I have a belief that the Church of England structures and worship work well for people who belong to a worldview that is 'modern' - ie people who value:
- Experimentation
- Innovation
- Individualism
- Progress
- Purity
- Originality
- Seriousness
but less appropriate for people who belong to a worldview that is 'postmodern' - ie people who are characterised more by:
- Exhaustion
- Pluralism
- Pessimism
- Disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge
- Decline in belief in objectivity, increase in irrationality
- Feelings taken seriously
- Freedom to choose
- Paradox
- Pick-and-mix
- Scepticism of history and tradition
- Distrust of institutions
- Tribalism held together by causes
I was talking to some church friends who are a bit older than myself and they said that twenty years ago new families regularly turned up at church, but that they were the last group for it to be true, and Sunday School finished when their children left. They are in their late fifties. On the Regeneration site, there are the following statistics:
48% of the Church of England is aged 65 or over
The average age of the Cof E is 61
7% of the church is aged between 18 and 35
This doesn't surprise me at all. The church, in my opinion, is designed for 'modern' people and my feeling is that whilst there is a mixture of 'modern' and 'postmodern' people in every age group, the age of 55 is the tipping point. Below that age you can expect people to be more pluralist and pick-and-mix, more comfortable with Facebook, suspicious of institutions, absolute refusal to be labelled. Over the age of 55 there are many who fit into this mould, but most are more pure in their beliefs, suspicious of the communications revolution and confused by the culture of the young.
Then if we look at General Synod, the demographic of the clergy representatives is (h/t James Townsend):
And the House of Laity:
The House of Bishops clearly are all men and are aged between 50 and 70.
It is perhaps no surprise that the House of Clergy are the most progressive of the three houses and the house most likely to defeat the Anglican Covenant and promote full inclusion of women. At the moment I see the Church of England struggling to reinvent itself. I think there needs to be a whole new group represented in the Church. We say that we are Catholic (which speaks to me of the pre-moderns) and Reformed (which speaks to me of the moderns), and I think that is good, but I would like us to add that we are Emergent too (representing the post-moderns). I don't hear the voice of the post-modern person in Synod very much. What do they think of the new Baptism service, what do they think of the Anglican Covenant, what do they think of LGBT priests and bishops? I think the Church of England would be radically different if General Synod had a different demographic.
I read an article entitled 'How to get more young people into church'. It included the advise:
3. Stop arguing about whether gay people are okay, fully human, or whatever else. Seriously. Stop it.Never mind young people, people my age and older think the church is a joke and worse than a joke for still debating these issues. We are charged as priests to 'proclaim the gospel afresh in every age', I think we have got a bit behind on this one and need to catch up!
4. Stop arguing about whether women are okay, fully human, or are capable of being in a position of leadership.