Graham CrayAlan Roxburgh has an interview with Rev. Graham Cray, who is the Bishop of Maidstone in the Church of England. He has recently published a book called The Mission-shaped Church.

The huge challenge for the church in England is that England has become almost completely “post-Christian.” That is, almost no one goes to church anymore. A 2001 statistic showed that barely over 6% of the population attended church–that means 94% of the population does not attend church of any kind.

As a result, the Church of England has found itself in a place where it has no choice but to adapt to the culture. Notice, I didn’t say “change it’s message” for the culture. But it is beginning to adapt the way it reaches out to its culture.

Here’s a quote from the interview with Graham Cray:

Church where people are, when they can attend, that is authentically church, has become the crucial thing. We have several hundred projects running. We have church in skate parks; we have a Eucharist for Goths; we have cell church amongst the Greater Merseyside Police that happens in the police station in the lunch hour or after work. One of our missionists said to me, “I discovered where all the de-churched are. They’re at work and they haven’t got time to come on Sundays.”

And here’s an excerpt from a story he told about an older congregation he serves:

I remember when…the Women’s Institute, the older ladies—and, really, to be an influence in the Women’s Institute you’ve got to be over eighty in our village—summoned us to introduce ourselves to them. And we told our story a little. And one of these ladies—and they’re fairly formidable—said, “It worries us that our grandchildren don’t ever come to church. Do you think they would come to a church like ours?”

It was very formal and the congregation was very elderly. And we looked at one another and thought, “Well, we’re new here. We might as well be honest.” And we said, “We don’t honestly think they would.”

And they said, “No, we don’t think they would, either, and we need to find how to do something.”

Now if you asked them to do it, most of them probably couldn’t. But they no longer refuse permission for someone who can.

He goes on to talk about the kind of ministry they’ve developed in the local school and then finishes by saying, “And the old ladies are thrilled. But if you tried to put them all together in the same place at the same time it wouldn’t be fair to any of them.”

I think it’s exciting to hear about an older generation of Christians reaching out to a younger generation in the language that that generation understands!

To see the entire interview, click here. (It’s just over 11 minutes.)