Sunday Assembly: the "godless church"

Sanderson Jones could be on to something. In January 2013 he took over a disused church in North London, announced his plan on Facebook, then started holding “Sunday Assemblies” at which “congregations” sang songs, greeted each other, listened to an address and put money in a bag, but there was no mention of higher powers at any point.

The Assemblies have grown in popularity with new ones being started across London and other places in the UK.

The atmosphere tends towards “happy clappy”, in that everyone joins in singing uplifting popular songs, and the age of most attendees is late teens to early thirties, but there is no mystical arm waving or “we really want to thank you, God” here. If this is religion, it is neither God-based nor pagan. Nobody is required to believe in anything.

There is, however, a strong social message in that the addresses are mainly about how the attendees can do things to help their fellow human beings, with the motto of the Assemblies being “live better, help often and wonder more”. Projects are organised, such as litter-clearing and other community action. Although people go along to enjoy themselves, and to learn things they did not know before, there are demands made on them to “spread the love” in practical ways.

For example, at a harvest-based Assembly there was a talk from a wine connoisseur as samples were passed round, thus combining education with enjoyment. The attendees were asked to bring food items that would then be donated to a food bank – although there was an irony here in that the food bank in question was run by a local church.

So is this movement a sign of the future? Can the community spirit of people be inspired to do good deeds without the need to involve the mumbo-jumbo of religious belief? My own thought is that this is a very positive move, and one that should be encouraged. If you are a non-believer, and that is true of most of us these days, that does not mean that you do not need the social contact that getting together on a Sunday morning gives the traditional churchgoer. Also, it does not mean that you are unaware of the needs of others or that you are unwilling to help if giving sufficient encouragement and organisation.

The godless church sounds like a brilliant idea to me, and I hope it has a very successful future.

© John Welford