A Christian Minyan?

…"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst." Matthew 20:19-20

We are aware that many Christian congregations and denominations are in decline in North America, and unfortunately the United Church is one of them. In the pre-occupation with our plight we might miss that other faith communities are experiencing their own trials and tribulations resulting from changing demographics and an increasingly secular society.

I have spoken with members of Jewish congregations which have gone through steady decline to the point that they no longer have a minyan for public prayer. I read about such a congregation in the New York Times recently, housed in a creaky building where an elderly member pokes the plaster and dust cascades down.

And what is a minyan you ask? "In Judaism a minyan is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many Orthodox streams of Judaism, adult females do not count in the minyan."

While I'm not impressed by the "guys only" stipulation I have always been intrigued by the notion that a congregation gathered for prayer and worship requires a "critical mass," or a "spiritual mass" for an effective life together. As Christians we turn to the words of Jesus which suggest a lower minimum requirement to make a difference in the world. I don't want to sound heretical by suggesting that two or three doesn't cut it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have a practical and realistic benchmark for what it means to be a community of worship and prayer with an effective mission in the world.



Perhaps a congregation can be vital with just a handful of people, and we know from the New Testament and the history of the church that a building isn't required to manifest God's living Spirit. Still, far too many congregations have moved into the self-preservation mode which is more about stubbornly staying in crumbling buildings than being alive in Christ. Many newly ordained ministers in our denomination are dismayed to find themselves in congregations where they are involved in palliative care for an aging social club that an active congregation. And no one, it seems, is willing to press for honest self-appraisal. Is this really faithful to Christ's call to mission?  So often the urgency of building repairs means that there are no resources for creative ministry.

Okay, I'll admit I have no idea what our Christian minyan might be. Do we need fifty people or a hundred to be a healthy congregation? I can't really say. Is some respects setting an arbitrary number isn't the solution. But we might have the spirit of the minyan where we bring together practicality and the commitment to worship, not just survival.

What do you think? I know, I know, I come up with the craziest stuff!