Keeping the faith, quickly
What do you make of this idea reported in The Telegraph?
The Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, said worship has become too complicated and time-consuming, leaving people who are not regular churchgoers feeling confused and excluded....In a speech to clergy in his diocese, which has seen growth in recent years, Bishop Gledhill said there had been a tendency to devise "more and more intricate and beautiful services for our own use – forgetting those who might come if we made things simpler for them to start with"....
"Holy Communion is very important, but you need a lot of stamina to get through these. If you're trying to attract newcomers, these services need to be much shorter. We are excluding people who we should be welcoming."
The article cites some research turned up by mystery-church-shopping site Ship of Fools showing how sermon lengths ranged from five to 80 minutes on April 24th, with Church of England preachers averaging around 20 minutes.
