Did anyone come back to church?

Back to Church Sunday want to know what happened, you can relay your experiences here.

Thanks to Paul Bayes' Start the Week for this, which also has links this week on:
- Mission Action Planning - a new training day on Nov 12th, the week before the Mission 21 church planting conference in Bath. Don't expect to see me in Yeovil in mid-November!
- new Church Army/Christian Enquiry Agency partnership
- focus on older people
- Rowan Williams CD from York Courses
- a publication which covers topics like 'how to pray in board meetings' (apart from 'Oh God how much longer is this going to go on for?') and 'funeral evangelism'.


Comment is Free has a couple of pieces about Back to Church Sunday:
'What's the Point of Back to Church Sunday?' which wonders if it's fishing in the same pool as Alpha. Alan Wilson has responded, and debunks the myth that BTCS was dreamed up by a marketing department somewhere. If only we had one...


Meanwhile, 'You and Yours' is covering the topic tomorrow: this from their website:

*Call You and Yours: How relevant is organised religion in today's society?*

This weekend Christian churches in England and Wales are organising their latest "back to church" day to try and encourage people to return to Sunday worship; though their rap inspired radio advert has been criticised by some for being an embarassing attempt at trendiness.

There are also suggestions that British Mosques are failing to connect with young Muslims in the UK and there's been a steady decline in the numbers of people attending traditional Synagogues.

Those within the organised religions continue to debate whether it's time to modernise - so that they reflect society's more liberal views on homosexuality and the role of women.

In times of hardship and changing circumstances people supposedly look for meaning in life - are we more inclined to turn to spiritualism or the humanist movement rather than tradititional religions?

Let us know your thoughts ahead of Tuesday's programme.

details of how to call are via the link above.

Update: a search for Back to Church Sunday on Twitter throws up one or two successes, people tweeting about a decent number of guests in church. We had 2 (I think) one who was there not because it was BTCS, but because she 'felt a need to go to church' and really enjoyed it. We split it over 2 weeks to include our Harvest service next Sunday, so there may be others at that.

Idea for next year 'Back to World Sunday', where churches close their services and Christians spend the day hanging out with their non-churchgoing friends.