bend,

Port Franks, Exeter and The Blue Mountains, Ontario. In each of these contexts, (which differed vastly in terms of population size, financial resources and even theological beliefs), we experienced numerical membership growth when the priority of the congregation was to more deeply engage with the story of Jesus Christ, to enable a sense of discipleship and personal ministry for every parishioner, and to find new and creative ways of sharing our beliefs and faith experiences with non-members. Instead of asking the question: how to we ensure the future presence of Anglicanism in this place?, we have been motivated by asking: what is God calling us to do here? How are we being called to give our ourselves to others? In each congregation we believed that God was calling us to seek out and foster new relationships that were modelled on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and modelled on our Trinitarian understand of a God who is sent.25 Whenever we made this our priority we grew numerically.

The Study of Local Theologies: A Community Process

My ministry experiences of discovering congregational growth amidst trends of membership decline have drawn me study a particular discipline of missiology which I believe in is need of further development within the Anglican tradition: the study of “local theologies”.

This term was coined in the 1980s by the Roman Catholic missiologist Robert Schreiter to describe the process of theological reflection with local churches or localized faith communities

25 To say a further word about this: for us as Anglicans, we patterned our lives on that of Jesus by committing to habits of prayer, scripture study, participating in both Eucharistic and non-Eucharistic expressions of worship within the Anglican tradition, through discipleship practices modelled on the catechumenate, in caring for the needs of others in the community and through a regular emphasis on individual evangelism (each parishioner sharing the story of the life of Jesus with others).

191 that takes placed within their particular cultural contexts.26 What is unique about the study of local theologies is that role of a theologian is not limited to academically trained, seminary formed individuals; rather, local theologies are created through the engagement of the congregational community itself: how they tell their own stories, represent their own theological meaning and how they share this meaning with others through acts of evangelism.

The Three Roots of Local Theologies

There are three underlying roots that feed the development and growth of local theology:

1) Gospel – how a community engages with the Good News of Jesus Christ through their proclamation of the scriptures, their community worship, outreach and missionary activities.

3) Culture – the medium in which the gospel and the Church exist. Schreiter writes that culture

“represents a way of life for a given time and place, replete with values, symbols, and meaning, reaching out with hopes and dreams, often struggling for a better world.”27 Culture plays a particularly important role within context of congregational ministry because each town, each community has its own cultural nuances, strengths and impediments. In order for a congregation

26 Robert j. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, (London, England: SCM Press Ltd, 1985) 5-19. 27 Ibid., 21.

192 to have the capacity for relationship growth, it first needs to understand the localized context in which new faith relationships can be cultivated.

Research Question

My collecting of local theologies within this research project will help me to answer a fundamental question that arises out of the context of trends of membership decline within the

Anglican Church of Canada, and more specifically within the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. In

Huron eighty-five percent of congregations are in steady decline28 and ten percent of congregations are holding steady29. This leaves five percent of congregations in Huron that are actually growing numerical in their reporting of increases in Sunday attendance and in the total number of baptized members within their community. The question of interest that arises out of these statistics is this: In their own words (in their expression of local theology), what are congregations that are growing doing differently than the many others that are declining? Here it should also be noted that within the Diocese of Toronto, twenty to twenty-five percent of congregations are reported to be growing numerically. What sets them apart from the others are not?

Part #3: Project Description and Scope

Thesis Statement

Within my research project I seek to explore if there is a correlation between the presence of certain key local theologies (as expressed by congregations in their own words) that may be contributing towards to the numerical growth found within a sampling of vibrant Anglican

28 Meaning that, each year, their reported Sunday attendance and total population of baptized members is decreasing over previous years as submitted in their annual statistical report to Synod. 29 Meaning that their reported Sunday attendance and total population of baptized members is neither increasing or decreasing over previous years, as submitted in their annual statistical report to Synod.

193 congregations30. Are there local theologies that are common among growing Anglican communities? Perhaps there are insights that might shared by growing churches that could be beneficial to declining ones? In the projected outcomes section of this thesis proposal I will seek to further expand on some suspected characteristics that I believe might be present in the local theologies of growing congregations.

