ABSTRACT

According to the ‘welcome cards’ distributed to newcomers, the Anglican church of St Michael-le-Belfrey, York1 is

The language used here is telling: it reflects the church’s location in the evangelical tradition, while affirming a place for the relational and for power typical of the charismatic renewal movement. The fact that the church prints ‘welcome cards’ which are freely and deliberately distributed among interested visitors at Sunday services is also indicative of its passion for evangelism. A shared hope is that newcomers will convert and make their own commitment to Jesus. A further key emphasis is the notion of community – expressed here in the idea of ‘fellowship’. Members of the church enjoy a sense of collective unity and mutual care, which they invite newcomers to share upon entering into fellowship with the congregation. The text of the ‘welcome card’ raises another issue. Aside from enjoying a

common experience of friendship, acceptance and spiritual growth, what does it mean to be a member of St Michael’s? What do the congregants share that they see as legitimizing their place in the fellowship? Recent studies of evangelical churches have re-affirmed a long-standing emphasis upon theological correctness, usually grounded in scriptural authority and moral precept. Evangelical Christians express their identity and, in turn, recognize the

identity of others, in terms of clear and exacting demands (Kelley, 1972). While ‘commitment to Jesus’ is mentioned on the welcome card, the leadership of St Michael’s has chosen not to set alongside this a related set of expectations usually seen as central to a confession of faith by contemporary evangelical believers. There is no mention of judgement, for example, of scripture, of ‘sound teaching’ or even of salvation. Commentatorsmay dismiss this as a sign of astutemarketing. Being ever more

aware of their minority stake in a secular context, evangelical churches have become sensitive to the features of their message which are most offensive or offputting to outsiders (Hunter, 1987). They ‘soften’ evangelism so as to stress positive affirmation and evade negative judgement. But if this is indicative of how the expression of belief is negotiated in relation to context and audience, this is a process that extends beyond Sunday welcome cards, and beyond the particulars of mission strategy. Indeed, the life of this congregation is shaped by a sensitivity to both the prejudices of outsiders and the tensions and diversity of its internal membership. While driven by the demands of evangelism, St Michael’s has taken on these demands as requisite strategies for coping with its distinctive congregation. In this respect I proceed from the assumption that congregational identity is forged out of a negotiation of community boundaries (Cohen, 1985; Dowie, 2002). In the terms used in Chapter 1 of this volume, my approach is that of an ‘intrinsic’ study with contextualizing concerns, seeking to understand this congregation as a site for the negotiation of historical and cultural pressures (Briers, 1993; Stromberg, 1986). This chapter draws from an extensive period of ethnographic fieldwork

among the congregation of St Michael-le-Belfrey, conducted over twelve months during 1999-2000. Immersed participant observation over seven months was augmented by a series of semi-structured interviews with leaders and congregants. Shortly afterwards, I administered a detailed questionnaire survey of the congregation, charting attitudinal trends and patterns in participation. My initial aim was to explore degrees and patterns of accommodation to secular modernity within a shared evangelical worldview, as expressed in public meetings and group discourse. Research eventually exposed complex processes of negotiation, whereby shared values were forged and expressed in light of changing contexts and in dialogue with shared histories. This chapter explores these processes, focusing on how the distinctive history and constituency of the St Michael’s congregation has generated a particular set of tensions, and on how the congregation has developed particular ways of dealing with them, notably through its public discourse. As a preface to this, it will be useful to trace the recent history of St Michael’s in order to show how the pressures the congregation currently faces emerge from its achieved status as a centre of evangelical success.