Headlines

"Jesus would have shopped at Aldi, says Bishop" read the slightly provocative headline on the news-feed today. But Stephen Cotterell, the bishop being quoted, was making an important point. Talking about the perspective some people have of who can, and more importantly, who can't or doesn't come to church, he said:

“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?”

So his point isn't the Son of God's supermarket of choice but the very significant question of how the church has become that which God may never had intended it to be. Possibly a more important question is how we become the church that God wants us to be!

Whether it is a perception of education or class or something else, the simple truth is that church has become a place where church going people go rather than a place where non-church going people might consider visiting. Whether we're doing Alpha or Emmaus, back to church Sunday or Scottish country dancing, it's church for church people in many a missing person's eyes.

From a missional church point-of-view the challenge is to get back to partnering with God in his mission to the world. Easy if you know how, but we don't seem quite to have worked out the how bit just yet.

But, by the grace of God, we will.