How do we get our impressions of a Church (I refer here to the building, not the body of believers)? This evening, as I passed St. Marks Church on Leeds Road in Harrogate, the first things to catch my attention were two huge posters, one occupying each of the road facing windows of the churches main entrance porch. The posters were for ‘KUMON’ a commercially franchised system for teaching Maths and English to children, as a supplement to their school education.
The size of the posters made the church look like an industrial unit rather than a house of prayer. According to the ‘Kumon’ website, enrolment costs £15 per child and the fees are £45 per child per subject per month. So much for the churches outreach to the poor and, its not as if this particular church needs the hiring fee to sustain themselves.
The message it gave out for me was quite simple; “THIS IS A COSY MIDDLE CLASS UTILITY”!
- living and frequently struggling with moderate M.E. -
where (bad) health, faith, politics and the joys and troubles of daily life collide.
ME
3 comments:
I agree with your analysis there. I don't think churches should be advertising commercial enterprises like that. That is a real problem for the church, particularly the CofE in trying to overcome that impression of being a cosy middle-class club. The nonconformist denominations always seemed better at being "of the people, for the people", and I find their decline very sad.
My background is RC and for all the negatives associated with that particular denomination (of which there are many) in Britain the mass (excuse the pun !) of people in the pews are from working class backgrounds. Same goes for the priests who have traditionally been bright working-class Irish or second/third generation Irish lads.
What kind of impression all that colourful statuary and Italianate architecture gives to the passer-by however is another matter ! Possibly that it all belongs to a rather strange and exclusive club :-)
Thanks for your comments Martyn. I'm pleased to report that the notices were no longer there when I ventured down to Open Church this morning but, even if they're only displayed whilst the Kumon 'session' is active that is the image that lingers.
I agree with your remarks about nonconformist denominations (very much my upbringing) and my wife is a local preacher in Methodism.
I also take on board your comments about RC's and, it's interesting to note the appeal the Anglo-Catholics had, at one time, in some inner city areas ... it has been said that the statuary and vestments brought a little colour into otherwise drab lives.
What I always admired about the Anglo-Catholic tradition was their insistence upon the removal of the box pews and special places in the church for the squirearchy etc. Very simple but also very radical and challenging to the establishment.
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