Inside U.K. The Church of England fights back this Christmas By Richard Payne	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
教会に人を呼び戻す努力 宗教行事というより商業主義のお祭りになってしまったクリスマス。法律改正で日曜にも商店が開くようになってから、「日曜は安息日」との意識も薄れ、皆、クリスマスショッピングなどに飛び回り、日曜礼拝に出かける人の数は減る一方です。そこで、英国国教会では新たな試みで、特に若者を教会に引きつけようとしています。

Christmas is just around the corner, but it seems as if it has been going on for weeks already. Festive decorations have been in the shops since October, and for weeks adverts have been pumping out of our TV screens urging us to spend, spend, spend on everything from presents for the children to food for our festive celebrations and new clothes for all the parties held at this time of year. Christmas in the U.K. now seems to be more of a celebration of consumerism than Christianity.

But it's not just at this time of year that the church is losing out to the new religion of shopping. Across the U.K., there's a decline in the number of people going to church. A recent study carried out for the Church of England reported that 174,000 fewer adults and children attended Sunday services in 1999 than in 1990. That's a drop of 17 percent.

The Reverend Ray Brazier, vicar of St. Matthew ＆ St. Nathaniel parish church in my city of Bristol, has seen his Sunday congregations drop substantially. He said: "Five years ago we would be getting about 200 people. Now it is about 140 on a good day. Most churches, like ours, have lost numbers. Some at a faster rate than others."

One of the biggest reasons for this is Sunday shopping. Ever since the laws regulating shops opening on Sunday were relaxed, the Church has faced an uphill struggle. But it's not just shopping. Many more non-religious activities now take place on Sunday, which has always traditionally been "a day of rest."

The Reverend Brazier recognizes what the Church is up against. "All sorts of things now take place on a Sunday. People are incredibly busy these days. There are all sorts of pressures and demands on family time. The weekend now cracks under the weight of activities that families try to fit in."

The Church of England knows that, if it is to survive and prosper, it must attract more young people. The Church's leadership is backing a national youth strategy to try to halt the decline of churchgoing among children and, in particular, teenagers.

The Reverend Brazier agrees that youth is the future of the Church. "At our church we have just appointed a youth worker. Many churches across the country are taking a similar step. His job is to build up the number of young people who come through our doors. But if young people are to come to church we have to make it attractive for them. It shouldn't be something that is embarrassing - something that they hide from their friends. There needs to be an openness and acceptance that the Church has to change. We need to blow open what we mean by worship. But that doesn't mean that we should be gimmicky. Young people will spot it instantly if they are being patronized, and then we will have done more harm than good."

Reverend Brazier's church is also trying to attract more people by opening its doors to the local community. Mothers-and-babies groups, singing groups, scouts and other groups use the building for meetings.

"We used to literally be a place of worship, but now the building is buzzing virtually every day of the week with different groups that just want to use the building for meetings," he said. "We have these beautiful buildings all over the country and they should be there to serve their local communities in whatever ways the communities want."

Despite the overall drop in the number of worshippers, a lot of churches will see an increase in the size of their congregations this Christmas. For many people it is the one time in the year when they will make the effort to go to church. The Reverend Brazier is expecting to see the size of his congregation virtually double for his big Christmas service. But it's nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be worshipping at the altar of consumerism, shopping right up until the last minute.

The Reverend Brazier, however, refuses to be downhearted. He sees a positive future for the Church: "I think the trend can be reversed. But the cost will be that we have to change. The Church has to listen to the world's agenda."

Shukan ST: Dec. 13, 2002

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