'Of but not In'. The Problem of Thinking Geographically.

Christians are often told that they need to be 'in the world, but not of the world' - people who mix well with the communities and societies around them, but stand out from them in their convictions and actions. In a way, global Anglicans could be understood as doing something opposite: being the Church of England but not in England.

Of course, apart from its history and the enduring place of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the symbolic 'first among equals', the Anglican Church isn't really the Church of England any longer. It's a fellowship of autonomous provinces and dioceses whose core demographic is now better represented by a young Nigerian woman than a middle-aged English gentleman.

The history of the Anglican Church is strange when considered geographically. After being just a branch of the Roman Catholic Church for many centuries, the first big shift in the English church during the Reformation wasn't to Protestantism, but to independence. In 1534 the church in England broke with Rome and really became the English Catholic Church. The Roman Church was quick to point out (and slow to ever deny) that in separating, the English Church had rendered itself illegitimate because it had severed the bond of catholicism; the universality of 'the' church existing as one, worldwide institution. (Of course this thinking also plays into the divisions between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.) But the English had become convinced that God's way of instituting the church wasn't through a single, global body, but in parallel with each sovereign state. The God-appointed head of the state was also the rightful head over the church within their realm.

So, the Church of England never started out as what we would call a denomination - one of several co-exsiting fellowships of local churches distinguished by a distinct set of beliefs or mode of governance - it just started out as the church in England. Basically, if you were English, this was the church you belonged to and if you weren't English, you didn't. It was a geopolitical conception of the church. (And so strong was this official commitment to a nationalistic church identity that much of English church history for the following generations can be helpfully understood through the lens of the State's attempts to deal with dissenters and nonconformists.)

But jump forward a couple of hundred years and a funny thing happens. The English head off and colonise the new worlds and take their church with them leading to the oddity of having the 'Church of England' as the de-facto national church of places like Australia. The geopolitical model of church starts to get a bit confused! Perhaps they should have changed the church's name at that time to the Empire Church. However, in time, as the countries become independent, so too more local, autonomous bishops are appointed and name changes are adopted ('Anglican' or 'Episcopal' in the USA) such that the English national church becomes a denomination that exists alongside others in the former colonies. The self-understanding of the Church of England caught up with the reality of its changed contexts.

So what?

Well, despite developing this far, the Anglican Church still has a very geographical way of thinking about itself. Each diocese is divided into parishes, or geographic areas, on the understanding that the parish church will accept responsibility for ministering to the people who live within the parish boundaries. This is reflected in the fact that most Anglican Church names contain the name of their suburb; eg. St John's West Brunswick.

But how helpful is this today as we live in an ever more fluid, mobile and urbanised society? People are not suburb-bound; the membership of some local Anglican Churches is demographically mismatched with the local residents; a few local Anglican Churches are outgrowing their buildings and need to look for additional premises outside their own parish boundaries. The Anglican Church needs to keep thinking about the continuing merits of the geographically-based parish model just as the worldwide Church of England has needed to reunderstand itself as no longer bound to England.

The good news is that lots of this thinking has already begun and is already translating into new congregations on the ground. The best example in Melbourne is City on a Hill, recently established under the Authorised Anglican Congregation Act as a non-parochial church. It meets in two different locations and is already reaching lots (hundreds!) of people that the parish churches aren't. More like this are needed.

Having said all this, it will be good to come back and look at the other side of the coin and the great blessings and opportunities that come with being part of a geographically bounded church too.