Research Methodology

This research project will focus on collecting the experiences and perspectives of

Anglicans in growing congregations. While there is a qualitative component to my study (the collection and analysis of membership statistics within congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto in order to select my subject research communities), the primary pursuit of my research is to explore how members from these congregations describe the theological beliefs and ministry practices that are possibly contributing towards numerical growth. My chosen methodology for this task is that of ethnography. Ethnography is the study of people and cultures. In this particular case, I will be studying Anglicans within the specific culture of growing churches. My project seeks to examine their theological beliefs and, in order to do this, I will be engaging with the Praxis Model of contextual theology as presented by Stephen Bevans in his text Model of Contextual Theology31. The premise of the Praxis Model is that human activity must be shaped and directed by faith-based knowledge in constant reflection and evaluation of that knowledge. In order for congregations to cultivate their own local theologies

30 My use of the term “vibrant” refers to the twelve congregations that will be selected in consultation with the Bishops of Huron and Toronto based on statistical evidence of numerical growth, or, lacking such growth, the short-term expectation of membership growth in the future. 31 Bevans, Stephen B. Models of Contextual Theology. Faith and Cultures Series. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2014.

194 they must already be engaging with a process of theological reflection that influences and directs their ministry decisions and activities. My role as the researcher within the methodology of ethnography is to collect the experiences and perspectives of the study participants as they seek to reflect on how their theological beliefs have shaped their actions within their own particular culture.

Bishop Laurie Green has been researching the Praxis Model of theological reflection in congregations since the 1970s. He posits that local theologies are formed within congregation through a process of four phases:

1) Exploring - when a community of faithful Christians comes together to explore their

faith experiences from historical, geographical, social, economic, cultural and religious

perspectives32. In this phase the community utilizes several tools to gather analytical

information. Often this process mush be assisted by outside members of the community.

Here they explore anecdotal information, they collect different types of data from within

their own cultural context and they celebrate the characteristics of their faith community

as they have experienced them.

2) The second phase of formation for local theologies is the theological reflection phase33.

Green writes that different communities reflect in different ways. Some are greatly

informed by their church doctrines and traditions while others turn to the inspiration of

the early Church that emphasized newness in ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes reflection is modeled after biblical examples of parables and metaphor. In

32 Green, Let’s Do Theology, 59-75. 33 Ibid., 77-106.

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these cases, the community seeks to compare how their local narratives are part the larger

mission of God in the world as told through the Gospels. Part of the process of reflecting

is to find common themes that may be present in a community’s faith experiences:

incarnation, discipleship, sacraments, resurrection, etc. Green would also argue that

sometimes communities need to work to open up their imaginations to be able to embrace

theological reflection in new ways. Often this requires the assistance of those who have

been trained to lead others through this process.

3) The third phase of creating local theologies is the responding phase34. Green writes that

contextual theology (local theology) seeks to be contemplative, instructive and

transformative. Throughout his text the bishop is very firm in his argument that theology

is not simply theological study for study’s sake, but rather, theology’s purpose is to “offer

a means by which we may draw nearer to finding that knowledge of God for which the

soul longs. Theology gives us an opportunity for discerning more readily the presence

and activity of God in the world and adoring God there.”35 Since God is always acting in

the world, then theology propels its participants to respond to, and cooperate with, God’s

action. The result of this process is the personal transformation of any who find

themselves caught up in God mission in the world. Green quotes Martin Luther to drive

home the point regarding the necessity of transformation within theological reflection:

“Luther famously said, ‘a person becomes a theologian by living, by dying, and by being

damned, not by understanding, reading and speculating.’”36 He concludes to say that

sometimes Christian communities are paralyzed by the fear of failure. Because of this

34 Ibid., 107-122. 35 Ibid., 113. 36 Ibid., 114.

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they reflect but do not allow for change or transformation to happen. Bishop Green insists

that responding to God’s activity must always be a key component of contextual (local)

theologies.

4) Repeat. The fourth phase is to continue in the cycle of explore, reflect and respond, but

to enter each new cycle with the insights, wisdom and transformation that was acquired

within the previous cycles. If a faith community engages this task with integrity and

commitment to the process, Green argues that they will undoubtedly find themselves

drawn closing to God and more immersed in God’s mission and purpose in their lives.

