The Sunday Times
October 09, 2005
In an attempt to boost bums on pews and maybe even win over a few doubters, the church goes on show next week at the Royal Highland Centre. Nick Thorpe reports
Has your organist left you in the lurch again? Could your Sunday sermons use a little extra pizzazz? Are you looking for eye-catching fashion to brighten up the pulpit? If you are, you need look no further than the travelling bazaar dubbed the “ideal church show”, which arrives at Ingliston showground near Edinburgh on Thursday. All the remedies are here, from a karaoke hymn machine to preaching puppets, multicolour vestments to non-alcoholic communion wines, everything you could possibly want from an ecclesiastical supermarket.
Organisers of the three-day Scottish Christian Resources Exhibition expect more than 3,000 visitors in Edinburgh this week, when hundreds of stallholders attempt to roll back the tide of unbelief with some ethereal blue-sky thinking.
Just to make sure Scotland’s unchurched youth is listening, the vehicle will be unveiled and sent on its national tour by
Cameron Stout, the famously celibate 2003 winner of Big Brother.
“Some aspects of the technology stretched me a bit,” admitted the 34-year-old last week. “But young people will be in their element. I’ve often said that a lot of churches are their own worst enemies when it comes to attracting members. But something like this shows folk that the Bible can still be relevant today. We’re living in a very searching generation, so the church has to make itself more accessible.”
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