From the Revd Dr Stephen Brian
Sir, - It seems we never learn ("Enquirers'
course moves spirituality to centre stage", News, 4 October).
There is no significant evidence that people come to faith or join
churches through courses. The evidence of my own research
(Assessing Alpha, LAP, 2010) is that any course put on by
a church is perceived by the public at large as "a church thing"
and not for them.
We can advertise it as being "for enquirers" until we are blue
in the face, but the epithet "for enquirers" is itself religious
jargon that has any meaning only to those already committed.
I have no doubt that all sorts of claims of success will be made
by those who run this new Pilgrim course (as in the cited
Experiences of Ministry research), just as for Alpha, but
course leaders are not disinterested observers of the courses that
they are leading. The only way to validate those claims is by
interviewing the actual participants in some depth. They will tell
you a very different story, as I discovered in my research into
Alpha.
Neither are individual, unexamined, formulaic anecdotes or
testimonies (beloved of Alpha and critiqued in my Assessing
Alpha) any substitute for proper research. Courses are useful,
but church courses attract only church people, whether we like it
or not.
The tone of those eminent individuals quoted in the report will
once again simply put pressure on clergy to believe that, if only
they do things a bit differently, their congregations will grow;
or, to put it another way, if their congregations are not growing,
it's their fault. This ignores history, and will simply create more
damaging guilt and stress.
Genuinely new people usually come to church because of some
trigger in their life over which we have little or no control. Our
job is to make sure they receive a warm welcome and perceive the
possibility of friendship. That is what might make them stick, and
then - who knows? - after a while they might want to join a
course.
STEPHEN BRIAN
The Rectory, Church Lane
Earl Soham, Woodbridge
Suffolk IP13 7SD