MICHAELMAS 2008
From the editor…
A Plea for Porches
Try a mental exercise with me. Imagine you were not a person
of faith and you came to the parish where you worship — would there be
a way for you to find a safe place there where you felt free to explore
your questions, struggles and doubts?
I bet you answered no; I know I have in most parishes in which I have served.
Yet it was William Temple who said that the church is the only
organization in the world which exists primarily for those who are not
yet her members. If that is the case, then why do people who do
not have faith but who wish for faith or have questions about the
gospel find most churches so unwelcoming in their quest?
To do better, churches need to provide porches. Although
disappearing in many American homes recently, porches play a vital
function. They are an intermediate ground in which people who
live in the house come out of the house and can be seen, and indeed
talked to, by passers by on the sidewalk.
It is a big risk to go into someone’s house, but not to talk to them on
their porch. Indeed, most people when invited will go onto a
porch and speak with people who ask them to come.
Such a safe intermediate ground is exactly what parishes need to
provide. What will it look like? One example is the Alpha
course, used in many Anglican parishes worldwide. It involves a
meal, it has small group discussion after a presentation, and it seeks
in its format to bend over backwards to allow people who do not
consider themselves as Christians to partake.
In one parish in the diocese in which I serve, Saint Paul’s in
Summerville, South Carolina, a self-professed Satanist became a
believer through an Alpha class (Really).
Think about that for a moment. Do you think when he began he
would have felt comfortable in Sunday morning worship? Indeed
not. But the Alpha course gave him a safe porch on which to
strike up a conversation and ask hard questions.
Another example would be what I call “Agnostics Anonymous” where you
take a small group Bible study meeting at someone’s home and you plan
an evening where group members invite friends for exactly the purpose
of asking questions about the faith. You then bring in an
ordained leader or lay leader who gives a provocative five minute
presentation and then takes questions. With planning and prayer,
these can be great opportunities.
Another idea of which I am fond is called “Questions from the
Heart.” You have an Adult Sunday school class explicitly devoted
to questions people are wrestling with in their faith. When the
class begins you ask people to come prepared with written questions –
which they in their hearts really need answered – which the leader then
reads aloud. After that first introductory class, the questions
are then printed and numbered. The subsequent classes consist of
taking numbered questions, several at a time, and preparing for them
over the next week together. This is the kind of an environment
which someone wrestling with faith sometimes finds inviting.
Jesus told us to be fishers of men and women. In order to be
effective at fishing, you need to have the right time and the right
bait. That means providing porches where fish and bait can some
together. May God grant us energy and creativity to provide such
environments in our parishes in the weeks and years ahead.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon
Contact Dr Harmon by e-mail at ksharmon@mindspring.com
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