A Parish Self-Portrait

An earlier version of this article, by the Rev’d Canon Tony Harwood-Jones, was published in the Christmas edition of the parish magazine, the Winged Ox, December 2008.

St. Luke’s is a parish whose members love their costly church building, reject informal ’contemporary’ worship, appreciate thought-provoking sermons and fine music, and are ambivalent about the work of their Sunday School.

How do we know? Because 86 parishioners, 97% of whom attend St. Luke’s with great regularity, said so in a survey which was put to them on November 2nd.  The core of the parish has spoken.

Who are we?
Respondents ranged in age from 13 to 88.  Average age is 58 years.  60% are female, 40% male.  80% are lifetime Anglicans.  58% arrived at St. Luke’s in the last fifteen years, when the Rev’d R.L. Brownlie was Rector.  19% have been in St. Luke’s five years or less.

What we look for in a church
Our primary requirement in going to church is spiritual and internal: in the privacy of our heart, we want a sense of God’s peace.  Next, we are looking for a thought-provoking sermon.  Third: a dignified, traditional liturgy.

Participants were given nine phrases representing things people commonly look for in a church, and were asked to rank order them.  The value of 10 would indicate “this is the most important thing I look for in a church.”  A value of 9 would be given to the next most important thing, all the way down to 1 or 0, which would be the thing we value the least in the list.  Granting that some said everything on the list was important; and granting, too, that a person might rank something last and still value it very much; the cumulative results are nonetheless quite intriguing.  The farther down the list we go, the less that item is valued by our respondents.  Here is the list in order of priority:

1. a sense of God’s peace in my heart
2. a thought-provoking sermon
3. a dignified traditional liturgy
4. beautiful classical “cathedral” music
5. friends and fellowship
6. an organization which helps others
7. good adult Christian Education
8. ’heritage’ architecture & stained glass
9. a good Sunday School

Our preferences for St. Luke’s
Despite the fact that a heritage building is almost the last thing we look for in a church, we have come to love St. Luke’s buildings.  We are unanimous that they are beautiful, and absolutely worth the expense of maintenance and improvement.  As for worship, we are also unanimous in not wanting to have a more informal and ‘contemporary’ feel to our services.  We do like our choral music, and are not keen on the whole congregation learning to sing chants and psalms.  We have a very positive view of our missions, both to children overseas and to the poor and homeless in our neighborhood.  Although as a whole, we’re not very interested in volunteering to paint, fix, and clean, 36% of us are really willing to help, and many of those who are not so willing say it’s only because they’re too old.

Participants were given fourteen phrases with which they might agree or disagree.  The strongest agreement required the number 10; the strongest disagreement required a 1 (many actually chose zero for emphasis).  A 5 was to indicate neutrality.  In the survey, the two phrases in 13^th and 14^th place scored an average of less than 5 — indicating a uniform and strong disagreement.  The phrases numbered from 7 to 12, below, scored very close to neutral; indicating that an equal number of us disagree with them as agree, with no one very keen.

The phrase in first place achieved an average score of 8.8 (indicating universal strong agreement), and the phrase in last (14th) place achieved an average of 3.1 (indicating almost universal disapproval).

Statements with which we agree:
1. I know it is very expensive to maintain St. Luke’s buildings, but it is worth it!
2. I hope we always have an organist and choir as good as, or better, than we have now
3. I love how the choir sings carefully prepared motets and anthems each week
4. I am very glad we built the elevator, and the proscenium “stage”
5. The Tuesday Hospitality programme is a very important part of St. Luke’s
6. Our support of orphans and education in Haiti and in Uganda is extremely important
   

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   Statements about which we are neutral:
7. I am glad we provide weddings and baptisms for all kinds of non-members
8. I would like children and teens to take part in the liturgy more than they do now
9. Selling baking and used goods after church helps build parish fellowship
10. I would like more emphasis on prayer, and healing ministry, at St. Luke’s
11. I would gladly help maintain the building by painting, cleaning, dusting, repairing
12. I wish the psalms and chants could be said or sung by the whole congregation
    

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    Statements with which we disagree:
13. I just want to come to church, without having to take part in a lot of extra activities
14. I would like to have more informality and a ’contemporary’ feel in Sunday worship

Some points to ponder:
The survey bears more analysis than can be easily discussed here, but a couple of things should be noted:

1. When we start looking for a new Rector, first and foremost what must be proclaimed is: St. Luke’s values its fine building, good sermons, and choral music, and it has no wish to move to “informality and a ’contemporary’ feel” in public worship;
   
2. We believe our heritage buildings are worth the expense, so our parish leadership need not apologize about asking for contributions;
   
3. Although only 36% of us want to help fix or clean this building, that is far more than parish leaders thought we had, and we need to find a way to mobilize this important resource;
   and finally,
   
4. We should probably consider and discuss very carefully what the survey tells us about our attitude toward the Sunday School and the children of our congregation.

Children in our church
The survey says that the last thing we look for in a church is “a good Sunday School”… on average it takes ninth, or last place, in our priority list.  Then, in the second list — the statements with which we agree or disagree — we are not very positive at all about children taking part in Sunday worship.

Isolating respondents between the ages of 30 and 50 – those most likely to be parents of Sunday school children – the numbers change in one respect: for these respondents “a good Sunday School” moves from last place to third place (after “a sense of God’s peace in my heart” and “a thought-provoking sermon”).  However, this group remains almost as unconcerned about having the children take part in the liturgy, as does the full survey (average for the full survey: 6.4; average for those who might be the children’s parents: 7.3 – halfway down the list, below the building, the music, and the mission items).

It is therefore not a stretch to say that in St. Luke’s, even those of us who value Sunday School, are quite content to have it off in another room somewhere.  We may not be surprised or concerned if the style of presentation in Sunday School is vastly different from the style of our traditional liturgy and our choral music – indeed we may even be pleased that the Sunday school is more child-centred and “fun” than a church service might be.

However, what it creates is a “disconnect” between church and Sunday School.  This “disconnect” can sometimes be interpreted by Sunday School volunteers as if no one in the church really cares about them.  This is probably not so, but it can feel that way.

More alarming is this: a “disconnect” such as ours may create a group of children with no concept of the beautiful liturgy that we ourselves value so much.  They will finish Sunday School and be completely unprepared for adult worship; finding it strange, unfamiliar, and ultimately uninteresting.  Twenty years from now this bunch will not have turned into adults whose church survey responses demand good sermons, choral music and traditional liturgy.  That which we value so highly ourselves may become extinct in our very own children.

A copy of the survey can be obtained by clicking here.
The complete survey results can be seen by clicking here.

To be continued
With the completion of this survey, we are now well on the way to building our parish profile.  After Christmas, I will call the parishioners together once more to discuss these results and to set the Profile development stage in motion.

Tony Harwood-Jones
Interim Incumbent, Parish of St. Luke