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Update 45 pages 4-5.
In Update 45:
Still an issue,
Godparents,
S.E. London,
Perry,
1662 Confirmation,
Funerals,
Liturgy,
Hooker,
Andrews.
Mission in South East London
Part of Rt Rev'd Colin Buchanan's survey of the Woolwich Episcopal Area, summarised and reveiwed by John Hartley.
Colin sent us a copy of his 48-page booklet (ISBN 0-904129-12-8, £3) with the remark that “it is not very encouraging to Baptismal Integrity’s position” - but reading it through, I am forced to disagree!
“I believe that a bishop should stand close to the mission of the church, and serve and resource the parishes in their mission,” says Colin at the outset. So how do his parishes do mission, and what works?
“Mission” (according to Lambeth 1998) has five marks:
• proclaim the Good News;
• teach, baptise, nurture and incorporate new believers;
• meet need with loving service;
• transform unjust structures; and
• environmental concern.
Many parishes said “mission” wasn’t a word which they normally thought about, so Colin asked the question: “What is this this church here for?”. Sometimes this released a flow of ideas, and sometimes it didn’t!
Colin expresses the conviction that four of these marks of mission are expressed in the CW baptism service: Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News? (1 & 2), Will you seek and serve Christ in all people? (3), and Will you ... pray, ... and seek peace and justice? (4). So by baptism we join the mission which is basic to being a Christian, and which has two focusses: evangelism and service.
Contrary to the general press publicity, the Church of England is not declining in Woolwich, with modest gains in most places and big gains in some. These are what bring the newcomers in:
• wedding, funeral and christening contacts;
• people from midweek groups (e.g. MU, Parents & Toddlers);
• parents of involved children;
• parents wanting church school places for their children;
• Christians moving house;
• people who have had the church recommended to them;
• those who’ve had a spiritual experience (vision / healing...).
Obviously BI’s main interest in this question is with the first category, so here are the gory details of what Colin found.
There are over 1,200 requests for baptism of infants or toddlers each year. This is no more than 1 in 8 of live births, and may result in about 5,000 people attending a church service at least once in the year. Most parishes view infant baptism as an opportunity, and many not only conduct an ‘open’ or welcoming practice, but virtually revel in it, and believe questionning to be wrong-headed and even judgemental. By contrast there are two or three parishes which are less ‘open’, though they would insist they do not refuse baptism.
As a justification of an ‘open’ policy, many say that people living at the bottom of the heap have enough rejections already, and if only 1 in 8 enquire it must show this minority have some smoking flax of Christianity in their lives. Parents think it is “the right thing” to do, or “doing the best” for their children, or “my mother had me baptized so I want my own child baptized”. Some think of putting the child on the right side with God, or wanting a church school place five years later. Sometimes it is pressure from grandmas, and some church officials admit to being those grandmas themselves. “Parents in such cases may have no idea themselves of the significance of baptism: there is in general an enormous gap to bridge, before people at a distance from church life grasp that baptism entails joining - joining Jesus Christ and joining his people.”
There are many variants on ‘open’ policies: the times folk can apply, the dates and times they can book, whether it is a ‘private’ or ‘public’ service, what preparation the parents receive, whether lay people are involved or only clergy, and whether there is any follow-up afterwards. Colin says he heard little about one-parent families, godparents, or unmarried parents.
The two or three parishes which are less ‘open’ most obviously offer a choice (often guided!) between baptism and thanksgiving. Parents may be asked what they want and then assured they will get it in the thanksgiving, and one parish (readers of Update 44 will recognise it) asks everyone to a service of ‘naming and blessing’ (a variant of ‘thanksgiving’) with little preparation but much welcome, and the invitation to have thorough preparation for baptism later.
Colin concludes this section by remarking sadly “Few parishes, what ever their practice, reported parents coming from wholly outside the church to lively faith - and I rarely confirm people who have so come. Officiants may ask “Do you submit to Christ as Lord?”, but the limit of their hope is that the family will depart with goodwill towards the church. A liturgy with a strong message about repentance and faith is accepted by parents one day and shrugged aside the next.
I think “not very encouraging” meant Colin hoped more parishes would operate discerning baptismal policies. That’s the dark side. But here’s the bright side: the less-open policies don’t alienate the parishioners, they don’t produce less fruit in terms of converts, and they don’t downgrade the sacrament. They do still wrestle with problems of evangelism, but they certainly don’t shoot themselves in the foot.
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