That feels like a far-fetched scenario, it may be a little too pessimistic in terms of time frame and there are places and churches bucking that trend. But without wishing to be apocalyptic that situation is a possibility. A recent survey of evangelical churches found that:
- few churches experience growth of more than 1% a year.
- 4 FIEC churches a year are closing.
- Of those that are still going 46% have seen no conversions in the past year.
- 45% have had no baptism.
- And 53% have fewer than 35 church members.
My hunch is that those figures are slightly better than figures for the Church of England as a whole and Methodism and are broadly replicated among other groups.
Add to that: the vast majority of those who are converted are under 25. And the majority of those are either children of Christian parents or are converted whilst at university. Many of those young people who are converted in their home churches are part of the 1 million young people who migrate to university every year.
And few of those graduates will return. 25% of all graduates end up in London and many others stay in their university town or city. One church leader at a recent working party I was at when asked what the biggest migration factor affecting their church was said, without bitterness, the biggest impact for us is that “our students all head off to university and few return.”
Those factors mean that many churches are shrinking and ageing in towns that send their students to university. Even when recent graduates get jobs in towns they will often commute from a university town or city where they choose to live. For example a significant number of recent graduates who work in Doncaster chose to live in Sheffield so they can go to churches with lots of 20’s and 30’s.
Church planting has picked up steam in recent years and it’s been great to see churches planted. But how many have been planted out of cities or university towns? Very few. How many have been planted to reach working class areas? And yet the North is predominantly working class in outlook if not social class.
That scenario we started off with sounds apocalyptic but it might not be a million miles from the truth. Many churches outside cities and student towns in the North are declining. Some have shut, others are only a generation or two away. We need to be deliberate and strategic in our thinking about the UK so that this scenario does not become a tragic reality.
We need to prepare students for life after graduation and lift their eyes beyond the obvious. Help them think through the mission needs on our doorstep but outside university towns and cities. So we never reach the apocalyptic scenario we started with.
If you combine the population of the North East and Yorkshire there are approximately 8.1 million people. Yet only 3.6 million of them live in university towns or cities. Strategically, missionally we need to think about and grow churches outside these towns and cities now before we end up in that scenario we started off with.
Many churches need an injection of young men and women who have been discipled and who are committed to discipling others. Strategically we need people who will go and forsake the comfortable in order to grow the gospel. But it’s hard. So what lesson have we learnt? How can you prepare students for life after graduation and get them thinking about church in harder places? What are the key factors in flourishing there?
Loneliness has never been good. (Gen 2)What’s the one problem God sees as he looks at the garden? Adam is alone. He needs others, man is created for community. Throughout the Bible we see patterns of community, of more than one. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Deborah and Barak, Zerubbabel and Joshua. In the New Testament Jesus and the 12, Peter and John, Paul and Timothy, Titus, Luke, Barnabas and Mark and so on.
Many students want to stay at their university church and I see why. They have peers, people who know you and friends committed to provoking one another in godliness. Great. But what about transplanting that small group to a church elsewhere?
My wife and I were students in Leicester. We went to Knighton, were well taught and cared for, then served there, led the youth work there, took early steps in preaching and leadership there. But then felt God call us to go back to my parents church where there was no-one within 10 years either side of us. But that’s why we felt called. It was a wrench to leave good friends, peers, but the gospel need was greater at Chorley than at Knighton. But looking back we’d have been far better to encourage 4 or 5 of our friends to come with us, not as the great white hope of the church, Jesus is the Saviour not us, but as support, as a network.
That’s been our experience too as some graduates have returned or come to faith having returned, it is hard. That’s in part why we’re looking for 3 ministry trainees this year. It’s a huge stretch for a small church financially, to fund three. But I think it gives our trainees the best chance of getting the most possible out of the one or two years they are with us.
Welcome to the mess. Open doors and open lives matter. Discipleship isn’t just taught it’s caught; observed, heard and watched. I asked our last ministry trainee to evaluate our old ministry trainee program for us. What were its strengths and weaknesses. What do you think he said was best? I thought it’d be my teaching, or the chance to really deal with and discuss some deep theological issues. He said the best thing was seeing the mess of our family. Watching how we got on, fell out and applied grace to resolve issues. Clearly seeing that we were far from perfect and constantly got things wrong but sought forgiveness, tried to make things right and always fought to apply grace even if it took some time.
That’s helpful because one of the most common struggles for students who leave the student bubble is that they don’t really get to do real life with people any more. There isn’t that same intensity of relationship, the same time spent, the same realism. We need to open our lives, after all that’s what Paul does, that’s his model of discipleship. So that young graduates still do real life with people, it is just with a broader range of people.
Leaving the greenhouse doesn’t mean the end of growth. It can be hard after the greenhouse of student life as a Christian where they’ve grown rapidly to adjust to the slower pace of church life. So it’s vital that recent graduates are invested in not just seen as a resource to suck dry, or a low-maintenance short cut to a healthier budget.