I appreciate the simplicity of Bishop Green’s four stages of cultivating contextual theology. I am also aware that my future conversations with congregations will have me somewhat at a disadvantage in this process as I will not be present to journey with them through an entire process of exploring, reflecting, responding and repeating. What I do hope to discover in my research project is that this process of theological reflection and cultivation of local theology may already be taking place among numerically growing congregations. As an ethnographer, I will be collecting these local theologies and comparing them across the subject congregations to explore if there are any similar theological themes or ministry practices that are common among a selection of growing Anglican faith communities.

Project Description

This research project will be utilizing the following steps in order to collect the necessary information to defend my thesis proposition:

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Step One: An Assessment of Membership Statistics from the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto

A Quantitative Study

In order to determine which congregations in Huron and Toronto are growing numerically I must first assess the statistics that they have submitted in their returns to Synod.

These statistics are presented by each congregation annually and are published within the Journal of Proceedings (Synod Journals of Huron and Toronto). For this project I will be looking at the statistics between the years of 2007-2017. I will be considering the following date: a) average

Sunday attendance, b) average weekly attendance, c) total baptized members of the congregation/parish rolls, and d) average Sunday youth attendance.

From these statistical reports I will be selecting the top six congregations in both the

Diocese of Huron and Toronto based on the abovementioned data. The finalists will then be presented to the Bishops of Huron and Toronto for their evaluation and consultation. This step includes a screening process by which each bishop can comment on any irregularities that they might be aware of that could skew the representation of congregational growth. For example: if two congregations suddenly merged into a new congregational identity, this would exclude that community from this study as its growth would be a result of a ministry intervention and not a result of local theologies held by either merging congregation. Once the bishops have approved a selection of six congregations in each respective diocese, at that time episcopal endorsement will be sought in order to enter into dialogue with the congregations.

Step Two: The Scheduling of Twelve Congregational Research Days

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Following permission from the bishops I will then immediately seek to schedule a research day with each of the twelve congregations. These will take place on Sundays during the regular worship periods of the congregational communities. With the permission of each congregation’s Rector and wardens I will be the guest preacher/presenter during each service.

Step Three: Congregational Surveys, Parish Council Group Interviews and Incumbent Interviews

A Qualitative, Ethnographic Study

There are three different components to the congregational research days:

A) Congregational Survey

Before the start of each worship service I will be circulating a congregational survey.

This survey will allow me to collect some general information about the membership

context of the worshipping community. All worshippers will be invited to take a

moment before the service to complete the survey. The surveys will be anonymous.

Participation will imply consent for use in my research project. Questions on this

survey will include:

• Basic information of the participant: age, sex, visitor or member, years attending the congregation • It will ask if they have always been part of the Anglican tradition or if they have come to the congregation from outside the tradition, i.e. as a non- Christian or as a member of another Christian denomination. • It will then ask what drew them to their current congregation and provide several set answers to select from. • It will also ask them to rank a number of beliefs that are held by that congregation according to their experienced priority within the community. Examples of this might include: Christian formation and discipleship, worship style, ministry programming, specific theological persuasion, etc.

In order to best refine the questions of the general congregational survey I will be

utilizing a special focus group. This group is made up of diocesan administrators,

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researchers and congregational coaches. They will be providing constructive feedback to

enable the survey to ask questions that will cultivate data that is useful for future diocesan

congregational development. This task will take place before the final submission of my

survey questions for ethics approval (projected completion date: January 2019).

B) Parish Council Group Interview (Excluding Ordained Clergy)

Combining the research approaches of Robert Schreiter37 and Bishop Laurie Green, I will

engage in interviews with the parish councils of each congregation using the

Appreciative Inquiry Method. The goal of these sessions will be to allow for lay

members of the community to contribute their individual opinions regarding the core

beliefs of their congregation. I will facilitate the asking of questions, allowing them to

write responses on sticky notes in order to elicit feedback from all participants. This

method also allows me to group together common responses based on categories

modelled on Schreiter’s three underlying roots for local theologies.

