Most surveys of church attendance in Western countries show a steady decline over the last 100 years.
New Zealanders, too, have moved away from church attendance, but after talking to half a dozen Ponsonby church leaders, I am not as pessimistic about the future as Brierley.
Still, these are changing and challenging times, and our churches are adapting.
Some of the negative influences on attendance include church abuse, perceived hypocrisy, authoritarianism, women’s issues, exclusivity, religious wars and talk of hell and damnation.
Homosexuality has been a huge issue in most churches and many, including establishment churches, will still not marry gay couples.
Some of our local churches are suffering the effects of an aging congregation. Diana Rattray, herself a gay, married woman, told Ponsonby News she had buried too many old All Saints parishioners in just the last year. She agreed that the research which showed that 20% of the New Zealand population is over 60, while more than 40% of church goers is over 60 is largely correct. While 20% of the population is under 30, only 8% of church goers are under 30.
New churches are springing up, some attracting the young. You will read about the Vineyard Church, founded in the US, but now world-wide. I spoke with young pastor Cameron Webster about their work, especially with young people. Other, so-called charismatic or Pentecostal churches are growing.
Islam is growing in New Zealand, and I asked all churches about their and their congregations’ reactions to the Christchurch massacre. There was an outpouring of love, concern and solidarity about their comments, including support for the Prime Minister’s reactions and actions since the tragedy.
Buddist Ian Gordon said, “The question is what church goers do when they leave church. What are their values and how do they live?”
We asked the church ministers how they saw the future of their churches. I put to all of them the comment I had read that, “In future, churches that love their model more than their mission will fail” and asked them to comment.
One said there is strength in groups who can do more together than individuals on their own.
A feature of the interviews, I thought, was the absence of criticism of denominations not their own.
There was no attempt to ‘other’ anyone, a real positive to come out of the Christchurch tragedy. But everyone acknowledged that the grieving process will take time, and family members of the vicious slaughter will need on-going help.
Read what these church leaders told us, and be thankful that such a group of dedicated lovers of Christ are working daily in our community to make it a less lonely and forbidding place, especially for the more marginalised of our fellow citizens. (JOHN ELLIOTT)
Jody Kilpatrick, Minister - Ponsonby Baptist Church
The congregation at the Ponsonby Baptist Church was shocked and shaken by the Christchurch tragedy. At a service two days later, Minister Jody Kilpatrick told me they were praying and trying to process what had happened. “We have a lot to think about, as
a bicultural and a multicultural nation,” Jody said.
Jody describes her Baptist congregation as a “Community of faith that rises to the risen Christ. Theyare making an effort to encourage the use of te reo in services, and to seek Maori voices...” Regarding church decline I would say, “Our numbers are fairly steady, but there is certainly a decline in numbers of people aged 15-40, and we recognise this does not point to sustainability.”
Like Diana Rattray at All Saints, Jody Kilpatrick talked about the demands on people’s lives outside the church. Ponsonby Baptist Church has a long history of interest in social justice. A major activity in this area started just over 30 years ago, with the Community of Refuge Trust. CORT Housing has grown to be one of the largest social housing providers in Auckland; an independant housing trust with
a strong relationship with the church.
Jody told us that inclusiveness is a very important value for the church community: making sure that everyone is valued, can participate and have a voice, whether they identify as having mental health issues, as LGBTI+, as disabled, or as a dyed-in-the-wool Baptist.
Ponsonby Baptist Church describes itself as a “Small inner-city church with 130-year history with a thoughtfully determined and visceral faith, committed at the core and open at the edges.” What a great description! www.ponsonbybaptist.org.nz
Diana Rattray - Vicar of All Saints Anglican Church
I had a delightful hour with Diana Rattray. She is a modern woman, a police chaplain, a huge believer in tikanga Maori, as well as a married gay woman and aware of the Anglican Church’s anachronistic ways. “It is still a heirarchical system,” said Diana.
Groups do respond better than individuals, she told me, in answer to my questions about the fall off in church attendance numbers. “But people are just so busy,” she said, that “the commitment of belonging is too much for many.” She cited people who work on Sundays, or even seven days. “On rainy days some early childhood centres have few attendees. They have no car, no raincoats, even no shoes.”
