Churches (2)

Well, after previous comments I'm delighted to be able to write a positive post on this subject. Yesterday I walked up to a nearby church to talk about occasionally deputising there as an organist.

What impressed me most forcibly was the sheer size and scale of the building, and the whole operation which is run from it. I had seen the church before from outside, but it was only when I went in that I realised quite how extensive the complex is. In fact in many respects it wasn't like going into a church; it was like visiting a swanky set of corporate offices. This is simply a local church, but in the UK you would only come across something like this at a cathedral, or maybe one of the big evangelical churches in London, or the national headquarters of a certain denomination.

When I arrived, I went into a reception area which had two or three desks with official-looking people tapping away on PCs. There was a door through which I could see a corridor leading away to more offices. When the music director met me, she took me into the main church part, which was absolutely enormous, and very beautiful. The organ was built in 1987, three manuals, 40 ranks, perfect condition, beautiful to play. On the other side of the church was a wide 'piazza' space which had originally been outside but was now covered over. Later she showed me the 'educational suite' - a long corridor leading off to several more rooms. There were many more offices, a sizeable choir room ... it went on and on. It is a modern building, I wouldn't say more than 30 years old (just over 20 if built at the same time as the organ), well-designed, light, airy and in impeccable condition.

As an operation, it clearly employs a sizeable staff. This was a Monday lunchtime, but there were a number of people buzzing around, including a friendly young lady, dressed rather like a business executive, who was introduced as 'an associate minister' (how many do they have?). Everyone I met was very nice, welcoming and friendly. The music director is full-time; she runs two adult choirs, three junior choirs, and a handbell group, and co-ordinates all the music which takes place in the church; she told me she frequently struggles to get everything done in the time available. She is the organist; they also employ a choir director.

There are two services each Sunday morning; each attracts around 300 people. The really extraordinary thing about this is I happen to know there is another church of the same denomination one block away, which looks to be about the same size as this one. I would be surprised if there were 300 houses between the two churches. Yet there are also, of course, several churches of other denominations too. And we are not even talking about one of the more charismatic, evangelical, populist churches - this is, as far as I can tell, quite a mainstream and liberal denomination.

Looking round this building and meeting the people who work there, I began to understand more about why churches are so important here. If, when you think of 'church', you think of a large, modern, light, airy, spacious, well-equipped and well-resourced building, full of nice, friendly people, buzzing with activity throughout the week, which not only holds services but also has thriving music, educational and community outreach programmes, I suppose it doesn't seem so unappealing as the drafty, underfunded, under-resourced Victorian edifices you often find in the UK. If 'church' is something which is a regular part of life, often the bedrock of one's entire social life, for almost everyone in a community, rather than attracting only a small combination of well-meaning do-gooders, religious zealots and Jesus-anoraks as is so often the case in the UK, it perhaps seems less strange to want to be a part of it.