Christian Brotherhood

A few years ago, some statistics came out that really upset the Church of England. National attendance in Britain had gone down to 6% of the population and the Church of England itself had 2% of the population. The Church of England said that the figures were not quite accurate, they wanted to count people who attended their services once a month. As someone who attends the Church of England myself (as well as other more born again churches) the service is actually rather boring. It is exactly the same every time and is read out of a book. It is more enjoyable if you only attend once a month, but weekly attendance can be very monotonous, even if you're someone who enjoys written prayers and creeds. If someone who attends once a month is a member, that would make me a member of two Anglican churches that I occaisionally attend. I wonder how many people could be listed as members of four different Anglican churches, if you attend the cathedral on a Tuesday or Thursday or the ancient medieval church which holds communion every day. Those of us who work shifts sometimes attend churches that are open during the day. Varying the place of worship might actually relieve the boredom still further. Why bother with C of E at all? It can be beautiful in the right kind of church once in a while. This kind of membership is good for statistics but not much good for fellowship. It becomes difficult to make friends. The church is not a family when it only meets together for one hour every month. C of E members rarely talk to eachother. A story was told by a Catholic man about a man who kept his hat on during the church service. The priest said, 'Take your hat off.' Several other people said, 'Take your hat off.' At the end of the service the man still had his hat on. The priest asked, 'Why didn't you take your hat off?' The man said, 'That's the first time you've spoken to me in 20 years.' In many churches the priest or vicar will have a few people waiting to speak to them at the end of the service. That is as much fellowship as actually goes on.

Twenty five years ago Chowdean Chapel had a hymn book stamped, 'Chowdean Chapel. A centre for Christian worship and witness.' That statement seemed all right at the time, but I have since learnt to question it. There is no mention of brotherhood or community in this statement. Worship and witness. That's what a Brethren church in the 1980s was about. We worship God together and we tell others. Our services consist of hymns and Biblical preaching, exciting and varied compared to the C of E, and the local Baptist churches became well known as giving excellent teaching. There was a feeling that something was missing, and the so called Young People's Fellowship was often attended by people who were a lot older than the teenagers it was supposed to represent. It was the only part of the church that had house groups and social events. Church is not just somewhere we go once a week or once a month to be serviced, it is a family. Christianity is about sharing our possessions, opening up our homes, giving people lifts in the car, cooking food for them.

Some people are afraid of closeness because they are afraid of being hurt. It is inevitable that Christians will have disagreements from time to time. We don't all believe the same things. We don't all have the same experience of life. Very often we don't really understand what somebody else is thinking or what they are actually going through. We don't always think very carefully about what we want to say, and might say the wrong thing or say a perfectly right thing at the wrong time. As we bump together, there are scrapes and bruises. A healthy body can heal itself. Sometimes when a person is elderly, especially if they don't eat properly, a minor cut to the finger can take several months to heal. In a well nourished, young body, the skin might grow again in a few days. We are a body, we are wounded sometimes, and if we are healthy we should be able to heal our wounds. A great problem of the past is that some of our churches were not always like this. Sometimes a disagreement between two groups of people could become a life threatening infection and part of the church would have to be amputated. Sometimes a disagreement between two people could carry on for months and become a source of great pain and discomfort. It would take a long time for the wound to heal. This also has something to do with our diet. How often are we eating spiritually? Do we read the Bible at home regularly? When was the last time we prayed? The next part is learning to forgive and not bearing trivial grudges against eachother. Love is patient, love is kind. Am I? Are you? Love is not easily angered. That's even harder. Imagine a church where no one ever lost their temper. I'm not sure if I can. Love keeps no record of wrongs. How many Christians constantly talk about eachother, what other people have done wrong to them, to anybody, things that might even have nothing to do with them. Love does not delight in evil. Do you delight in other's mistakes, love to bully, love to criticise, delight in their wrong doing, delight in their downfall? However angry we become about a certain person or a certain situation, it must always be our intention to build up, not break down. Then the body can heal itself.