An example of this could be this question: what are the three most significant things that

your congregation does that you believe is contributing to the membership growth of the

community? If a participant provided the following answers: being asked to invite friends

to church, the strong liturgical tradition of the parish, a deliberate focus of youth ministry.

Then, these responses could be classified under the following three roots of Schreiter’s

definition of local theology: i) bringing friends to church is an example of missionary

37 As found in Schreiter’s Constructing Local Theologies and Green’s Let’s Do Theology: Sources for Contextual Theology.

200 activities and evangelism and would fall under the root of Gospel; ii) a strong liturgical tradition in the congregation might relate to community worship (Gospel root) or even how the congregation relates the wider church through the sacramental tradition (Church root); iii) a focus on youth ministry might be the result of the congregation recognizing that there are many young families within the neighbourhood and that there is a unique way that they are reaching out to them. This response could fall within the Culture root of

Schreiter’s categories.

The responses produced through the Appreciative Inquiry interviews will be recorded with an audio device (following the necessary permission sought from the participants).

This will aid me as the researcher in coding the responses of each group at a later date. I will also have the written responses from the sticky notes as documentation of answers from the appreciative inquiry process.

C) Clergy Questionnaire.

My final data collection tool will be a clergy questionnaire that utilizes open-ended questions to solicit the views of the Rector/Incumbent of the congregation. Questions might include: What core beliefs do you believe that you congregation holds that may be contributing towards membership growth? What are the primary activities that your congregation conducts that might be fostering new relationships in the wider community?

This questionnaire can be completed by clergy before or following the Research Day.

The reason why I am separating clergy from the parish council group interview is to allow the lay members of the community to share there views independently. Past

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anecdotal experience of congregational development sessions with clergy being present

has taught me that often lay members differ their opinions to ordained members of the

community. Also, clergy are usually comfortable with articulating stories and theology in

ways that are likely different than lay members of the community.

Part #4: Projected Outcomes and Interpretation

Within the responses from the Congregational Research Days and the data that is collected,

I hope to find evidence of the following characteristics present within the local theologies expressed by congregations that I will be dialoguing with:

1) Growth from encounter with the Gospel – I cannot imagine a congregation that is actively

engaging in the missional activities of fostering new faith relationships, creating spaces

for the Gospel to be heard and studied and enabling the spiritual development of its

members to be sent into the word as Christians without them already having the desire to

grow as a community of faith. My hope is that the desire for growth is not simply out of

fear of decline, but rather a voluntary response produced out of their engagement with the

Gospel.

2) Flexibility of Spirit – Flexibility, as I am using the term here, refers to the capacity of a

congregation to risk new ministry initiatives in an effort to form new relationships.

Among closing congregations, there is often an all-too-familiar lament: “We tried that

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before. It didn’t work.” While it is true that not all ministry approaches are successful in

every context, what I suspect to also be true is that growing congregations are not

inhibited by past ministry failures. Instead, they may simply be better or more creative at

finding new approaches to their evangelism.38

3) The Body of Christ as expressed in the ministry of the laity – I believe that clergy-centric

models of ministry are easier to enable than lay-focused models. In a clergy-centric

model you only must train one person to implement change of a congregation. Yet the

weakness of this model is found in the limitations of relationships that any one person

can hold at a time. When the entire congregation is equipped and held responsible for

ministry leadership and growth it may take longer to implement a process of training, but

the end result is a congregation that can draw upon many individuals (ideally all) for the

purpose of expanding missional relationships. For this reason, I also believe that small

group ministries are a key component to growing congregations because they create

personally intimate environments for spiritual mentorship and discipling that are more

conducive to faith formation.

4) Evangelism through Proclamation – My hunch is that congregations that have a clear

identity as being shaped by the Gospel, and the way in which it is directly meaningful to

their lives, will be able to easily articulate this identity to others, inviting them to explore

and participate in the faith community. Many congregations succeed in fostering faith

38 An inspirational book on reimagining the role of a Parish to include numerous non-traditionally-focused Sunday activities and various groups that gather and relate to one another in non-traditional ways is: Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight J. Friessen, The New Parish: How Neighbourhood Churches Are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community, (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014).

