I love churches in odd places — remote places, temporary chaplaincies, non-English speaking lands — in part because I like to see how churches deal with unusual situations, and especially small constituencies. Plus, these churches rarely have the “luxury” of sectarianism. Sometimes you get good ideas about managing small churches in more familiar locales. Anglican churches, via Anglicans Online, are the easiest to find.
I was reading through the list of churches of the Church of England, Diocese of Europe, and lighted on St. Ursula’s Church, Berne. Because I have Swiss German ancestors? No, because I love the name Ursula. (As in Andress.)
Well, the Bearnese church website isn’t super-60s-sexy (indeed, it is rather 1996 plain) but it does have a feature that a church dependent on a Sunday servers (volunteers) should have.
Note its “rota” (rotation) schedule, “Guidelines for those leading intercessions,” an illustrated and detailed “Setting up altar, credence table, and font,” and “Duty Council member’s duties” with its admonition that this duty is enough; no counting the offering, too!
OK, it isn’t often that your UU congregation will use the font (you do have one?) for keeping the Eucharistic gifts, so I’m highlighting the detail.
Have you seen any churches with similarly-detailed direction? Of course, I would really love it if such a church offered their guide under a generous licence for others to emulate and adapt.
