Rev Gav

Towards a Hybrid Model of Church

The Current Situation

In Bermuda, the current ecclesiastical and ‘priest-centric’ model of the Anglican church (and indeed other churches), where there is one minister per parish and the church has employed an attractional missional strategy (i.e. getting people to come on a Sunday), is failing both in terms of numerical growth and its effectiveness in mission.

The popularity and status of established churches is dwindling, and churches that have in the past relied heavily on the wealth of titled family congregants are left with only windows and wall plaques in their memory.

The mentality of the church is still embedded firmly in a historical Bermudian church culture, and important though that culture is, if the current trajectory is maintained, the church will find its financial position increasingly untenable. This is further impacted by the ongoing deterioration (due to the Bermuda climate) of the ancient church buildings and the rapid rise in the cost of living, the cost of employment, and the cost of specialist materials and labour.

The Opportunity

Yet the church has excellent assets. Many churches, such as St. Mark’s, have valuable campuses — valuable in terms of their provision of open space, beauty, and accommodation. They are also historical landmarks. Another asset is the faithful congregations who, although stretched, are keeping the home fires burning and who, through their faithfulness and generosity, provide a prayerful presence and ongoing maintenance of the infrastructure.

The wider church, quite rightly, laments a lack of vision when it comes to mission and evangelism but the current congregations have their hands full and are currently engaged in holding up the roof (quite literally).

When any group of people — be it an army or a football team — is struggling to achieve its objectives, the leadership brings in reinforcements, and this is what the church needs to do.

To summarise, the church wants to be missional (outward-looking) and grow numerically, whilst being able to maintain its capital assets — its beautiful buildings and grounds.

To achieve this, the local expression of church needs to adopt a hybrid model where it is both Parish Church and Intentional Christian Community.

About Intentional Christian Communities

Intentional Christian Communities draw on the monastic tradition, where a group of people live in community (residentially) and hold shared values and purpose. There are many examples of such communities across all denominations, including the Anglican Church, and yet I am currently unaware of any in Bermuda.

Each church finds itself in a different context, and the mission and ministry with which it engages must be contextual in terms of the needs of the wider community and the gifting of the existing congregation, however, I find, when writing a short essay such as this, that I find it difficult to detach the theory from practical example. Therefore, I am going to use as an example the church that I and my wife Helen have led for the past five years, and attempt to answer the question, what would it look like for St. Mark’s Church to become The Community of St. Mark?

I am also aware that as I write this, undoubtedly, questions and concerns will pop into your head as fast as you can read them, and I hope I will address as many as possible.

A Missional Focus

One of the greatest problems in the Bermuda community is food poverty — both in terms of health and affordability. Alongside this, several years ago I asked the St. Mark’s congregation to each write down on a piece of paper their primary gifting. The most common answer given was hospitality — i.e. welcoming and feeding people. It perhaps needs little discernment from the Holy Spirit to see that the two could be married!

Facilities

St. Mark’s finds itself at a junction. Helen and I have handed in our notice, and there are several reasons for this, but one of the reasons is that we feel we can take St. Mark’s only a little further given the existing ecclesiastical model. The point is, though, that it finds itself at a junction.

The Parish Hall — a facility with wonderful potential and a commercial kitchen — is currently empty of a permanent tenant, although that is likely to change in the autumn with a nursery occupying part of the premises.

The church itself — a historical landmark pictured on the Bermudian twenty dollar banknote — stands empty for most of the week, being used only for a three hours on a Sunday morning, plus occasional use for music rehearsals two evenings per week. When the church does find itself open, it is an attraction for visitors who enjoy the space. The building is in need of many minor repairs to wood and paintwork.

The church has wonderful green space, and even though there is very limited children’s play equipment, because there is no local play park, locals often bring children to play in the spaces and walk the grounds.

The rectory is large and was once divided into separate apartments. It too is in desperate need of attention regarding mostly wood and paintwork. It has three en-suite bathrooms and a further two bedrooms. Without any renovations it could accommodate up to three couples in the en-suites and a dorm room that could accommodate up to four people in bunks. Logistics aside, if the further two bedrooms were developed to have en-suites, it could accommodate anywhere between ten and sixteen people.

Roles

Intentional Christian Communities are often comprised of people with different skillsets, for example, worship, music, counselling, hospitality, house-keeping, maintenance, and gardening. They also often attract young Christians looking for a gap-year or placement. Members of Intentional Christian Communities receive free board and lodging, and a small honorarium. Some roles are longer-term — for a year, two years or three years, and others are shorter term such as three months or two weeks. The pattern of engagement is, again, contextual, but all community members make community promises and fully engage with the life, mission, and ministry of the community, bringing their skills, talents, and worship to bear.

