ONE of the contributors to this book, Mike, a wise and insightful plumber, traces the enormous changes that have happened in England during the past four decades and especially in our rural communities. Mike says: “There are no longer regular bus services, the Post Office closed four years ago, the surgery has moved to the next village in some form of amalgamation, and now our local pub has become a restaurant for the wealthier.” For those of us who spend our days out and about in the communities of our country and its dioceses, Mike’s account is one that we recognise and regularly hear.
How to Save the Church of England: The voice of the people offers the ecclesiastical narrative that mirrors Mike’s analysis. Its pages reflect what it is like to have lived through the changes in demographics, social attitudes, and ways of living which make our Church today almost unrecognisable as the institution that existed 40 and more years ago. It laments a lost land and reflects the grief and dislocation that its contributors feel: emotions that none of us need to go far to find among the people for whom we care.
Does this book tell us “How to Save the Church of England”? Not really. It offers only limited analysis, and its prescriptions for a better future beyond those offered by broad generalisation are lacking. Its engagement with people, such as Professor Linda Woodhead, who have mapped the changing contours of belief and the impact of this on church engagement is slight. The book majors much more on its subtitle: “the voice of the people” who have contributed to its pages. These are voices that we need to keep on hearing: those who are vital to keeping our show on the road, but who often feel marginalised and excluded from our counsels.
In the scriptures, lament is a vital ingredient needed for any discernment about the future to which God calls people. In our planning and decision-making about the next stages of our Church’s life, if we don’t listen to the voices represented in this book, where will our future be? If we don’t listen to the voices of all the People of God, how will we hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches?
The Rt Revd Michael Beasley is the Bishop of Bath & Wells.
How to Save the Church of England: The voice of the people
Andrew Sangster, editor
Pen and Sword £14.99
(978-1-0361-9515-1)
Church Times Bookshop £13.49