Bishop: Eucharist makes it ‘quite tough’ for fringe to attend church

http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2011/06/25/bishop-eucharist-makes-it-%E2%80%98quite-tough%E2%80%99-for-fringe-to-attend-church/

From Lichfield Diocesan Website

A Church of England bishop has called on churches to reconsider their pattern of services, saying part of the decline in church attendance can be attributed to the move over the past few decades from prayer book Mattins towards more Eucharistic services.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, told his Diocesan Synod, meeting in Stafford on Thursday night, that “One of the reasons for our recent decline is that we have stopped creating a fringe, and one reason for a declining fringe is that you have got to be quite tough to come to some of our services if you are not a regular attender.”

The bishop made it clear he was not attacking the Eucharist, but added: “the truth is that we Christians like Eucharists and we like them too much to make concessions to others. Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for eating the Eucharistic bread and drinking the wine without thinking of their poor neighbours. Perhaps that is a little like us devising more and more intricate and beautiful services for our own use – and forgetting those who might come if we made things simpler for them to start with.”

He said the increased use of Eucharists had resulted in longer services that were less simple and inclusive; and that lay ministers had become disenfranchised. He said: “Morning Prayer used to last 50 minutes with a good sermon; Family Services only 45 minutes. But a sung Eucharist can take anything from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. Sometimes I find myself thinking that this is a good way of saying ‘Go away’ to young people who come to visit us.”