Jolyon Manning looks at declining church attendances in Otago and reflects on the needs of the future.
About 65 years ago, I joined the St Paul's Cathedral Choir and sang in that fine institution for 27 years.
Those were the days when Sundays were different and Dunedin's main street lively with a steady stream of churchgoers, both morning and night.
How times have changed.
After the Evensong service, when the cathedral was often well packed, many of us went across to the Town Hall for the most memorable organ recitals provided by then city and Cathedral organist, Professor Victor Galway - free evening entertainment for music enthusiasts.
Since then, attendances at worship and personal acts of communion in each of the mainstream Christian churches (Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic and Methodist) have fallen to half their earlier numbers.
Not surprising, then, that the Anglicans recently had a back-to-church Sunday.
There was an encouraging response in some parishes.
In the Anglican Church in Otago and Southland (Dunedin Diocese) the numbers presenting themselves for baptism, confirmation, Sunday school and bible class attendance have plummeted to about 10% of the numbers recorded in the early 1960s.
These are nationwide trends. Furthermore, the average age of members of the typical congregation in each of these church faith communities has now risen above the 60 mark and grey heads are the norm.
For both Otago and Southland, the dominant Scottish settler heritage has made these provinces the most Presbyterian-favoured communities in New Zealand.
But in the last decade there has been an endless succession of little churches closed throughout both provinces, and some of the bigger churches are now in trouble, too.
Catholics in the South have also in recent years been alarmed at the serious decline in their ranks of the serving sisters and the recruits for priestly ministry.
Their church schools have been, and continue to be, a most valuable recruiting environment, not only for the children themselves, but their committed parents.
But when the young ones reach tertiary education level, they readily become, today, more independent of family tradition.
The Church of Christ and Congregational Church also lost momentum after the collapse of the 1974 Plan for (Church) Union.
This was a sad outcome for many of us. Especially so as the then Anglican Bishop of the Dunedin Diocese exercised a crucial role in the rejection of that plan for combined organic mainstream Christian witness.
This despite the vigorous support and leadership offered by Archbishop Allen Johnston, also a former Bishop of the Dunedin Diocese.
The Catholic Church, however, did not participate in that union process.
Today, many of these churches are asset rich, with substantial legacies held in church funds, together with buildings and properties often located in strategically valuable sites, worth many millions of dollars.
However, in today's world, there has been a widespread unwillingness to submit to lifetime membership (bonding and covenanting) of any group or organisation. These churches have left us with a wonderful heritage of the arts and the stories of inspirational dedicated lives of saints great and small.
But the traditional liturgies are now more openly questioned thanformerly.
Within the worldwide Anglican Communion the diocese is often the seat of a (regional) bishop and blessed with a cathedral asset for the big worship occasions.
And so there is one bishop for the combined Anglican community in Otago and Southland.
The recent synodal election of a new bishop, the Very Rev Kelvin Wright, (St John's, Roslyn) has provided an opportunity for a fresh look at diocesan life.
The Dunedin Diocese, earlier made famous by the election of the first woman diocesan bishop in the world, might continue to take an active role in administrative reform that more closely accords with the changing needs of the declining and ageing membership of the Anglican Church in these parts.
The shackles of tradition weigh heavily in these historic parish settings. The Church is indeed a heritage industry and no-one likes to see any reduction in status.
But as the late Sir John Walsh,an earlier member of the Cathedral congregation, said to me a few decades ago, we have all to lift our back foot off the ground at times if we are to move forward, isn't that what faith is all about?
He also said of Otago AND Southland that our motto should be "The Power and the Glory".
He wrote a wonderful little booklet titled Living with Uncertainty, and I think his wisdom is needed by the Church today as we wrestle with a future that will still stand or fall on the question of faith.
The mainstream church requirement for priestly services is becoming increasingly dependent upon the personal generosity of non-salaried ministers.
But both the salaried and non-salaried priests are now ageing, in parallel with their present-day congregations. Succession planning is an issue of special interest nowadays in many quarters, in farming, in business, and elsewhere.
No longer do we see inter-generational family connections as tightly bound as in the past.
The Anglican Church, with its close ties to the mother church in England, places much emphasis on the apostolic succession, itself designed to protect the integrity of the traditional inheritances.
There are strengths and weaknesses in this age-old custom.
But diversity and refreshment can add new sources of hybrid energy, something the Church needs today, if it is to again attract the following of a new and hitherto largely secular generation.
Our spiritual values certainly need reawakening and quality environmental stewardship commitment is vital for the wellbeing of this and future generations.
• Jolyon Manning lives in Alexandra.