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communities behind closed doors. Few are able to communicate the benefits of

membership to others, let alone articulate how their personal involvement in their

congregation relates to their experience of God and God’s mission in the world.

5) Emphasis on Discipleship - My final suspicion regarding “thriving” congregations is that

they are filled with members who wish to be changed to better resemble the person and

teachings of Jesus Christ. Implicit in this willingness is the understanding that they will

not remain the same, nor will their ministries remain static. Becoming better followers of

Christ includes a continuous process of self-reflection, the integration of Gospel values,

the setting of personal goals, the reality of failure and correction with the purpose of self-

improvement. A community of Christ-followers will continuously engage with the

themes of forgiveness, self-giving service to others, reconciliation, brokenness and

redemption, if they hold up their lives to the mirror of Jesus Christ as their spiritual

template. Most importantly, I hope to hear in the local theologies of “thriving”

congregations that members in these communities are shaping their ministry activities in

ways that reflect their personal desire to imitate Christ in order to there to be generosity

and flexibility in the ways that their ministry reaches out to, and relates, to those who are

not members of the Church.

6) A Holy Leadership39 - That within some numerically growing congregations there may be

community leaders whose gifts are found in the authentic living out of their faith in ways

39 This last characteristic has been added as a result of conversation with Janet Marshall, the Director of Congregational Development for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.

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that inspire others to join them. These community leaders can be either ordained or lay.

In some come cases, they may even be deceased, yet have modeled a form of vocational

living that continues to inspire others today.

Potential Benefits to the Church

If my proposed thesis statement is correct and it is found that congregations examined in this study share similar local theologies that appear to be directly correlating/contributing to numerical membership growth, then a hopeful extension of this research might be applied to the cultivation of key local theologies in other congregations for the purpose of enabling their capacity for numerical growth.

Schreiter’s research would caution that cultural context plays a significant factor in the prominence of some local theologies over others, yet perhaps it is possible that there may be characteristics found in growing Anglican congregations that may bridge differing contexts.

If so, perhaps these could be applied elsewhere.

In this period of time in the life of the Anglican Church of Canada that has been marked by widespread denominational trends of decline, I believe that now is the perfect opportunity to explore, assess and celebrate the places where we are successfully participating in God’s mission. Equipped with an understanding of our Anglican and Canadian contexts for ministry, being realistic about the ministry challenges that congregations face every day, turning to the local theologies that motivate our actions in ministry, and recognizing that the goal isn’t to find a quick fix solution to address congregational decline, I hope that my research will open up further

205 conversations between episcopal leaders, clergy and laity about how some congregations are defying the trends of membership decline by focusing on the cultivation of faith relationships.

If I succeed in accomplishing this goal, I will have made a contribution to the dioceses of

Huron and Toronto, and perhaps the wider Church, that may inspire congregations to reflect on their own engagement with God’s mission and the ways in which they might better reposition their ministry activities to allow the Spirit of God to enable new vibrancy, spiritual renewal and even numerical growth for their faith communities. I pray that this may be so!

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Note: Following this endorsement, St. Andrew’s LaSalle withdrew from the project to be replaced by Christ Church, Huntingford. This change was approved by the Bishop.

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Bucking the Trend: A Study of Growing Anglican Congregations

A Research Project conducted by The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott

Congregational Contextual Survey

1. The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott is researching trends of congregational growth in the Anglican Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. His work is part of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Toronto School of Theology, registered through Wycliffe College.

Do you grant the researcher permission to anonymously include your survey results in his study of your congregation? Yes No

2. What is your gender? Male Female Other 3. What is your age? 16-29 30-49 50-69 70-89 90+

For visitors: 4. Are you a visitor to this congregation today? Yes No 5. If so, what (or who) brought you to visit this church today?

6. How long have you been part of this congregation? <1 year 1-2 years 3-5 years 6-10 years >10 years

7. What originally brought you to join this congregation? ___ someone invited me ___ it is close to where I live ___ I have family ties to the congregation ___ I saw the church advertised in the community. Where? ______I was curious about Anglicanism ___ I am exploring my spirituality ___ another reason: ______

8. What keeps you here as a member of this congregation?

______9. Have you always been part of the Anglican tradition? Yes No

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10. If no, describe your prior faith tradition, or lack thereof.