Diana Rattray talked about the loneliness and isolation which is rampant in our community. All Saints Church works actively and collaboratively to get food and conversation to lonely people. Diana also has groups who meet after services during the week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for coffee and catch-up chats.
She referenced the Spirit Level book which highlights the social problems which result from the inequality which has been such a blight on our community for the last 30 years.
All Saints numbers have fallen in recent years, and Diana sadly related the number of nonagenarians she had buried in just the last year. Attendance gets up to 20 at the early church service on Sunday, with 50-80 at the main Sunday service, Sunday school and youth group, and Diana’s midweek groups. Like every church told me, All Saints is a seven days a week church.
Diana Rattray believes in ‘courageous conversations’ with schools, other churches and in homes, as a healing mechanism for tragedies like the Christchurch massacre.
Building interfaith relationships is important, Diana told me. “We must persist with the aftermath healing process,” she said.
Diana Rattray pursues a liberal theology, and views the Bible from a feminist perspective. www.allsaintsponsonby.org.nz
Unitarian Church Leader - Clay Nelson
Most of the denominational churches I spoke to this month have more in common than divides them.
The Unitarians are different. I had a most delightful hour with American, Clay Nelson, Minister of the Auckland Unitarian Church.
Nelson is also an Anglican minister who migrated to New Zealand 15 years ago. He had not intended to serve in an Anglican church, but was offered a role at St Matthew-in-the-City. He stayed nine years. His time at St Matthew was not without controversy. He received hate mail and death threats following his production of the provocative billboards he placed on the corner of Wellesley and Hobson Streets. He had his disagreements with the Bishop about his refusal to ordain a gay colleague, and also objected to the way Brian Tamaki promoted his extremist views.
When Helen Jacobi became Vicar at St Matthew-in-the-City, Clay decided it was time for a change. He accepted a position with the Auckland Unitarians which was a better fit for his progressive views, and where he has been the past five years.
Clay Nelson is in his element discussing religion, politics, philosophy and psychology. His father had a PhD in Philosophy and his family argued around the dinner table. He is not one to gild the lily. He tells it like it is. I told him I had read a paper on church attendance where the author declared ‘the church that loves its model more than its mission will fail’.
Nelson agreed with this proposition, saying, “Many churches today that think they can survive, are whistling in the wind."
He believes denominations have become an anachronism. The Ponsonby congregation is about 50% humanists and 50% ‘other'. Clay Nelson describes himself as a “Progressive Christian, non-theist, who believes each of us must take responsibility for nourishing and developing our own spirituality. We want a world a little more just and a little more peaceful."
As Clay Nelson expressed to me, “We walk a diverse spiritual path to find purpose and meaning in our lives, but we are united in our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person."
The massacre in Christchurch has shaken us to our core, Clay Nelson wrote in his sermon of 17 March, just two days after the tragedy.
"This act of hatred had not previously happened here," he told me, "and we didn’t think it would in spite of plenty of evidence that the deadly virus of white nationalism had become endemic around the world."
Nelson warned against going down the road to find someone to blame, insisting that this would curtail our own healing. He quoted James Hollis, author of 'Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding our Darker Selves', who said “The psychological and spiritual maturity of an individual, of a group, even a nation, is found precisely in its capacity to tolerate ambiguity and ambivalence, and the anxiety generated by both of them."
Nelson urged that we "do the hard work so that such senseless acts become
a thing of the past." As he approaches 70 years old, Nelson says he is no longer the naif he once was, but he has not become cynical and still believes the world can become a better place. Much of his hope resides in our youth, in a very different world thanks to the internet and social media.
A quote from Unitarian minister, Nathan Walker, appeals to Clay Nelson. Walker talks about moral imagination, and says a powerful tool is "the ability to anticipate or project oneself into the middle of a moral dilemma or conflict and understand all points of view. When we observe oppression, let us develop strategies that free not only the oppressed but also the oppressor."
