Growing a church in a post-Christian culture
Pastor Peter Anderson
Scotland, which was once famous for sending out missionaries across the world, is today faced with dwindling attendances at Churches nationwide.
Our own missionary journey began in 1998 as an informal Christian Bible study in our flat at Haymarket. It wasn’t a very impressive beginning and for the first year we had a typical attendance of about 5 people. But as we near our 10 year anniversary we’ve just purchased a former 1000 seat Cinema/Bingo Hall in Gorgie, purchased through the generous and sacrificial giving of the congregation who are passionate about making a positive impact on this great city.So why have we made such progress? We present a timeless message in a timely way. We have found that while many have stopped attending church in Scotland, their desire and need to seek God was still there. Our approach has been to communicate the old school Christian message in way that our culture can understand. The human need hasn’t changed, the message hasn’t changed, but the culture has changed and so the delivery must change. So we have a great rock gospel band, we make and screen short films, we communicate the message through dance, rap and acting, and when I preach I aim to relate the Bible to real life. We acknowledge however that the way we "do Church" won’t appeal to everyone. Therefore we count it a great honour to be serving our City alongside other great churches who vary greatly in outward style yet carry the same core message.
We’ve realised that people don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. In Scotland there is a saying, “it’s better felt than telt.” For us authentic Christianity isn’t merely about a message that can get you to heaven, it’s also a message that challenges us to love others and take responsibility for the world around us. St Francis of Assisi put it well when he said: “preach the gospel wherever you go and when necessary use words.” While Sunday services are important we also place high priority on our mid week community activities. On a typical week we connect with between 150-250 people most of whom don’t attend our services. We run 3 mum and baby groups and are about to start a 4th group for mums and babies with special needs. We run youth work, we offer a free counselling service and we offer free English classes for the growing Polish community. Recently we’ve launched a help line (www.destinyangels.org) through which we can help people who don’t have any where else to turn. We also have a food store from which we give out food parcels to those in need.
We welcome everyone. Jesus was a very controversial figure in his day. The religious leaders hated the way that he would spend time with anyone no matter their lifestyle, their religious persuasions (or lack of them), social class or race. He did this without compromising his message or his challenge. Jesus, unlike the religious leaders of his day, was known by what he was for rather than what he was against. Unlike Jesus, many churches today are hostile environments for the “unchurched”, they are cold, unwelcoming and judgemental, lacking in authenticity and credibility. As a result numbers dwindle. As a Church we work hard at welcoming everyone to our services and as a result we have an incredible mix of social classes, races, religious and philosophical backgrounds and histories.
It’s ironic that today I’m a pastor because as a kid my parents had to drag me to Church; it was the last place I wanted to be. My disinterest continued until I was 15 when one night in an alley in Glasgow I met God. From then on I had a new vision of how exciting and creative church could be.
Peter Anderson is the pastor at Destiny Church, Edinburgh (www.destinyedinburgh.com)
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