Over the years, I have had the privilege of serving as a pastor in three congregations within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The first was a new church development in suburban Vancouver, the second was a small rural congregation in Ontario, and the third was a large urban church in downtown Toronto adjacent to the university.
Being a minister of the gospel is central to my vocational identity. I love being a theological teacher within this denomination but there are days when I deeply miss the frontline work of congregational leadership. When that happens, I console myself with the reminder that those called to theological education have a sacred trust to educate and equip leaders for congregational ministry.
As a denomination we’re beginning to understand in new ways that congregations matter and cannot be assumed. We know that many of our congregations have far fewer members than they did 50 years ago. We also know that the number of congregations within the Presbyterian Church is declining.
With this in mind, the 138th General Assembly enthusiastically adopted a motion put by Rev. Dr. Clyde Ervine of Central, Hamilton, to “go on record as giving priority to the reimagining and renewal of congregations.”
In an eloquent and passionate preamble to the motion, Ervine reminded the General Assembly that in the New Testament the forming of local congregations was the goal of the earliest disciples as they preached Christ crucified and risen. The New Testament was written, he pointed out, “mostly to help those early congregations.” Our own Reformed tradition has emphasized that the church is to be found where the gospel is preached and sacraments are rightly celebrated, “in local, concrete, embodied communities called congregations.”
What does congregational renewal look like? Well, thankfully we have some excellent examples within our denomination. Vital congregations have a strong sense of identity and purpose. They know who they are and whose they are as God’s people. They are led by gifted and courageous leaders willing to take risks.
Vital congregations are committed to bearing witness to Jesus Christ in word and deed. They long to see women and men and young people and children fully alive in Christ. Everything they do—worship, evangelism, discipleship, justice, teaching, mission—flows from this centre. In short, vital congregations know the gospel and are unashamed to show it.
That said, it’s not easy being the church in a way that challenges post – Christian, secular Canada with the claims of Christ. It means making a major paradigm shift. Renewed congregations are reimagining their role as distinctive counter – cultural communities. They know they are called to follow a distinctive Lord in distinctive ways. They have moved from thinking about the church as an institution to thinking about the church as a movement.
At its best, the Presbyterian Church in Canada is a connectional church in which congregations constitute the fundamental fabric of our life as a denomination. In recent years we’ve been struggling as a denomination to develop a new national mission and vision statement. It seems to me that a sustained focus on Christ – centred congregations might be a good place to start.
In Christ,
