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Lord Carey’s prediction of ecclesiastical extinction in a generation

by
29 November 2013

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From Mr W. M. Roberts
Sir, - The Rt Revd Lord Carey of Clifton's concern (News, 22 November) that the Church of England is one generation away from extinction may be thought an exaggeration, and his proposed remedies will not command universal assent; but he raises a serious issue.

In its worship, the Church has increasingly created a pattern in which the eucharist is the principal liturgy, and non-eucharistic services are in desuetude. The arguments for this are well known, but they obscure the fact that for the non-communicant this must create the impression of "them (the gathered) and us (the less committed or enquirers)". Historically, this was not the pattern of public worship, and everyone at non-eucharistic services was there without differentiation.

This problem is particularly manifest at baptisms, one of the main occasions when many non-churchgoers are present. The practice of incorporating baptisms in public worship has the merit of making it evident that the person being baptised is incorporated into the body of the Church. Only too often, however, after the baptism, the celebration of the eucharist appears to be for a different congregation, which is happy to say "We welcome you," but then moves on to its own regular business. The baptismal party, of whom many are not communicants, are left witnessing a rite with which they may have no familiarity, and in which they are not able to participate fully.

One has, too, to ask whether the fact that the use of the Psalms and readings from the Old Testament has fallen out of favour has made it more difficult for people to develop a faith that is pertinent to them in daily life. The Old Testament, with its accounts of the vicissitudes of God's people, its vision of a God whose engagement with his people is universal, and its looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, can provide the basis on which the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ are more fully comprehensible.

The Church's disposition to emphasise its mission to the needy, poor, dispossessed, and sick, and to put its mission to "go out into all the world" in a lower place, is often reflected in public worship. Occasional prayers demonstrate little interest in the need for prayer for the vast majority of people whose labour is the lifeblood of civil society, the workers in offices, shops, factories, in transport, on the land, and, not least, in the home.

Perhaps these issues can be summed up by saying that the Church of England has become too much orientated towards its regular congregations, and not sufficiently cognisant of impediments that it may put in the way of others.

I do not believe it was always thus, and plead for a more outgoing approach to the Church's mission, and for its reconnection with society.

W. M. ROBERTS
Pound Hall, The Green
Long Melford, Sudbury
Suffolk CO10 9DX


From Professor David Sims
Sir, - Lord Carey has reminded us yet again that the Church is one generation from extinction. This is good news. It puts us in company with humanity, whom we serve, and which is also, always, one generation from extinction.

It also seems right for those who follow a Saviour who, when it appeared that both he and his legacy were one crucifixion from extinction, did not wait to get a bigger, more successful movement going before he followed the way of the cross.

Instead, he taught us that a seed must fall into the ground and die, producing new and different life in a way that is beyond our control and beyond measurement. This is scary, but we are better trusting that process than anxiously trying to preserve seeds.

DAVID SIMS
Daffodil House
Malvern WR14 2UG


From the Revd J. Graham Smith
Sir, - With the greatest of respect for Lord Carey, he needs to take care over his prophetic pronouncements. I recall his saying that if the Prince of Wales married Mrs Parker Bowles there would be a crisis in the Church of England. If there was one, I did not notice it.

Now he tells us that the Church is heading for extinction. Perhaps he should take notice of Canon Martyn Percy's article in the issue in which you reported Lord Carey's comments. I suggest that we can go further than Canon Percy's supposition that the Church is not an organisation but an institution, by saying that, if it is the Body of Christ, it is in fact an organism. As such, it is indwelt by our Lord's ongoing life, which denies the possibility of extinction. It may have periods of decline, but no fall.

This is not to support complacency, but to give confidence that - as, for instance, after the decline of the 18th century - there will be an Evangelical revival.

GRAHAM SMITH
3 Marryat Road
New Milton BH25 5LW

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