GROWING BEYOND THE DOORS
By Rev. Canon Grayhame Bowcott
GROWING UP in northern Ontario as a child, there were certain memories that have deeply shaped who I have become as a person: countless hours spent in frozen hockey rinks, ice fishing trips with my Dad, and living in the charming Town of Cochrane – beloved home of Canada’s own Tim Horton. When I wasn’t spending time adventuring on snowmobile trails or heading off for another away-game hockey tournament, the one thing I loved to do more than anything else was to read.
Many millennials of my generation remember the introduction of book fairs in schools throughout the province. For me, in northern Ontario, this was one of the few places where I could encounter a near-endless stream of new stories, ideas, cultures, and possibilities. I loved the seasonal book fairs and give thanks that my parents always enabled me to be able to pick out a book or two each time they came to our school.
Among the first books that caught my attention in these fairs was a series of books called Choose Your Own Adventure. The premise of these early readers was that each book contained a story with multiple plot lines. As you read along, you would come to a point in the story where the reader was presented with a choice: to take the long narrow path into the dark cave, turn to page 127; to head back to home, turn to page 91. Each choice made by the reader drastically changed the story's outcome, sometimes even forcing it to come to an abrupt halt. The appeal of these books to me was the way in which they included me, the reader, within the agency of the storyline. They truly enabled me to feel like I was living the story.
Fast forward thirty-five years. In the last several weeks I’ve had the privilege to do a little traveling in the Diocese of Huron, and to work with a number of smaller congregations as they were experiencing significant transitions in their ministry. Some were experiencing the transition of clergy and the time of interim that occurs during a clergy vacancy; another invited me to spend time in a congregational visioning exercise.
What each of the congregations held in common was that their membership, as represented on a Sunday morning, was less than fifty people in the pews (in one case, closer to a dozen). As each congregation looked out at the future, some members were doubting the possibility of hopeful change. The contemporary Anglican lament has a quiet way of creeping up on us: “We’re too old; too few; too tired; and nothing is likely to change.”
In my time of sharing with them, we explored some of the many ways that small congregations throughout Huron are accomplishing amazing things in ministry: exploring new patterns of outreach; finding creative new ways of building relationships in their neighbourhood; and sometimes even considering new models of being church.
The key motivation in many of these small-church success stories is found in the sense of congregational agency: does the congregation believe that they are the authors of their own story? Where is God calling them to a new adventure or a new choice in their ministry together? And, perhaps most importantly, is the congregation open to believing that God is always opening the doors for a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure approach to ministry?
“Where do we start?” one parishioner asked me in the middle of a visioning retreat. “That’s the spirit!” I replied. If you are open to exploring something new, if you are praying for God to do something new in your life, then you will be more inclined to act on the leading of the Holy Spirit. However, some congregations are unable to see the reality that there are always open choices for every church, regardless of how large or small. Our God is a God of resurrection and new beginnings, not one who prefers dead-end plotlines.
As Christians, the starting point for us is to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our own lives and in our own way. What does our relationship with Jesus inspire us to do? Where do we feel ourselves living out the Gospel narrative in our neighbourhoods and communities? What are the strengths and gifts that we bring on our journey, and who do we want to be on that journey with? All of these questions are questions of agency. They are open-ended questions filled with potential and new hope. Each question asked might be the first step towards a new ministry adventure that can change both individuals and entire congregations.
Sometimes the greatest obstacle faced by Anglicans today is the way in which we limit our own future by being closed to the many possibilities that God offers us, and instead of exercising our own agency, we choose the off-ramp of a dead-end plot line. But, whenever we do this, whenever we give in to defeat, I would argue that we’ve stopped “Living the Story” of the Gospel of Christ, because God is making things new all around us. The choice is ours.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
- Helen Keller
Rev. Canon Dr. Grayhame Bowcott serves as Rector of St. George’s, The Parish of The Blue Mountains, and as Program Director for the Licentiate in Theology program at Huron University.