In Clay Nelson we have in our midst a highly intelligent and empathetic man, who uses his lifetime of experience and his profound love of humanity to minister to a lucky group of individuals at the Unitarian Church.
www.aucklandunitarian.org.nz
Helen Jacobi - St Matthew-in-the-City Vicar
I have always loved St Matthews. It’s such a beautiful building, with beautiful acoustics. I have enjoyed a number of concerts there and several services.
I knew it as a liberal Anglican Church, although still unable to marry same sex couples. St Matthews has a close association with the Auckland Rainbow Community Church which does conduct same-sex marriages at St Matthews.
Helen Jacobi has been vicar at St Matthews for about five years. She welcomed me to her church, and we had a very pleasant 45-minute chat.
As an inner-city church, St Matthews is somewhat different from other suburban Anglican churches. It caters for the central city, attracts new immigrants, business people and visitors. Helen told me between 5 and 10% of the congregation each Sunday are visitors. It is home, too, for many of the inner-city poor and homeless. The church is next door to the City Mission and they have a close association.
St Matthews has occasional business breakfasts for business leaders who universally support the church. “All I hear,” Helen told me is “how can we contribute?” There are also regular corporate events when people hire the church.
“People are looking for meaning and purpose in their lives,” Helen said. “We reach out. Three days after the Christchurch shooting we had 600 at St Matthews.
St Matthew-in-the-City is a seven days a week place for concerts, events and services. “Hire us,” Helen urged me to tell Ponsonby News readers.
The mosque tragedy in Christchurch had a profound effect on Helen and her congregation. A regular congregation numbers about 80 to 100, but three days after the massacre 600 people crowded into St Matthews. “People are reaching out,” Helen told me, “Looking for meaning and purpose in life.” The response to the tragedy has been remarkable, both from church goers and non-church people.
Helen made a good point when we discussed the hijab. “It’s appropriate to wear a hijab,” she told me. “It’s just like taking your shoes off as respect. Men take their hats off in church.”
Helen Jacobi said we must stand up to racism. It is just not acceptable, and never was. St Matthews is an important, perhaps iconic, place of worship in Auckland’s infrastructure, and the church is fortunate to have such a forthright and able vicar to coordinate all the threads that make her church so important to Auckland. www.stmatthews.nz
Reverend Brent Swann - St Columba Anglican Church
I’ve met the charismatic vicar of St Columba Church, Rev Brent Swann, and his charming wife Huia, several times. I love what they do for the church and local community. Their church is warm and generous and exudes inclusiveness and Christian love. St Columba Church and community centre survived possible closure a couple of years ago and, even now, when its church and community work is thriving, still there is a need to watch the budget closely.
St Columba is a church of diverse theologies, successfully building relationships with its respect for a shared humanity, and working together towards common goals as part of the wider Anglican Church. This is a diverse community – culturally, socio economically and theologically.
The diversity in theology includes evangelical, liberal, and conservative approaches, but Reverend Brent doesn't see labels as being helpful and would prefer no labels at all. He speaks instead of mutual respect, a willingness to learn and be alongside difference, prioritising inclusiveness, aroha and relationship. "It’s how we do aroha, it’s how faith is lived out in authentic, practical and meaningful ways that is important," he says.
There are not huge numbers of church goers these days, Reverend Brent acknowledges. St Columba has an active youth presence but he would not want to insist they come every Sunday. He recognises that church is much more than a Sunday service and appreciates hearing the hopes and challenges they experience as young people navigating their faith in a secular world.
The St Columba community was deeply shocked at the Christchurch massacre. “It was devastating,” Brent told me, “I was deeply moved and saddened. I felt it in my puku for many days after. We all did.
"This tragic event has provided an opportunity for deeper conversations about discrimination and racism, experiencing it, how we recognise it and how we might make a stand against it. It’s in the valleys, the hard places, the hard conversations, that’s where the very best of humanity often emerges," Brent told me. He said this is an opportunity to do some things in different ways. To make a stand for justice and to acknowledge the God and mana present in all of creation and all people.
"There’s a warmth towards us in the Grey Lynn community,” says Brent. With their support, we will continue to serve and together move toward growing a community of manaakitanga that cares for all.
www.saintcolumbas.org.nz
Firoz Patel - Secretary of Ponsonby Masjid
I had a most enjoyable time speaking with the secretary of the Ponsonby Mosque, Firoz Patel.
