Age gap in church attendance worries Anglican Bishop

Fewer Anglicans in their most productive years are attending church services, said Anglican Bishop the Right Reverend Michael Maxwell, suggesting more should be done to bring them back and keep them in the fold.

Speaking shortly after delivering a lunchtime lecture at the St Mary’s Anglican Church this afternoon, Maxwell, who said he attended that church when he was a young man, declared: “When I was a member of this church between 1985 and 1994, I was active in the youth group which catered to members between the ages of 12 and 25, but back then I noticed that most of the congregation was either children between the ages of 4 and 16, and those over 40.

“In fact, one of the reasons I decided to go to Codrington College is I believed that God was calling me to reach out to the people between the ages of 25 and 40.

“However, when I last attended service at St Mary’s last December, I saw that the age gap had widened, and the congregation comprised of children between the ages of 4 and 15, and people over 55.

“I cannot say that is the same for every church, and it might just have been that particular Sunday, but it is a cause for concern.”

Bishop Maxwell stated that he recognised that Anglicans might have to do things differently in order to gain and hold people’s attention in a changing world.

He said: “I think we have just been going along with what we have been accustomed to in the past but we have to make some changes, in how we pay more attention to that group, and the struggles they go through and minister particularly to those areas of need.

“We take it for granted that everyone can be swept with the same broom, and the same style but I think this group needs more interaction.

“They don’t just want to come to church, receive a word and go back home; they want to share what they are going through and hope to get a response that will help them.

“If we move to that level, we should be able to address that group to find the church as an oasis, because I believe it is an area we have ignored for too long.”

At the same time, he said it was important for the church to still maintain its standards and not fall into the trap of secularism as it tried to reach out to that demographic.

He said: “It is true we have to be careful, as we could go too far left, but once again it is about seeking a balance.

“People sometimes complain about this church bringing in certain styles of music, and we do have to recognise that yes, people do worship in different ways but we still have a standard to maintain.

“We will let people know about Christian principles and the lifestyle we ought to live, but at the same time we cannot ignore the issues they are facing.”

Earlier, he stated that the church should be considered an oasis in the community it serves, “a place where Jesus offers ‘life-giving water’ that enriches the ‘soil’ (congregation) to be moist and fertile enough to nurture the ‘seeds’ (for example, young people and new converts) so they can grow and become trees planted by the waters and bear fruit.

“It should be a place where people can find the presence of Christ and gain divine strength to face the challenges life presents to them”.