This advice was offered by one of our Council members on potential issues related to meeting in a Church, in this case a Cathedral, and registering the meeting through the Church. These suggestions are appropriate wherever the meeting happens. The main problems occur when the meeting is registered through the Church and the first and second contacts are clergy or parish staff.
“When a group of us decided to set up a Julian Meeting, although we were mostly Cathedral ‘people’ and were able to advertise the meeting easily in the Cathedral, we held the meeting in various homes because:-
1 We wanted to meet in the evening and that made access at the building more difficult (as well as parking)
2 There are no suitable ‘enclosed’ spaces in this cathedral
3 We were clear that it should be seen as an ecumenical group and we wanted a certain independence so that we could not be closed down at the whim of any future Dean and Chapter!
So we had a freedom that some groups who meet on church premises (whatever kind of church) do not have.
Of course there are many groups who meet very successfully on church premises and it is helpful that the meetings can be added to their church website information.
Julian Groups have always been ecumenical and at a Cathedral that is much easier to hold to than in some smaller churches where the building is clearly of one denomination and there may be a perception that it is ‘a methodist group ‘ or whatever.
But if you have goodwill and an appropriate space then a cathedral with its openness and inclusivity is a good space to offer an opportunity to simply ‘be’ in the company of a group of like-minded folk. And a Cathedral is much more likely to be open in the daytime than many churches (sadly).
The biggest issue for us, if we had met on the premises in the day time, would have been the clash with the cathedral’s very varied diary commitments especially rehearsals for events!”
Does this mean we cannot meet in our Church or register the Meeting to the Church?
Not at all. It just means there can be issues that need thinking about. In particular in respect of the principles of lay leadership and non-demoninational/ecumenical independence of the Meeting .