Intentional Christian Communities also have what is called a rhythm of life. They do mission together, they eat together, and they worship together. The community could easily run a cafe, food bank, book exchange, and thrift store out of the Parish Hall as a missional endeavour, eating together at mealtimes and allowing others to join them for healthy, affordable food. The community could open up the church building and pray and worship together once or multiple times a day, also offering tours of the building. The community could engage in maintenance such as cleaning, painting, and fixing. The community could maintain open spaces such as a play park for children and a community garden to grow food.

Importantly, the Community of St. Mark would continue its Sunday worship, attracting and welcoming people (the existing congregation) to join as non-live in members of the community, also giving their time and talents to support the mission and ministry of the church as they currently do.

All the live-in community members would have a responsibility but also be involved in all aspects of the community, even if it is not their particular skillset — for example, mission, hospitality, worship, administration, maintenance, housekeeping, and garden.

Imagine what a minimum of ten people could achieve if they lived as an intentional Christian community on the St. Mark’s campus?

What about a Minister?

The first question, and perhaps the most obvious to address is, what does the church do about a minister? My short answer to this question is to ask another question, does the Community of St. Mark need to be ‘priest-centric’ and employ a single, full-time, stipendiary minister?

As we are part of the Anglican church, we do accede that we need a priest to administer communion and bring trained worship and pastoral professionalism to the community, but that priest does not have to be a fully paid, full-time minister drawing a seventy-thousand dollar salary, insurance, and all the other benefits. Bermuda is a very desirable place to live and we also benefit from retired, visiting, and non-stipendiary ministers.

For example, Helen and I are looking to do such work in other places and countries — either joining Christian communities or doing locum work. So, why not in Bermuda? Also, speaking as a parish priest — even though us priests have wonderful colleagues — an added benefit of such a model would be that we would no longer feel so alone in driving the mission and ministry of the church.

The Warden

Perhaps the most important role in an Intentional Christian Community is the warden or manager — someone who has oversight of the community and who provides continuity. In many such communities, this person is themselves a priest but is typically a lay person with significant pastoral and/or management experience.

What about the Churchyard?

Another obvious question to ask would be about the churchyard and funeral ministry. There are two options. The first is that, as it is currently, it is subsumed into the mission of the community — that the community see it as part of their ministry to maintain the churchyard, manage the graves, and conduct funerals, however, the second is that they (and there is a move to centralise the administration of graveyards) become a self-sustaining entity under the provision of the diocese. The church would, of course, continue to be used for funerals with either the community priest or other diocesan priest conducting the ceremony. The Community of St. Mark would be on hand to facilitate the ceremonies in terms of the church space, audio-visual, provide a sexton, etc.

Creation Care

One of the goals for the whole mission and ministry of the Community of St. Mark would be to become environmentally sustainable. To this end, it would be looking at using renewable energy, and the use of shared small electric vehicles and scooters instead of a single clergy car.

Oversight

A third question would be oversight. The existing Vestry would be recast as a board of trustees to provide accountability and direction. Terms of Reference would need be put in place and is beyond the scope of this essay but the board would include the warden, a live-in member, a live-out member, the Bishop, and a wider church lay member. The Community itself would also have regular meetings for the live-in members (house meetings) and regular meetings of the wider community. I would also suggest, if it is of benefit, that the Community gains charitable status.

Is this the same as Anglican Mission Communities in the UK?

There is precedent in the USA, Canada, and the UK for Parish Churches becoming Intentional Christian Communities whilst maintaining their role as a Parish Church. This is slightly different but totally compatible with the idea of Mission Communities in the UK where a parish is focused around the mission rather than the worship (however, from my experience in the diocese of Exeter, the Mission Communities idea was great but the execution for most meant that it was simply a rebranding of parish — however, it did give incumbents an excuse to be more missional).

What about Work Permits and Insurance?

In Bermuda there is something called a Periodic Work Permit and the good news is you do not have to advertise positions that use this permit! It allows someone to come and work for up to 30 days (extendable to 60 days) at a time for no more than six months in a year. According to BF&M those using this permit need their own travel insurance.

Also, Periodic Work Permits can be issued, not just to an individual, but to an organisation! In other words the permit can be used for one person at a time but it does not need to be the same person who uses it. Two permits and you have the whole year covered (if needs be).

A Final Word

I hope, through this short essay, this hybrid model of Parish Church and Intentional Christian Community has peaked your interest, or at the very least given you food for thought. It is not a road map but perhaps something the church can work towards long-term, for such a model has multiple benefits for the local congregation, the existing monuments, and the wider community. Building community takes time and such a development would need careful planning and to start slowly, growing intentionally and organically.

Should such a vision come to pass, it would need leadership with energy and passion to make it happen, and the parish is currently on the trajectory to find a new full-time minister. Helen and I care deeply about the future of St. Mark’s because it is not just a church but our family and we are continually holding them in prayer.

Heaps of peace in name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev Gav