"So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" Acts 11.17
I was at a very evangelical wedding yesterday – and a very good day it was – but whenever I said to anyone that I went to a church in Knightsbridge, they assumed it was Holy Trinity Brompton. It is famed abroad, even in Baptist circles.
The question I want to address this morning is this. Within the Church of England in London, why are Anglo-Catholics unable to produce the sort of thriving communities that we see in Holy Trinity Brompton, All Souls Langham Place or St Helen’s Bishopsgate?
Well part of the answer is explained in Rose Macaulay’s novel, The Towers of Trebizond, with that wonderful character ‘the Revd the Honorable Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg’ whom she describes as ‘an ancient bigot who had run a London church several feet higher than St Mary’s Bourne Street’. The narrator says:
“I too am high, even extreme, but somewhat lapsed, which is a sound
position, as you belong to the best section of the best branch of the Christian
Church, but seldom attend its services.”
And for a variety of reasons, many of our electoral role seldom attend the church.
The famous Alpha course is a part of the growth equation (although All Souls & St Helen’s use their own courses).
It originated 25 years ago in HTB - the course was actually written by Charles & Trish Marnham. He was then a curate, and is now Vicar of our neighbouring parish of St Michael’s Chester Square.
It is a method of introducing people to the Christian faith by way of informal discussion in groups of about a dozen, focused around a shared meal and some teaching input. It takes one evening a week for ten weeks and includes a weekend houseparty.
It is fashionable to slate Alpha, despite the fact that over 3 million people around the world have taken part in it. The British never like obvious success.
I led a course in my first church - in fact an Alpha+ course, designed for Catholics, with more on the sacraments, more quotes from the Fathers; and the Holy Spirit weekend replaced by a pilgrimage to Walsingham. Roman Catholics widely use Alpha as it stands, and then add four weeks at the end with specifically Catholic teaching.
In St Edmund’s it proved an excellent opportunity for Christians in the church (making up 75% of the group) to grow in their understanding of the faith; and for those on the fringes of the church to take a step closer to becoming followers of Christ.
Of course there is nothing new in the formula: a good meal, a few glasses of wine and a convivial group of people - this has always been conducive to discussion and personal revelation.
But success breeds success and the charismatic personalities of Nicky Gumbel & Sandy Millar at HTB, together with a well thought out programme has proved itself to be franchisable. This is why some have referred to Alpha as The McDonaldization of the Church (John Drane, DLT, 2000).
There have been a number of attempts to produce a more Catholic equivalent to Alpha, such as Emmaus, with varying degrees of success. Some have suggested that Fr Alan and I should don designer jumpers and create a course somewhat further down the Greek alphabet - a Pi group perhaps?
And after last week’s successful dinner, rather than the McDonaldization of the Gospel, we could pioneer the Mosimann-ization of the Church...
I would like to venture some generalisations on why there are no large Anglo-Catholic churches in London.
Firstly, there is the issue of what sort of church we are bringing new people into. Anglo-Catholic liturgy and devotion is not easily accessible to the completely unchurched – and that is now the majority of contemporary society.
And for traditional Anglo-Catholics such as St Paul’s and St Mary’s (as distinct from the modern Catholic liturgy of say St Peter’s or St Matthew’s), we fish in the relatively small pond of high culture, rather than the broad ocean of popular culture. There will always be more at the football match than at the opera.
Secondly, Anglo-Catholicism often lacks immediacy of experience.
Evangelical immanence is easier to convey than Anglo-Catholic transcendence – although both are part of authentic Christian experience. This is perhaps why for many Christians, a more Catholic expression of the faith is something they move to, rather than somewhere they start. Immanence is an easier way into faith.
If you go to HTB or All Souls, you can be swept up into a feeling of corporate joy and enthusiasm; the presence (immanence) of the Lord. You leave church with popular songs ringing in your head and a sense that you are part of a successful, growing movement. The feeling is infectious.
And that raises another point. In London Catholics are spread much more thinly. If you take our own Deanery as an example, there are about 20 broadly Catholic churches and two evangelical. If our 20 congregations got together one Sunday, there would be well over a 1000. We might arguably do better with fewer, larger congregations. But that is not the history of the Anglo-Catholic movement.
Fourthly, Anglo-Catholics form very open communities. Like evangelicals, we believe in propositional truths, such as we will affirm in the creed in a moment. But we don’t press too hard for adherence to those truths.
There has always been plenty of room for the Anglo-Agnostics, for the doubters, for the eccentrics and, let’s face it, for those completely off the wall.
Now it is a well-known sociological fact, that the more sect-like a religious movement is, the more chance it has of success. Sects have clearly defined dogma - you are either in, or out. They have clear moral boundaries - you are expected to adhere to the ethical code.
They are usually emotionally addictive and therefore very hard to leave. You join by a clear point of decision, rather than by drifting in. There is often a distinct moment of conversion, as there was for those Gentiles in the Acts reading today.
Evangelicalism exhibits all these features much more clearly than Anglo-Catholicism. Although nineteenth and early twentieth century Catholicism also exhibited these sect-like features during its period of rapid growth.
Fifthly, Anglo-Catholics don’t always give enough opportunities for people to integrate into a church community. This is partly because we tend to be people whose social centres are primarily outside of church. Our clubability is often exercised beyond the congregation, and we often only meet for Sunday worship, and even then hurry off after the service.
This often means for those exploring faith and the spiritual life, that there is little opportunity to get to know the way ordinary Christians apply their faith to everyday life; there is little opportunity for dialogue about the spiritual life. They could suppose that being an Anglo-Catholic was more to do with whether you liked the music & the liturgy than whether you loved and served Jesus and the people of God.
Sixthly, evangelical churches make fairly clear demands on people in terms of commitment to the church by attendance and giving. This is seen as a part of Christian discipleship. For fear of being too dictatorial, Anglo-Catholics have often become very undemanding. Take up the cross, but only if it suits you and you don’t have too much else on at the moment...
And seventhly, there is something in the training of Catholic clergy and the structuring of their churches which inhibits growth. This is a subject in itself that I will address on another occasion.
Now these 7 generalisations are not excuses, but they do explain in part why we are unlikely in the present cultural climate to see the emergence of Anglo-Catholic mega-churches.
And so we return to our text. The early church needed some convincing that the Gospel could be expressed in different ways and different contexts – the Gentiles, who didn’t use Jewish worship, were thought to be beyond the pale. God had to convince Peter that they were not, that they too could exhibit the presence of the Spirit, through the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.
Whether we grow huge churches or not doesn’t matter so long as individual churches, like St Paul’s, are playing their part in the Dominical mandate to take the Gospel into all the world.
Are there ways in which we could be more welcoming, more supportive of those who are embarking upon a spiritual journey, so that they don’t wander in and wander away still hungry for truth? We need more ‘veni, vidi, velcro’ - ‘I came, I saw, I stuck around.’
And of course our Lord makes clear in today’s Gospel yet again, that loving acceptance is the hallmark of the Spirit’s presence, whatever the outward form. So we must beware of writing off those in our own communion who worship God in a different way – the gentiles next door! We must work with them in that same spirit of loving acceptance, playing our own distinctive part as the body of Christ.
For if we do not, then we are in danger of preserving religion and running a club, rather than proclaiming the Kingdom of God and working for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We must learn from each other and pray to see God at work among all is people.
"So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" Acts 11.17
