Every week The Argus will be grilling someone who is making the news in the Big Interview feature. REVEREND ARCHIE COATES led the attempts to save St Peter’s Church in Brighton from closure three years ago and since then congregation numbers have rocketed from 30 to 700. He talks about bucking census results, challenging stereotypes and the power of religion at Christmas.
The Argus: Were you surprised by the results of the 2011 census, which showed that 42% of Brighton and Hove residents describe themselves as having no religion, up from 27% from the 2001?
Archie Coates: I don’t know if I was surprised or not. It still leaves about 120,000 people who must have ticked the box saying religion, that’s quite a lot.
We’re finding there is a huge spiritual hunger in Brighton, especially among young people. We had 1,500 people through our doors last weekend for the carol services.
If anything we’re getting more and more people coming in.
We have between 600 and 700 people in services on a Sunday and our average age is 27.
Our first Alpha Course for anyone exploring faith had 100 people and they were even younger.
But overall our congregation is a real spread. In the mornings we have lots of families and young children and older folk as well.
It’s really interesting.
The census figures don’t lie, but what’s interesting is how many people have ticked they are religious, but those numbers don’t transfer to people coming to church.
That indicates that churches have a little bit of catching up to do.
One part of the increase is spiritual hunger.
The other thing is making a difference.
Young people want to help with the homeless and the street community and that kind of thing.
I think that faith and the church has always historically been a great vehicle for that.
I think the interest from young people comes through word of mouth. People meet friends who have had an incident with God and their life has been changed.
When people see a change in their friends or family for the better they become inquisitive.
About 8% of the people who come to church on a Sunday wouldn’t call themselves Christians or churchgoers, but they are brought along by friends.
Or they come to the Alpha Course where they can explore their questions. People don’t like to be told but they want to put these ideas and questions about.
Times are not easy if you’re a young person. You’re struggling to work out your relationships, your career, it can be a fairly terrifying place.
People are asking ‘What’s my life going to look like?’ as well as ‘What’s the purpose of life?’ and ‘What are we here for?’.
Christian faith offers a huge help in that.
TA: Some people have a stereotype that being a Christian may be conservative, more suited to older people and perhaps regimented. How do you challenge that and how does the reality differ?
AC: Most of us are a little bit suspicious of what we don’t know. I think people do have preconceptions or misconceptions about God.
They think He is a father that is going to tell them off and disapprove of them.
I don’t know another way other than encouraging people to meet God and meet the church.
When they do they are actually quite surprised.
People think that God is irrelevant, boring and untrue.
Having a community that’s alive and helping make faith relevant is probably the most important thing.
People think that knowing God will be the end of an enjoyable life.
But if God really did create us and the world, the sea, art and music, then presumably knowing Him will be a really great thing.
The church has a responsibility to make sure that we are alive and making positive statements.
TA: Are their still real concerns in the Christian community about dwindling congregation numbers and what that means for the future of the faith?
AC: Three and a half years ago St Peter’s was closed because it had a dwindling congregation and a huge repair bill.
It caused an outcry in the city because it’s such an iconic building and we came and reopened it in November 2009.
There’s no denying the reality is that some churches are dwindling in numbers, but actually I have quite a lot of hope.
I believe in God. I don’t believe that the church is something that is going to die out.
We have been here before in the 18th century.
If you look around the world I have huge hope. God in the world is amazing and it is incredible what we are tackling with the churches.
Seven churches across the city from five different denominations are putting on a homeless night shelter every night of the week. That’s amazing.
There are pockets, especially at grass roots level, of real encouragement.
TA: How important is Christmas for the church?
AC: You find a lot of people come to church just once a year at Christmas time, particularly for carol services.
We had 1,100 people for our carol services last weekend, nearly double our normal congregation number on a Sunday.
It’s a brilliant, upbeat, joyous occasion. People know the themes, the songs and the carols.
They have mulled wine and mince pies and there are brilliant decorations and young musicians from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music performing.
I think the message of Christmas is the key message.
The Christmas story is that God is with us, which is what Emmanuel means.
In our fears and struggles, uncertainty about the future, worries about health, relationships or jobs, there’s actually a God near to us.
He’s not distant or a cosmic dictator.
That’s a great message. A lot of people would like to go through life with a loving almighty God looking out for you.
The other thing is Christmas isn’t celebrating a baby being born. It was a saviour who died and rose again, a Christian father who is with us now and can speak to you in your heart.
He died to save us from our failings of great fear and addiction, to set us free.
We hope people get the flavour of the Christmas message and think maybe it’s relevant the rest of the year too.
TA: Do you find that being a 42-year-old helps you to connect with younger people better than older vicars?
AC: I know wonderful vicars who are in their 80s. I don’t think young vicars appeal to young people more than older vicars.
It’s about authenticity.
What everyone’s really asking is ‘Do these people really believe this?’ They’re looking for integrity, asking if it actually works and makes a difference.
The young ask very pragmatic questions. They want to know if they are going to be trading up or down when it comes to the quality of their lives.
The majority of the people in my congregation are half my age. I don’t know how they think, but I have an amazing team who are more their age and help me.
There is a core message and after that it is about style.
My team get their mates to play the music. Maybe it’s not all my style but that doesn’t really matter.
I believe God is alive and on the move and relevant in all different cultures so it doesn’t make sense to do church in the way it was done in the 18th century.
The message has to be transposed so it’s still relevant.
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