clarkson

i'm quite keen on jeremy clarkson. i like the way that he, a little like jonathan ross, isn't afraid to flirt with unpolitical-correctness in order to get his point across. he seems to be openly non-religious which maybe is a pity, but this quote from his book 'the world according to clarkson' was quite interesting as a complete outsider's take on the problem with the church. he's writing an article about the lottery and all of the rubbish stuff it gives money to, one of which he claims is towards restoring church buildings (wasn't aware of this myself) he writes;

"why is lottery money being used to restore churches? the church is richer than royalty. it's even richer, i'm told, than jonathan ross. if it needs a few bob to replaster a nave or two it should think about bringing in bigger audiences. and if it can't put bums on seats, it should think about packing up."

i'm intrigued by the reference to church being 'rich' try telling that to my diocese - and we're one of the wealthiest! but his synopsis of the plight of the church seems to be a good one - all we need to do is 'bring in bigger audiences'. ok so screw the theological argument for a moment, i know that we need to get outside the church, i know that audiences gives the wrong impression when you're trying to refer to disciples blah blah blah, but at the root i think he's struck gold. we need to stop faffing about and just get on with attracting people, seeing more people become christians... simple really... don't know why no-one thought of it before...