This week the Christchurch City Council confirmed $15 million of funding towards the reopening of the Christchurch Cathedral, contingent on the government matching that funding and Christchurch Cathedral Reinstatement Limited showing a clear path to completion. What I noticed the most were all the negative comments around that funding—by newspapers, radio hosts and politicians, as well as online. The church was painted as a wealthy organisation that asked the ratepayer for money for their own pipe dreams. The online comments were particularly hostile and mostly showed a lack of understanding of what churches do and how they are administered. But even more than that, some were outright vindictive towards the Church, suggesting that it was a parasite on society that tried to exploit people. Maybe I saw more than I should have of those arguments, because I actually read some of them and the algorithm soon showed me more voices critical of the Cathedral and the church. However, it seems that unfortunately the saga of the Cathedral gives people an opportunity to criticize the Church and to amplify any negative feelings they had towards it.

There have always been people that are opposed to the Church. Some may have had negative experiences, others put a defensive case around their heart so not to expose the hurt, some are honestly persuaded by ideas that do not align with the Christian faith, while yet others belong to groups critical to the Church. But the current negativity has some additional elements. At the moment it is quite tough economically for individuals. They sense that big organisations do not care about them and feel disregarded by government and big corporations. And to many the Church is another big institution that does not care for them and only wants their money. That understanding is somewhat outdated, since the Church now is no longer an influential institution in society and actually quite fragile, but some of the old narratives are repeated in rather more uncertain times and get new meaning.

At our clergy conference the Bishop did say that the current debates were quite stressful, but they also moved him to prayer. I think we should not just be despondent. As church people we do have the opportunity to show that the Church is not so much a big institution that tries to get into people’s pockets, rather the Church is the people—people who meet together and welcome others, who care for others. And those people together point to the reality of God in their lives.