Life & Work Magazine
Life & Work Magazine


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SERIES

Rebooting church

The Very Rev Albert Bogle looks at the impact of social distancing and church closures on the digital church.

MANY of us today will be trying to come to terms with the fact that the old order of church could be gone and in some cases for good.

Within a brief few weeks all the planning and report writing for a General Assembly was shelved. Many staff at 121 were furloughed and within days of church buildings being closed to the public the digital church took on a new reality. Committee meetings that appeared to be important have fallen by the way while a new form of meeting called Zoom has taken off.

Congregations may have been feeling they were in a state of flux, but very quickly new ways of decision making using technology empowered more people into action. Thousands of church members have been introduced to a new steep learning curve involving technology. People are talking about faith, fellowship and their feelings as they try to encounter each other bringing hope through the virtual world. Some congregational members are talking face to face about life in a way they would never have thought possible.

However, not everything can be solved by technology. We are social beings with complex needs that force us to deal with loss and fear, anxiety and trust, faith and hope, compassion and anger, perhaps all within the same day. Social distancing has made these emotions more difficult to handle. Those in the care professions are being stretched beyond limit, yet we are all grateful for their help and support. A spirit of gratitude has descended upon the UK as people express their thankfulness to each other and the NHS for their compassion and service to our families and friends. Ministers along with undertakers who are among this group, have had to deal with the immediate questions about how they conduct funerals without being able to engage pastorally in a way they would have liked.

Bringing comfort and solace to those who are grieving while adhering to strict social distancing has been, for many, the most challenging part of their ministry to date. It is important that we don’t lose sight of these inner pastoral struggles that many ministers will keep to themselves while knowing in some way these experiences have had a profound effect on them. It is so important that congregations keep their ministers and elders in their prayers.

So when we start talking about what the shape of the church will be like in six months, we should not be too surprised if ministers and church leaders are more concerned with the pastoral issues of the moment than the future survival of the institution we call the Church of Scotland. While people talk of the future of the church we need to consider the impact social grieving is having on our lives as individuals and communities.

Yet the reality is when it comes to church renewal and reform, it cannot be furloughed . To wait and see what happens would also be irresponsible. What we may well have to do is discover a formula that allows us to maintain the importance of Christian social networks and groups while divesting ourselves of buildings and bringing an end to ministries that are no longer fulfilling their missional and pastoral callings, and establishing new opportunities for alternative ministry to begin to flourish.

Rebooting Church cannot be simply about technology. It is primarily about reconnecting to our core functions. We are primarily a worshipping people. Worship draws from us gratitude, obedience and service, but it must start with gratitude. When we talk about gratitude, we begin to touch upon areas that draw from us creative expressive activity. Emotions that are often best conveyed through the expressive arts. I sincerely believe the renewal of the Church of Scotland will come out of this spirit of gratitude. Without gratitude, obedience and service become duty and duty in the end paralyses the heart.

I understand that some will come to think about the opportunities of digital church not out of conviction that digital church is the way forward, but out of necessity. Regardless of how or why you have got here, we all have something to contribute to the virtual space. I hope that more people will begin to seize the opportunities that have come upon us from having had the chance to stop and think about what it is that makes us church.

The Very Rev Albert Bogle is a Pioneer Minister of Sanctuary First Church Online at www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk

This article appears in the June 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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This article appears in the June 2020 Issue of Life and Work