London, UK - The Anglican church must shed its “Marks & Spencer” middle class image to attract the Asda and Aldi generation of worshippers, bishops said last night.
Speaking ahead of a Church in Wales and Church of England drive to boost attendances, one leading churchman insisted Jesus would have been just as likely to shop at M&S’s budget competitors.
Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Reading, added there was a need for churches to attract a more diverse congregation because of their image as the preserve of the well-heeled.
Bishop Cottrell 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 & Spencer option when in our heart of hearts we know that Jesus would just as likely be in the queue at Asda or Aldi?”
He added that Jesus started the church as a simple operation – the congregation sitting down in groups on a patch of grass – sharing stories and anecdotes about the creation of the world.
“Jesus got us started simply. Like this – sitting down in groups and telling simple stories. Not simplistic, but certainly not complicated.” the Bishop said.
Welsh theological figures backed the claims, saying that a historic, socioeconomic divide had existed in Valleys towns and local places of worship.
Bishop of Monmouth, Dominic Walker, said: “I think Bishop Stephen has a point. The Church in Wales sometimes suffers from the same problem. In some Valleys communities there is a history of mine owners and managers going to the church and the miners going to the chapels, which gave the sad impression that the church was for the middle classes.
“We need to get the message across that we welcome the rich and poor, the young and old, black and white, the healthy and sick, the happy and sad.”
The comments coincide with this week’s culmination of the Back to Church on Sunday campaign.
The Church of England’s fresh return to worship initiative was launched after provisional figures published this year revealed that average weekend church attendance had fallen to 978,000 in 2007, from just over one million in 2002.
The Back to Church on Sunday campaign – which this year has seen Church in Wales become a member for the first time – includes a rap- style video advert that carries the message: “You might have left for so many reasons, but am I wrong to sense that now’s the season, to stop, turn around, walk back? Don’t look to make no airs and graces. Faked up smiles and masked up faces. No need to make no innovation. Please accept this as your invitation.”
Marketing expert Henry Enos, of the University of Glamorgan, said that the speech and up-to-date awareness drive were a “clever” means of engaging with lapsed and would-be worshippers. Mr Enos told the Western Mail: “The church seems to have identified a gap and has come up with a way of how to fill it. The supermarket analogy is quite a good one to use as when you are trying to speak to certain groups a you must communicate with them using their tools. The message from the church has remained the same – that it still wants to attract a wide and diverse group of people. It’s appropriate because supermarkets are seen as modern cathedrals.”
A host of other Christian leaders yesterday lined up to back the church’s newest drive for members. The Bishop of Doncaster, Cyril Ashton, and a team of fellow motorcyclists have already toured the South of Yorkshire to promote it.
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams offered his backing too.
A spokeswoman for Asda said: “It may surprise the Bishop of Reading to know that, for some years now, Asda has run Britain’s largest workplace chaplaincy scheme and we’d welcome him, or any men or women of the cloth, into our stores to get closer to their flock.
“Many of our stores have chaplains walking the aisles for a few hours each week looking for colleagues and customers who might want to talk.”