Lee Emerson asks how we can make best use of our church anniversaries
Do you ever weary of your church anniversary?
Do you secretly wish it would coincide with your holiday every year? It dawned on me about three years ago that we would be celebrating our church’s 50th anniversary in 2016 – and a bit of me felt like I had just been given a new chore! However, looking back, a week after the event, I can say that it had actually been a very positive experience – and I think we can make these events meaningful and effective in our church life, maybe even enjoy them!
First, a bit of background: Scott Drive Church is a small fellowship in the seaside town of Exmouth in Devon, founded in February 1966 by a retired pastor from Brighton, and affiliated to the FIEC.
When I was appointed to the pastorate on a part-time basis in 2006 (it had been vacant for six years by that time), it was for an initial term of three years – after that, unless there was some growth in the elderly and dwindling congregation, the money was due to run out. We can testify that God has sustained us – growth has been modest but significant, confidence has returned, the money has not run out, and the age-profile is now lower than it was (I won’t give exact figures, but suffice it to say that, down here in the West Country, if you’re in your 50s you’re still young, with potentially another 30–40 years of useful service!). A 50th anniversary may not seem much compared to some other churches, but when you have contemplated closure, it is a real landmark!
Secondly, we do need to be convinced from Scripture of the validity of the exercise. The principle of setting down markers in the life of God’s people is present in the OT. Exodus 23, Leviticus 23–25 and Deuteronomy 16 detail the various regulations concerning Israel’s festivals, all designed to bring the nation’s attention back to God’s saving and sustaining actions in her past. The whole of Deuteronomy, it seems to me, could be read as a sort of anniversary sermon, preached by Moses 40 years after the exodus, both looking back to Israel’s slavery in Egypt and forward to life in the Promised Land.
The NT, while not stipulating particular occasions for holding feasts (apart from the Lord’s Supper), still exhorts us to remember, reflect and remind ourselves of where we have come from and where we are going, both as individuals and as a church body (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1.26; Ephesians 2.11 and Revelation 2.5).
So, here are some ideas that may be helpful in thinking about how to use your own anniversary services.
1. Get a proper perspective on the church.
We were delighted to have David Jackman come to speak on our anniversary weekend (note to church secretaries – good speakers may need to be booked two or more years in advance!). On the Sunday morning, David spoke from Ephesians 3 about God’s great mystery which has been kept hidden for ages past, but which is now revealed through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Non-believers may often think of the church as a relic from a past age; indeed, when members of our own congregations skip Sunday meetings for some other more attractive activity, we can feel that this thinking has permeated the church itself: We’re not that important or exciting; there are better ways to spend weekends…
In fact, David Jackman posed just the question that the world likes to ask: Does the church have a future? (Or, more provocatively, Does the future have a church?) He then examined Ephesians 1: 9-10, 22-23, to show us that, in fact, the only future for the human race is the church! And however small or weak we may seem, David reminded us that we are part of that future – more so than all the governments, armies, politicians and celebrities of the world! In fact, there is no better place to invest our time, money and energy, than in the church which Christ has destined for such glory! To borrow from a well-known TV commercial: ‘it’s because the church is worth it’!
2. Take the opportunity to carry out a church audit.
Anniversaries are great occasions to take stock. We delved into cupboards and brought out our archives; church members produced photos that some of us had never seen before. Sifting through all these was quite thought-provoking. I was reminded of the original vision of those who had established the church – one which had never fully been realised. There were also episodes of failure and sadness – perhaps a moral lapse within the church, or the death of a saint whose loss was keenly felt. The anniversary gives an opportunity to acknowledge these – maybe sometimes even to repent of past attitudes and behaviour.
I also asked David Jackman, our speaker, meeting the church for the first time as an outsider, to feed back his observations and impressions of the church. Mercifully, churches are still free from the regime of inspection and regulation that many public organisations are subject to, but we ought to recognise that we still have a need to examine ourselves (cf 1 Corinthians 11. 8–32; 2 Corinthians 13.5). The anniversary event can help to achieve this, without having to employ Ofsted & co! And David Jackman is one of the nicest ‘inspectors’ you are likely to meet!
3. Don’t hide your light.
So Jesus tells his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.14 –16). Anniversaries are a great opportunity for publicity. Certainly for us, our location and size means we are not immediately visible to many people in the town. We need to take every opportunity to put ourselves ‘on the map’, and I found local newspapers surprisingly keen to publicise our story.
One sent a journalist to look through our archives and write a feature article on the church; another requested further photographs and reproduced in full the article I had written. In the past, we have placed adverts in these same papers, and paid for them. This publicity was all free!
4. Make the anniversary part of the church’s outreach!
We wanted the weekend not just to be a time of looking inward, but of reaching out as well. In our town, many churches have long since let go of the teaching of the apostles and prophets, on which the church is founded (Ephesians 3.20). We wanted the people attending these places to be given an opportunity to hear how the Bible should be handled, in order to hear God’s authentic voice speaking through it. So on the Saturday afternoon (to avoid any clashes with other churches’ meetings), David Jackman led a seminar on how to get more out of the Bible. For those who have never encountered teaching which takes the authority of Scripture seriously, this could transform their thinking!
We sent our publicity to all the churches within about five miles and prayed that the Lord would bring us some from these churches who would benefit from the seminar. At the very least, the invitations would make people in these churches aware of us and of what we offer.
So, as we continue with our often humdrum, unspectacular church life, let’s put down markers along the way – those stones like the Ebenezer that Samuel laid in Israel (1 Samuel 7.12) – to encourage us on our pilgrimage to the glorious future the Lord is preparing for us. Jesus is building his church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. (Matthew 16.18) Now that’s worth celebrating!