______

11. Have you always identified as being a Christian? Yes No

12. If no, when did you choose to become a Christian?

______

13. Please select from the following three (3) characteristics of this congregation, as you consider them to be important reasons for your being a part of this community.

___ Anglican tradition ___ warm welcome of the community ___ engaging preaching ___ Biblical teachings ___ style of music: specify______youth and family ministries ___ the congregation’s outreach ministries ___ pastoral care for members

14. Do you personally serve in any ministries in this congregation? If so, what roles do you serve in? (Examples: choir, outreach committee, servers, readers, etc.)

______

Thank you for your participation in this congregational survey!

The results from the survey will be shared with each congregation upon completion of Rev. Bowcott’s dissertation. Additionally, a copy of the dissertation will be made available to the congregation.

It is the researcher’s hope that this study may benefit the future growth of Anglican congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto.

With appreciation, Gray+

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Bucking the Trend: A Study of Growing Anglican Congregations

A Research Project conducted by The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott

Appreciative Inquiry Group Interview Questions

About the group interview: the group interview is a two hour facilitated conversation that is led by the researcher, Grayhame Bowcott. The participants of the group interview will include the members of the research congregation’s parish (or congregational) council. These members have been elected and appointed as representative leaders for the faith community according to the canons and custom of their Diocese. Parish councils act as the board of management for congregations, and, as such, are representative leaders within their congregational community. The majority of ministry decisions for a congregational community are decided by the parish council.

The group interview will employ an appreciative inquiry method of collecting data for the research project. In this approach, the facilitator will equip each participant with a sharpie marker and a pad of stick-it notes. Answers to each of the group interview questions will be submitted by using the stick-it notes. Participant answers will be grouped according to theme and presented on the walls of the interview room for further discussion and comparison to the answer of other participants. One strength of the appreciative inquiry process is that each participant’s answers are given equal weight in the conversation (as represented by the stick-it notes). This enables each participant to express their opinions equally, where in a more traditional format of interview some participants might be more forward in sharing responses and longer in their response durations while others might be more hesitant to do so, or be given less time to answer.

The intent of the researcher in employing this method is to allow for all participants to contribute their views and reflections.

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Group Interview Questions:

Note: some of the questions have multiple parts. This allows for the first round of answers to be collected and grouped together on the walls (presentation boards) and then allows for a follow-up question once the first round of answers have been considered together as a grouping. Participants assist the facilitator in grouping the answers according to other similar responses.

Question #1: If you were describing your congregation to a newcomer, what three things about your community would you highlight? Why do you believe these things to be meaningful to a newcomer?

Question #2: Tell me about yourself. Who are your community neighbours? What are the groups that you are most active in serving in your neighbourhood? Question #3: What are three ministry activities that your congregation has participated in within the last two years that you believe may have contributed to the building of new relationships with people in your neighbourhood or community?

What activities do you feel the congregation is really good at doing? Anything that you would like to do better or differently?

Question #4: Continuing from the previous question, what do you believe the congregation’s motivation was for initiating the previously listed three ministry activities?

Question #5: Name the three most effective ways your congregation communicates with non-members in the wider community? How regular is this communication?

Question #6: What are two or three ways that this congregation discerns or prepares for congregational growth?

Would you say that growth is a priority for you? Do you have any expectations around growth? Tell me what this is saying to you.

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Question #7: If a newcomer were seeking to learn more about the story of Jesus Christ, what two or three things does your congregation do to support this quest?

Question #8: What do you imagine God’s hopes/dreams for this congregation might be?

Answers to be written on index cards. The cards will be collected and shuffled and then redistributed to the members of the group.

They can then be read aloud to be shared with the members of the group.

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Bucking the Trend: A Study of Growing Anglican Congregations

A Research Project conducted by The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott

Supplementary Group Interview Questions Following the group interview, these questions can be presented to the participants for them to voluntary fill out. A postage paid envelope will be left with the group. Response forms can be collected and mailed to the researcher following the congregational research day. This allows for a greater focus and conversation on a more limited number of questions within the Appreciative Inquiry group interview.