The pace of change in church is so much slower than in CU, partly because life gets in the way. I realised just over a year ago that I was getting quite discouraged about the slow pace of change. So as leaders every time we meet we give one agenda item over to talking about where we see signs of growth and change in the congregation, and it’s been encouraging. But life in church can’t mimic the intensity of the university greenhouse for growth, but it can continue to build on that. Though we also have to be realistic and help students recognise the uniqueness of the university/CU environment.
I’ve always had a few people I meet with 1-2-1, some are regular and planned some are less so. One way I’ve started trying to drip feed people to stimulate growth a bit more, and a bit more widely, is by giving away books to people in church. Sometimes its related to an issue – for example last year I bought ten copies of 'Enjoy your prayer life' and gave away. Another time a group of us met up to discuss each section of Glynn Harrison's ‘A Better Story’ and apply it to our work and families. I’ve given away copies of ‘Raising teens in a hyper-sexualised world.’ and others... And that constant learning and growing never stops. Churches need to intentionally develop those within it.
Applying the gospel to relationships. There is a sharedness to university life, similar ages, outlooks, experience that just isn’t there outside of a university church. In a small church that causes another issues, you are forced to relate to those very different to you. How does a 23 year fresh out of uni relate to a 77 year old lady? A 4 year old boy? A stressed out young mum? An exhausted hospital surgeon? Or a single mum diagnosed with cancer? Very often we don’t, we avoid that by staying with those who are like us. But in a small church that’s not an option and that is hard. It forces us to work the gospel more deeply into our lives. To work out what are non-negotiable gospel issues, what are debatable issues and what are just matters of conscience and we can flex over and unite round the gospel rather than fall out about. To work out what loving one another, rejoicing and mourning together looks like.
There are differences within a CU but those are magnified not reduced in a small church. But applying the gospel to such relationship provides a great opportunity to grow in grace and love.
Resource poor opportunity rich. Smaller churches tend to be resource poor. Smaller budgets, few musicians – if any – one of the unseen factors in university migration. Fewer groups running midweek. All those things make it hard for students who have been very used to lots going on. But Grace, for example, is opportunity rich. A 1200 place sixth form college has just opened, the Primary school where we meet has literally thrown open the doors to us and we can’t meet the need. And evangelistically we have loads of families positive towards church and willing to come along. But the need is people to meet, teach, build friendships, make connections.
Smaller churches also provide greater freedom to try things. There are greater opportunities, to lead, to teach, preach, study. Greater freedom to launch something and roll it up into storage again for another time if it doesn't work.
What other issues have you found as a recent graduate in adjusting to church outside of university?
Add to that: the vast majority of those who are converted are under 25. And the majority of those are either children of Christian parents or are converted whilst at university. Many of those young people who are converted in their home churches are part of the 1 million young people who migrate to university every year.
And few of those graduates will return. 25% of all graduates end up in London and many others stay in their university town or city. One church leader at a recent working party I was at when asked what the biggest migration factor affecting their church was said, without bitterness, the biggest impact for us is that “our students all head off to university and few return.”
Those factors mean that many churches are shrinking and ageing in towns that send their students to university. Even when recent graduates get jobs in towns they will often commute from a university town or city where they choose to live. For example a significant number of recent graduates who work in Doncaster chose to live in Sheffield so they can go to churches with lots of 20’s and 30’s.
Church planting has picked up steam in recent years and it’s been great to see churches planted. But how many have been planted out of cities or university towns? Very few. How many have been planted to reach working class areas? And yet the North is predominantly working class in outlook if not social class.
That scenario we started off with sounds apocalyptic but it might not be a million miles from the truth. Many churches outside cities and student towns in the North are declining. Some have shut, others are only a generation or two away. We need to be deliberate and strategic in our thinking about the UK so that this scenario does not become a tragic reality.
We need to prepare students for life after graduation and lift their eyes beyond the obvious. Help them think through the mission needs on our doorstep but outside university towns and cities. So we never reach the apocalyptic scenario we started with.
If you combine the population of the North East and Yorkshire there are approximately 8.1 million people. Yet only 3.6 million of them live in university towns or cities. Strategically, missionally we need to think about and grow churches outside these towns and cities now before we end up in that scenario we started off with.
Many churches need an injection of young men and women who have been discipled and who are committed to discipling others. Strategically we need people who will go and forsake the comfortable in order to grow the gospel. But it’s hard. So what lesson have we learnt? How can you prepare students for life after graduation and get them thinking about church in harder places? What are the key factors in flourishing there?
Loneliness has never been good. (Gen 2)What’s the one problem God sees as he looks at the garden? Adam is alone. He needs others, man is created for community. Throughout the Bible we see patterns of community, of more than one. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Deborah and Barak, Zerubbabel and Joshua. In the New Testament Jesus and the 12, Peter and John, Paul and Timothy, Titus, Luke, Barnabas and Mark and so on.
