I was ordained and inducted into Glasgow: Colston Milton in February 2008 – the 3rd most deprived parish in Scotland and one of the Cof S’s Priority Area parishes. Probably like many of you, since then, I’ve watched, feeling somewhat helpless, as the congregation shrank from approximately 50 on a Sunday to an average of about 15 for many years, till the absolute low point of one Easter Sunday morning when there were just 6 -the (literally) old faithful, the other working age folks being away on holiday.
During this time, we welcomed some new faces on Sundays, but not enough to replace those who had passed. The Church building has been a hub of activity; we’ve run a community arts project, cafe, toddlers group, BB, keep fit, and hosted dance classes and community events. I’ve been active and visible, living in the parish, walking and cycling about the village of our housing scheme, 4 children born in the house and attending local schools; I’ve conducted hundreds of funerals over those years. In many ways, it is a very traditional parish ministry. Despite the challenges, I’ve been well-received, well-loved, and recognised by the community -Milton is that kind of a place where everyone knows everyone, good and bad. I’ve worked myself to being signed off work with stress for nearly 6 months, not helped by conflict in the church and family illness. Yet despite a high profile, loads of positive personal connections, hard work and joyful service, plans and dreams, vision and drive -the numbers still kept falling: the slight dread that after the quiet of the summer when lots of organisations took a break, there would be fewer people starting back in August.
The congregation has always been very welcoming and always up for change -the advantage of being small is that everyone knows each other. After coming back from being off with stress, we worked hard to resolve some pretty deep conflicts, which led to a very positive visioning process. Our vision for Milton is “a helpful community where all are known and feel valued; which has all we need to live well, where the good is louder than the bad and a new song is being sung.” Our purpose, the part that we as a congregation play in that, is this: ‘Anchored in a small congregation that enjoys coming together, we seize opportunities to affirm that Milton is part of God’s Creation and its people are full of gifts and talents, and are loved and valued by us and God.’
16 years of dedicated presence (an enforced rest of 6 months after 10 years), lots of loving connections through funerals, clubs, schools, hanging around, and family; inclusive, participative, informal worship, and Presbytery Mission Planning intends to close our building in June 2025 and link with a neighbouring PA congregation.
In October, we had a RAAC scare and had to leave our building for 6 weeks. We worshipped in a local cafe for a couple of weeks, and new folks came. Thanks be to God, before Easter, we baptised a young family who had been joining us – two weeks before they emigrated to Australia! Bloody typical, we thought; our best chance of some new life was gone. They join us on FB Live. But since then, a strange thing has happened, those who started coming while we worshipped in the cafe have kept coming, and over the next few months, we are planning to baptise another family and a 19-year-old girl who has been attending since she was a toddler, and welcome into membership a total of 15 people. So, never say never.
- Have I/we done things differently? Yes.
- Do we have a clear vision and purpose? Yes. Are we genuinely friendly and welcoming? Yes.
- Is our worship fantastic? Yes.
- Can that explain this growth? Perhaps.
- Are we still small and fragile with a building due to close? Yes.
- Is God good? Yes.
- Do I cry when I sing GWA 24, ‘Your labour is not in vain’? Yes.
By Rev Christopher Rowe
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Seasons in the Church – By Rev Brenda Elwell-Sutton
As I think about the section in Ecclesiastes 3 headed ‘A Time for Everything’ it can seem as though the time at present in the church is a time for uprooting, for tearing down, a time for weeping, mourning and giving up. It can be tempting to read about the early church’s growth in the book of Acts and think what am I doing wrong. It is all too easy to compare ourselves with others. However, we need to recognise that we may all be experiencing different seasons in our church life, and we need to learn to rejoice with those who find themselves in a season of growth.
We read in the Bible of times where Jesus interacted with large crowds, but there are also many instances where Jesus spent time in conversation with just one person. Conversations which led not only to individual lives being transformed but often led to significant impact in a family or community. God is at work in our communities. If I take time to look and listen, I can see signs of new life bubbling up. In amongst all the angst of buildings and worship styles and the myriad of other things people get het up about, and the negative comments I hear every week, I rejoice in the seemingly small things – the teenager who is studying RME at school and decides they should really go to church and find out what it is all about; the son of one of our Larder users who asks for a bible and starts reading it and comes back with lots of questions; the folk who come at the weekly café who ask for prayer or want to write a prayer themselves to hang on our prayer tree; the self-confessed agnostic who starts coming to church and then begins to attend the weekly bible study where they find a welcoming and safe space to ask all their questions and challenge those who attend to explain why they believe – giving them opportunity together to have respectful discussion.
However, how we deal with the negativity, anger and frustration we encounter is important. Not dismissing it like water running off a duck’s back or by putting our head in the sand, not becoming hard, but by listening and seeing where God is at work. We are not created to work 24/7, and yet the temptation can be very real. We all need rest. We need to guard our time with God; otherwise, we will try to run on an empty tank. We also need to deliberately set aside time to do things that energise us – walking, craft activities, reading, music, joining friends around a meal, whatever it is that doesn’t continue to sap our energy. Whatever seasons we seem to be in now, seasons are not static, and a season will come for planting and building, for dancing and laughing, and a time for mending and healing and peace.