Question #1: On a spectrum of attitudes towards sharing your Christian faith with others, where might your congregation fall on this spectrum? Pick one or two responses.40

0) “we believe in God, but don’t really know what that looks like.” 1) “we believe that faith in God is a private matter. We don’t like to talk about God with anyone else.” 2) “we believe that talking about faith is primarily the role of the pastor/priest.” 3) “we know that the whole Church is supposed to share the faith, but we’re just not quite sure how to do that.” 4) “we know that the whole Church is supposed to share the faith, but we don’t know the basics well enough to share it ourselves.” 5) “we would love to share our faith with others, but don’t know how to do it without offending others.” 6) “we are beginning to feel comfortable talking about our faith with others within our own congregation.” 7) “we feel confident in sharing our faith with others who might ask us about it.” 8) “we are excited to share with the people in our lives what our faith means to us!” 9) “we regularly experience the sharing of our faith with others.”

40 A question adapted from a development day hosted in the Diocese of Huron by Dr. Judy Paulsen, Director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College (March, 2018) Used with permission.

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10) “we feel called by God to share our Christian faith with our non- Christian friends, neighbours and colleagues. The is one of the most meaningful aspects of our congregational life!”

Any further comments that you would like to add in response to this question?

Question #2: Please rank the top three (3) following characteristics of this congregation, as you consider them to be important reasons for your being a part of this community. ___ Anglican tradition ___ warm welcome of the community ___ engaging preaching ___ Biblical teachings ___ style of music: specify______youth and family ministries ___ the congregation’s outreach ministries ___ pastoral care for members

Question #3: What are the most important gifts that Anglicanism has to offer people today?

Question #4: What are the two or three most critical things that you believe are contributing to increases in membership for your congregation?

Question #5: Is there any further information that you believe the researcher should know about the contributing factors of numerical growth within your congregation? If so, please elaborate further.

Thank you for your participation in the group interview!

The response from the interview will be shared with each congregation upon completion of Rev. Bowcott’s dissertation. Additionally, a copy of the dissertation will be made available to the congregation.

It is the researcher’s hope that this study may benefit the future growth of Anglican congregations in the Dioceses of Huron and Toronto.

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Bucking the Trend: A Study of Growing Anglican Congregations

A Research Project conducted by The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott

Clergy Questionnaire

The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott is researching trends of congregational growth in the Anglican Dioceses of Huron and Toronto. His work is part of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Toronto School of Theology, registered through Wycliffe College.

Do you grant the researcher permission to anonymously include your questionnaire results in his study of your congregation? Yes No

Participant name: Signature: Participant Preferred Contact details:

Although your responses to the questionnaire are anonymous, you are able to withdraw your responses to this research project at any time. To do this, simply contact the researcher at: [email protected] or by calling: 519-374-4066.

Question #1: Your congregation has been selected for this research study because it has experienced trends of numerical membership growth within the past decade. In your opinion, what factors might be contributing to your congregation’s growth?

Question #2: If you were describing your congregation to a newcomer, what would you tell that person about the theological beliefs held by your community?

Question #3: What are three ministry activities that your congregation has participated in within the last two years that you believe may have contributed to the building of new relationships (with non-members) for your community?

Question #4: Continuing from the previous question, how were these ministry activities guided/initiated by your congregation’s theological beliefs?

Question #5: How (or where) would non-members/visitors to your congregation hear about your church for the first time?

Question #6: Are there any theological beliefs held by your congregation that may be contributing towards your membership growth?

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Question #7: What are some of the reasons why people continue to come back to (seek membership) in your congregation?

Question: #8: Describe your congregation’s expectations around church growth.

Question #9: How comfortable do you think your parishioners are in sharing their faith beliefs with others?

Question #10: Is there any further information that you believe the researcher should know about the contributing factors of numerical growth within your congregation? If so, please elaborate further.

Thank you for your participation in this clergy questionnaire. It is the researcher’s hope that your responses may provide insights regarding the relationship between locally held theological beliefs and the growth of congregations in terms of numerical membership.

With much appreciation, Gray+

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