This from AOL News, a lesson in missiology that applies not only to the Church of England, but has considerable relvance to midlle class, well resourced, respectably comfortable evangelicalism of varied flavours.
"The Church of England needs to shed its middle
class "Marks and Spencer"-only image in order to attract the Asda and
Aldi generation of worshippers, a senior bishop has warned.
The Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading,
spoke of his sense of frustration at the view that the Church of
England was the "Marks and Spencer" option only, for the highly
educated or "suited and booted".
Jesus would just as likely have shopped at Asda and Aldi as at Marks and Spencer, he said."
He said: "Even today I meet people who think
you have to be highly educated or suited and booted to be a person who
goes to church. That's so frustrating. How did it come to this, that we
have become known as just the Marks and Spencer option when in our
heart of hearts we know that Jesus would just as likely be in the queue
at Asda or Aldi?""Jesus got us started with church simply. Like this – sitting us down
in groups on the grass and telling simple stories. Not simplistic. But
certainly not complicated. All his first disciples were down-to-earth
people who wanted to know what life was all about."
Of course like all generalisations it
sounds a bit unfair; and like all rhetorical overstatements it sounds
simplistic. But I didn't find it easy to shut the good Bishop up with a
good put down – even if I do sometimes shop at Aldi's and Lidl's
myself.
I do wonder about the fairness of my own title for this post though –
because the use of the word type is itself a blunt instrument, and act of stereo-typing. Why
assume only the highly educated go to M&S? And what evidence that
Asda shoppers don't have university Degrees? Still. The Bishop is not
wrong about the predominant impression that Christianity is
respectable, comfortable, reliably safe, for the quite well resourced, and by and
large attracts a better class of, a more respectable type of, a more
well-spoken kind of, well, person.
Whereas the inclusive Gospel of
Christ wants the Church to declare and demonstrate that there is
neither M&S nor Aldi's, John Lewis nor Primark, Sainsbury's or Lidl
– in the eyes of the God made known in Christ Jesus, all are to be equally loved, valued and welcomed. The missional challenge for the church then, whatever the denominational flavour, is to create a community in Christ where the least important distinction between us is where we shop.
And where the most important distinctive is to embody the indiscriminate love of God.
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