It turns out Firoz used to live in my street, but he left before I took up residence. He is a charming man, busy as a beaver trying to do his job at the New Zealand Herald, where he has been for 35 years, and also coping with the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre and the busy life of the Ponsonby Mosque.
Many Ponsonby worshippers have close connections with Christchurch and naturally are still grieving. Firoz told Ponsonby News his congregation is still in awe of New Zealanders’ response to the tragedy. Whether church goers or not, there has been a unanimous outpouring of love and sympathy for families who have lost loved ones.
“The Prime Minister has had international praise for her response to the massacre,” said Firoz, “and rightly so.”
Ponsonby is New Zealand’s oldest mosque, dating back to 1971, first at Pompallier Terrace and then from 1979 in Vermont Street. Presently at Ponsonby, they have the Masjid, the adjoining hall, a Janaza/funeral facility for ghusal and living quarters for the Imam.
Islam exists in every part of the globe and New Zealand is one of its remotest outposts. It was in a remote region of the earth - Arabia - that Islam emerged some 1400 years ago.
Firoz told me about 450 worship regularly in Vermont Street, but he was blown away by the support of the Ponsonby and Auckland-wide community after the massacre. He told me about actor Sam Neill turning up, Oscar Keightly and even the King Cobras gang, who I had not seen since the Gluepot pub days, came, prayed, made a donation and left. The flowers and cards were overwhelming and very much appreciated. There were lots of cards from schools.
“They are still coming,” Firoz said, “emails, phone calls, visits. We are open. United we stand divided we fall.”
The Sacred Heart Catholic Church across the road in Vermont Street has been a pillar of support for the Mosque. Father Rory has offered every kind of assistance possible, and the always good relationship between these two different denominations has never been closer.
Firoz Patel is a proud Gujarati, but also a proud New Zealander and a devout Muslim. He has been shaken by this tragedy, but remains unbowed, partly thanks to all the love, compassion and support lavished on his friends this last month.
We at Ponsonby News salute the Muslim resilience, and send them our love.
www.nzma.kiwi.nz
Cameron Webster - Vineyard Church
I enjoyed meeting Cameron Webster, pastor of a little-known church, the Vineyard Church. He is a charming young man and we chatted for nearly an hour.
Vineyard originated in the US, but has expanded all over the world. It first came to New Zealand some 25 years ago. Cameron is of the second generation of pastors, with the New Zealand founder Lloyd Rankin still preaching in Ruru Street, Eden Terrace. There is a desire to have 40 Vineyard churches in New Zealand by 2020. At present there are 25, including church plants.
Vineyard churches are committed to the theology and practice of the Kingdom of God, which they view as the over-arching and integrating theme of the Bible. Members welcome God’s presence, seeking in worship and prayer to hear His voice and to be obedient to His leading. They love people, who they respect and honour. They are called to compassion and healing leaning towards the lost, the poor, the outcast and the stranger.
Cameron Webster told me the church’s style is relaxed and accessible. They are striving for what he called “the radical middle.” Not extremist. They meet at St Paul’s College in Grey Lynn, where Cameron used to be the physical education teacher.
The Vineyard has an association with Dryden Lodge where many poor, lonely, and some with mental health issues, live.
I asked Cameron to describe his church and he used an interesting analogy. He described the church as soup, and the Vineyard Church as one of the vegetables, which brings a certain flavour. “We have respect for all churches," he told me. “We have a saying, come as you are. We love and respect all people.
“Urban Vineyard aims to make Christianity accessible, moving with the culture to stay culturally relevant,” Cameron said. “The current cultures shift towards deconstruction of institutions and establishments is not something the church needs to be afraid of as I believe that it will help to build a stronger church in the future.”
Vineyard aims to be accessible and to move with cultural change. They deconstruct and build a stronger church.
Cameron is young and he attracts a younger crowd, and is more comfortable with the young it seems to me, but with a great respect for the elderly.
I very much enjoyed my time with Cameron and can imagine him being a charismatic preacher, although he told me that charismatic is not a word he particularly likes. www.vineyard.org.nz