Sweden: The Final Report to the Diocese

Three Priests boldly going… to Sweden
Imagine a church where there is no parish share to raise, in fact the offertory on a Sunday never goes to the church but to worthy causes because the church doesn’t need it. Imagine churches that usually have paid staff numbers in double figures and often twenty plus. Imagine a church where most parishes have 10,000 members who voluntarily give 1% of their salary to the church on a regular basis through their taxes. Imagine a church where on average about half the young people attend confirmation courses which last from September to May. Imagine a church that is always warm, has decent coffee and sofas! Imagine The Church of Sweden.
Imagine a church where every significant work that is done in the church is done by a professional. Imagine a church where attendance on Sunday is about 1% of membership, and a congregation of 60 is a busy Sunday. Imagine a church which in its own words is in dramatic decline, lacks confidence and is afraid of the future. Imagine The Church of Sweden.
Three of us: Leon Collyer, Stephen Gott and James Allison spent a week with the Church of Sweden in our link Diocese of Skara. A week that changed our view, not only of the Church of Sweden, which we didn’t have a view of really, but principally it has changed our view of our own Church in England.
Many churches were visited, many hours spent listening and asking questions, many more hours spent reflecting on what we saw and many friends made in what turned out to be a great place to learn. We attended a conference lead by young theologians and a young at heart Bishop Erik, which explored how they might more effectively teach their confirmation candidates. Half the population come to the church for this instruction despite the fact that as we discovered over half of those who came for instruction described themselves as either agnostic or atheist. The key thing we learnt was how carefully and thoroughly they approached this responsibility. It was challenge to our often half hearted attempt at Christian initiation.
What could these people possibly learn from us? Well, surprisingly, something about money. None of us had realised how the business of raising money affects the lives of our congregations in positive ways. Together we raise vast amounts of money not realising that this stretching of faith helps us grow together. The fact that this is in a very real sense our money means that we are engaged in how our meagre resources are spent. People care about what we do; people at best feel they are part of a team. Having observed a church where the raising of money is almost an alien idea we realised perhaps what a great spiritual grace it is. It’s going to take a while to convince our congregations of this but it really is better that we have to fund raise.
It’s going to take a while to really assimilate all that we have learnt and also to get over our addiction to meat balls and muesli. We can only say that the trip has changed us and that these exchanges are a valuable part of both our churches’ growth and development. We look forward to our friends from Skara making a return visit to Wakefield in November and learning from them as they boldly come as we boldly went.