My husband – not a churchgoer – was scanning our benefice What’s On news sheet. As he read through the notices of Parish breakfast, Teacake Tuesday, Cafe church, Ladies Lunch, Men’s Breakfast, and Thursday Lunch Club he asked whether anything took place in the C of E these days without food being involved. Since most of our Sunday services are also followed by refreshments, the Lent Course is followed by lunch, and that the very successful group of church cleaners recently organised at St Denys is cemented by cake and coffee, I had to admit that he had a point!
Of course the justification for all these is that they provide an opportunity for the members of the congregations to socialise and, with the possible exception of the Thursday Club, the food is a secondary consideration. I can’t think that people turn out on a Sunday morning lured by coffee and biscuits though someone did remark to me recently that the brownies once served at St Michael’s were the best they had ever tasted and inquired whether there was any chance of them reappearing.
Of course reinforcing the ties of friendship and fellowship in this way is positive and we would all welcome any newcomers into the church activities. But I can also see that what makes the church seem more clubbable might equally make it seem more of a clique to the shy or diffident. We need to make sure that what is intended as extending a welcome to the church doesn’t end up doing the opposite. Just a thought…
Gill Salway