Chaplain's Page

“It would be lovely to have more youngsters in Church.”  I will not be the only minister to have heard such sentiments expressed, often with a longing that we could return to a previous generation when all was so much better.  My response can vary but one option I have is to move the discussion away from a Sunday focus and invite the questioner along on a Monday evening when there will be lots of youngsters in Church.  But they won’t be sitting in nice organised rows, singing hymns or listening to a sermon although there may well be music and there will be a message.

Sundays are obviously important for the Church family: yet we have seven days in which to touch the lives of young (and older) with the message of Jesus and the fact that many young people are present every Monday (not all Sunday churchgoers are so faithful) is a great testament to what happens in those evenings and to the leaders who offer themselves because they want to make a difference.  Faith can be expressed as much by arranging an archery evening as sitting down for a Bible Study.  (One might be slightly more dangerous than the other…)

Six months ago I moved to take up the post as Minister of Christchurch Abbeydale in Gloucester, an ecumenical church created by Baptist, Methodist, URC and Anglican working together, and in the process inherited a Boy’s Brigade and Girl’s Association company.  It meant filling in the forms to become a BB Chaplain: now I have to learn what that means.  The youngsters will not be the only ones learning.

It is right that there is a partnership between the BB and the Church – both can strengthen the other.  If the 40+ youngsters that turn up on a Monday evening appeared on a Sunday morning I am not sure what would happen!  If the church were not there the BB would lose the foundation on which it is built and like any structure without a foundation would be much weaker.

There will be some in the church who are relatively unaware of the BB; there will be some in the BB who will not know much about the church.  Over time one would hope that the mutual ignorance would be replaced by growing understanding for both are working towards the same goals: how can we live our lives as Jesus intends us to.  Along the way there are likely to be surprises on both sides and where the partnership will take us only God knows.  Yet that should be sufficient to allow us to move forward in faith looking to see what God brings to fruition.

Steve Davies, Minister of Christchurch Abbeydale (LEP)