I have read through the previous comments several times, each time hoping that they would not seem so extreme in their negativity! Instead, each reading makes me feel more anxious to say my part... so....

Is my faith important to me?

Yes. It is the single most important element in my life. I don’t believe for one moment that we are “accidental” Christians. I believe that we are invited guests in His Church.

Is this particular Church important to me?

Again, yes. Not being God myself, I don’t know whether other faiths have it wrong (or even perhaps right?) but I do know that this is the right place for me. It is the place I have been directed to by Him and the place that feels like my spiritual home. Could any other Christian Church serve the same purpose? No. I honestly don’t think it could – and I have tried a wide variety of churches and services over the years. The Anglican Community is where I feel more closely in contact with God. No, I’m not saying that other Churches can’t help bring you close to Our Lord – I’m saying that for ME, this is the Church that does it. I am comfortable with its creeds and happy with its flexibility as compared to other Christian Churches.

And this particular Chaplaincy?

Again, this is the place I have been led to, so yes, it is important to me. Furthermore, I feel strongly that people in this part of the world feel no social pressure to attend Church as they may do in other places (I’m thinking here of the typical village where “everyone goes to church”) so I think that those of us who attend do so because it is important to us – more of an active worship than other comments here would have us believe!

And so...?

...and so, how can we share the love God has shown us by providing us with a spiritual home with the wider community? (and yes – I really do think that this is the real question we should be debating – the money is a by-product that will come with increased attendance)

Well I would think it fairly obvious that reducing the service given by the church is NOT the way to reach more people, or to satisfy the needs of those who are already members! OK, so we need to make contact with more people and have the resources to be able to deliver when they reach out to us. We need to be available and they need to know that we are there. Someone else has mentioned the Churches image as being somewhat exclusive – well maybe there’s a good place to start! We need to look at ways of becoming more open and less ritualistic. Ideas?

Any businessman knows that you have to speculate to accumulate, as the saying goes, and what we need to do is get ourselves known and show who we are, what we do and invite others to join in. Outreach services at times like Remembrance Day have been mentioned – brilliant! That is an excellent way of reaching older people who are in the area – but what about the young ones? The Christmas Carol service is one plus in that area, but why don’t we have a choir out there singing in the shopping centres (and collecting funds and “advertising” the Chaplaincy by the by)? And not just at Christmas, too!

The fact that non Church attendees aren’t keen to fork out to pay for the clergy doesn’t have to mean that they can’t participate in some of out projects. Here’s an example that I have been prompted to start by this years exceptionally cold winter: the Alicante area – in particular the city itself, has a large population of homeless (ever growing thanks to the financial crisis) and whilst the summer months leave them fairly well protected when sleeping out, the winter means terrible hardship. I am making “winter packs” consisting of a large plastic sheet, a blanket and a hot water bottle (any bar would be happy to refill it for these unfortunate people) to be handed out to those on the street. If this became a church project, then I am sure that some of those generous non church attendees would be happy to fork out for a few packs for the homeless (they cost around 5€ - 10€ if you make the blankets from left-over wool). That makes us active in our charitable work, visible within the community and helps us to be seen in a less “conservative” light. That is just one idea, of course – and if each of us has one....

And finally...

It seems sadly ironic to me that those parts of the chaplaincy with declining numbers are the ones which are trying hard to hang on to what they have whilst the only part which has shown growth in recent years (i.e. us!) seems to be falling over itself to give it up! How can anyone believe that having fewer services is going to help us fill our coffers! Yes, in the short term it reduces expenses, but long term it guarantees the death of the Chaplaincy in the area – and that is not something we should even be contemplating! So please, lets hear a few more ideas about how we can expand, and a lot less about how we should be curling up in a corner and saying “well, never mind, it doesn’t really matter”, because it DOES matter. I matters very much. Christians need to be a part of a Christian Community in order to grow – Jesus told us so. Let’s not give up on the one He has given us here, please.