GROWING BEYOND THE DOORS
By Rev. Canon Grayhame Bowcott
EVERYTHING WAS SET! After months of careful planning, through the generosity of donors who had gifted resources to make it possible, and after many conversations to bring together a dynamic team of music directors, we were ready to relaunch the Apple Valley Youth Chorus.
On opening night, after weeks of advertising and reaching out to youth ministry organizations in our community and recruiting a team of volunteers to prepare the snacks and set up the practice space, we were counting down to the final reveal! How many brand-new youth choristers would show up?
In the weeks leading up to the first practice, numerous parents emailed us to inquire about registering their children. Prior to the pandemic, before the Youth Chorus had been forced to close down, more than two dozen local children were connected to the ministry. Would they come back?
We were ready, and it seemed like all the planning, praying, volunteering, and excitement would pay off. However, things didn’t end up working out that way.
On opening night, despite the posters around town, the many inquiries from parents, and the invitations that had gone out to past members of the Youth Choir, only five children showed up for practice. Of those five, two of them were my own! As the start time for the practice came and went, I watched as the looks of enthusiasm and excitement on the faces of my volunteers quickly morphed into disappointment. This isn’t what we had expected. Where were all the other children who had once been members of the choir? Where were the new children, whose parents had inquired about registration?
What do you do when ministry doesn’t go as planned? Every church and congregation has examples of times when, despite the best attempts at organization, faithfulness and prayer, ministry does not work out the way that we intend. For some congregations, the disappointment of a poorly attended event, an underwhelming fundraising campaign, or the lack of volunteers to make activities possible is enough to dishearten and paralyze the ministry efforts of a community. Sometimes, we even read God into our failures – perhaps God didn’t want it to happen to us?
In these moments, it is important to take a pause, step back, and appreciate the aspects of the ministry that did come together. Sometimes a great blessing, or new understanding can be gleaned from even the most profound disappointments.
In our case, we had successfully put together the funding, volunteer backing, and musical leadership to make a Youth Choir reboot possible. And, while it was true that only five choristers joined up, the truth was that there were five more choristers than we had to begin with. It was also important to recognize what this ministry meant to those five young girls. They were receiving mentorship, lovingly prepared snacks, musical instruction, and an opportunity to make new friends within a safe, church-sponsored environment.
Yes, we had to get over our own sense of disappointment that the choir wasn’t as large as we had hoped. And, yes, we had to reexamine our expectations of what a group of five girls would be comfortable doing (community concerts might not be the best fit for five children growing in their own confidence as singers). Yet, at the end of the first practice, something beautiful had happened. Echoing through the halls and sanctuary of our church, we could hear the sound of our girls, in two-part harmony, no less! That sound had been missing for a very long time.
Sometimes ministry doesn’t go as planned. But church congregations who desire to grow in new relationships with others always find new and creative ways to constantly adapt what we do, often in getting over our disappointments or readjusting our expectations, to keep trying new things until something beautiful happens. For us, that something new is the opportunity to reconnect with a younger generation, a generation that we believe God is calling us to learn from and to serve. And so, let’s not get discouraged! Where might God be calling you, or perhaps your congregation, to learn from something that didn’t quite go as planned in your own ministry context? What might you try differently the next time around?
May God grant us flexibility and patience in the times when ministry doesn’t go according to plan!
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.