Many students want to stay at their university church and I see why. They have peers, people who know you and friends committed to provoking one another in godliness. Great. But what about transplanting that small group to a church elsewhere?
My wife and I were students in Leicester. We went to Knighton, were well taught and cared for, then served there, led the youth work there, took early steps in preaching and leadership there. But then felt God call us to go back to my parents church where there was no-one within 10 years either side of us. But that’s why we felt called. It was a wrench to leave good friends, peers, but the gospel need was greater at Chorley than at Knighton. But looking back we’d have been far better to encourage 4 or 5 of our friends to come with us, not as the great white hope of the church, Jesus is the Saviour not us, but as support, as a network.
That’s been our experience too as some graduates have returned or come to faith having returned, it is hard. That’s in part why we’re looking for 3 ministry trainees this year. It’s a huge stretch for a small church financially, to fund three. But I think it gives our trainees the best chance of getting the most possible out of the one or two years they are with us.
Welcome to the mess. Open doors and open lives matter. Discipleship isn’t just taught it’s caught; observed, heard and watched. I asked our last ministry trainee to evaluate our old ministry trainee program for us. What were its strengths and weaknesses. What do you think he said was best? I thought it’d be my teaching, or the chance to really deal with and discuss some deep theological issues. He said the best thing was seeing the mess of our family. Watching how we got on, fell out and applied grace to resolve issues. Clearly seeing that we were far from perfect and constantly got things wrong but sought forgiveness, tried to make things right and always fought to apply grace even if it took some time.
That’s helpful because one of the most common struggles for students who leave the student bubble is that they don’t really get to do real life with people any more. There isn’t that same intensity of relationship, the same time spent, the same realism. We need to open our lives, after all that’s what Paul does, that’s his model of discipleship. So that young graduates still do real life with people, it is just with a broader range of people.
Leaving the greenhouse doesn’t mean the end of growth. It can be hard after the greenhouse of student life as a Christian where they’ve grown rapidly to adjust to the slower pace of church life. So it’s vital that recent graduates are invested in not just seen as a resource to suck dry, or a low-maintenance short cut to a healthier budget.
The pace of change in church is so much slower than in CU, partly because life gets in the way. I realised just over a year ago that I was getting quite discouraged about the slow pace of change. So as leaders every time we meet we give one agenda item over to talking about where we see signs of growth and change in the congregation, and it’s been encouraging. But life in church can’t mimic the intensity of the university greenhouse for growth, but it can continue to build on that. Though we also have to be realistic and help students recognise the uniqueness of the university/CU environment.
I’ve always had a few people I meet with 1-2-1, some are regular and planned some are less so. One way I’ve started trying to drip feed people to stimulate growth a bit more, and a bit more widely, is by giving away books to people in church. Sometimes its related to an issue – for example last year I bought ten copies of 'Enjoy your prayer life' and gave away. Another time a group of us met up to discuss each section of Glynn Harrison's ‘A Better Story’ and apply it to our work and families. I’ve given away copies of ‘Raising teens in a hyper-sexualised world.’ and others... And that constant learning and growing never stops. Churches need to intentionally develop those within it.
Applying the gospel to relationships. There is a sharedness to university life, similar ages, outlooks, experience that just isn’t there outside of a university church. In a small church that causes another issues, you are forced to relate to those very different to you. How does a 23 year fresh out of uni relate to a 77 year old lady? A 4 year old boy? A stressed out young mum? An exhausted hospital surgeon? Or a single mum diagnosed with cancer? Very often we don’t, we avoid that by staying with those who are like us. But in a small church that’s not an option and that is hard. It forces us to work the gospel more deeply into our lives. To work out what are non-negotiable gospel issues, what are debatable issues and what are just matters of conscience and we can flex over and unite round the gospel rather than fall out about. To work out what loving one another, rejoicing and mourning together looks like.
There are differences within a CU but those are magnified not reduced in a small church. But applying the gospel to such relationship provides a great opportunity to grow in grace and love.
Resource poor opportunity rich. Smaller churches tend to be resource poor. Smaller budgets, few musicians – if any – one of the unseen factors in university migration. Fewer groups running midweek. All those things make it hard for students who have been very used to lots going on. But Grace, for example, is opportunity rich. A 1200 place sixth form college has just opened, the Primary school where we meet has literally thrown open the doors to us and we can’t meet the need. And evangelistically we have loads of families positive towards church and willing to come along. But the need is people to meet, teach, build friendships, make connections.
Smaller churches also provide greater freedom to try things. There are greater opportunities, to lead, to teach, preach, study. Greater freedom to launch something and roll it up into storage again for another time if it doesn't work.
What other issues have you found as a recent graduate in adjusting to church outside of university?
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