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Ship of Fools: Trinity Chippenham, Chippenham, England
The Mystery Worshipper
Shipmate
Ship of Fools: Trinity Chippenham, Chippenham, England
Friendly but not pushy – not heaven, but it works
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Comments
And, with all due respect to the church, which may well be doing a good job at 'being church' (whatever that actually means) in Chippenham, I'm always a bit suspicious of groups which say the Bible is 'inerrant', and have Husband-And-Lovely-Wife ministry teams...
YMMV, but I'm a Hellbound Heretick™, so I Don't Care.
Or, worse still, bestow the title "First Lady" upon the pastor's wife. There's one around the corner from me. I'm trying to get up enough courage to MW it.
'First Lady' in a church context sounds rather patronising, to say the least, IMHO - so it would be interesting to hear how it is expressed in practice...
Is it really that different from the presbytera in Greek Orthodoxy, the matushka (“mama”) of Russian Orthodoxy, etc.?
This county (Kent) was famous back in the 19thC for the fissiparous nature of many of its chapels.
Minister A would accuse Minister B of 'preaching a different Gospel', and would secede from the chapel, taking a number of the flock with him. They would then build a new chapel not far away, doubtless sticking their tongues out at the remnant of Minister B's flock, and/or singing more loudly so as to drown them out.
Outsiders were often bemused by all this, the nuances of the 'different' (and therefore suspect) Gospel being hard to see, let alone understand. Basically, it was often a question of a simple power struggle between Ministers A and B...
I accept, of course, that traditional churches have often been "stick in the mud", unwilling to welcome newcomers and unreceptive of new ideas. But that isn't always the case, by any means. I a;lso realise that there is a case for new churches being planted in new areas of housing, though ITSM that church plants in less affluent areas tend to be initiated by the mainline denominations! I also respect the entrepreneurial approach of the new churches which is so often lacking in established congregations.
But I'm still uncomfortable when (as has happened locally) a new church has plonked itself down in a community building next door to an older church which could so badly do with its resources and people. There is a very strong tendency, in my view, for such churches to ignore or even disdain the broader Body of Christ in an area and just "go for it".
I suspect that some of these 'new' churches (which really don't seem to offer anything particularly 'new', anyway) are of an ephemeral nature, which isn't necessarily much help to the more established churches nearby.
Without wishing to derail the thread, though, could you expand a little on what you mean by 'entrepreneurial approach'?
Clearly there are many questions one may ask about this approach, particularly whether it is uncritically adopting “worldly” methods of consumerism. However these churches seem to have a communal sense of optimism and direction which is often lacking in more established churches: "We're going forward, together". It's much more than "Oh, I go to Matins at St Agatha's-by-the-Gasworks every Sunday (unless it's too hot, too cold, I've got the grandchildren coming, it's a nice day for playing golf, I'm doing some gardening, the cat's not feeling well ...)".
One small point - I'm not sure it would be regarded elsewhere as good practice for people (other than parents/relatives/guardians) to be generally invited to 'look in ' on the children's activities during service time. DBS, safeguarding, and all that...
Sorry if this is another red herring, but it was mentioned specifically in the Report.
I did ask one of the team if they were part of a movement. He said no.
It's equally as bad when a national denomination plants a new church without consultation just because they want to corner the yoof and families market.
Amanda B. Reckondwyth
Lead Editor, Mystery Worship