‘Isn’t he like his father!’ they say when they look at the new baby. If he were a cat, the new father might purr with satisfaction. And so he should. Procreation is a serious matter. Newcomers do well to resemble their forebears. At least in the early days. As the years go by, we expect new characteristics to emerge. A son should not be a clone of his father. A daughter should not be a replica of her mother. But sometimes that is a temptation too subtle to be resisted. It is flattering to think that our offspring should resemble us. We may even think it appropriate to see our sons and daughters as achieving what we sought to achieve. Mostly our sons and daughters know better but an imposed ambition may prove to be destructive.
Destructive also is the subtle process by which a church leader (if we allow such a non-NT term to be used) works to fulfil his own conception of what a church should be. This may take the form of repeating a formula dear to Keble or Kingsley. It may take the form of endeavouring to replicate the Church as we find it in Acts. It may – and this is more dangerous because more readily achievable – it may be a matter of envisaging the Church as a replication of something from one’s youth. A university Christian union is one such example. Another is a lively YPF (Young People’s Fellowship). Many will look back with relish to the days when a blissful bunch of youngsters enjoyed each other’s company.
That enjoyment, generated within the group, may lead to an unconscious development of the family likeness in the absence of any other model. We can all probably think of a church where the young people’s fellowship (YPF) added 25 years to its credit and yet retained the title of YPF. We have all met grown-ups who have retained mannerisms and expressions that they borrowed from a character they knew in their youth or childhood.
It is not easy to develop as a confident adult. Nor is it easy for church leaders to imagine what a church should be without any reference to a preceding model. But any painter or composer knows that this is what has to be done.
TEMPLEBREEDY
Isabel Jackson is the rector of the Church of Ireland church, Holy Trinity, Templebreedy, Co. Cork. The parish has a magazine, ‘Templebreedy News’, 24 pages packed full of news and pictures in colour of activity, including support for the Church Mission Society.
SPLIT-LEVEL
The back part of St Peter’s, Levenshulme, Manchester, has been turned into a split-level section with kitchen, lounge etc at the lower level and an open space for meetings above it. George Reeves, the Rector, spent 20 years in insurance before his ordination. S Peter’s is joined to St Mark’s in his two churches. St Peter’s has chairs, St Mark’s has retained its pews.
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