Where are UK men singing, if not in church?

If you are a man, and looking for a way to excuse not wanting to sing in church, here you go!

Research among UK males done on behalf of the magazine Sorted indicates that...
- only 52% of men say they are comfortable singing in church

For comparison:
- 40% say they are at ease singing in a pub
- 48% are confortable singing at a party


But the big winners are:
- 83% are at ease singing in the shower
- 86% are comfortable singing alone in a car

Thank you Sorted. We are all better for knowing this!

Pagans on the morning news. Again!

A few days ago the morning news featured Pagan English police being given the right to take time off for religious holidays. This morning there were scenes from Stonehenge and the celebration of the Summer Solstice.

But according to the BBC, "The Pagan Federation of Great Britain have no precise figures but estimate that the number of Pagans in the British Isles is between 50,000 and 200,000".

Even going off the larger figure, that means there are more people attending "New Churches" in the UK than are Pagan. When was the last time you saw someone from Newfrontiers or Pioneer on the morning news?

Why remove Bibles, but not porn, from hotels?

This story is a few years old but I just heard it yesterday.

“...a Swedish hotel guest named Stefan Jansson grew upset when he found a Bible in his room. He fired off an email to the hotel chain saying the presence of the Christian Scriptures was "boring and stupefying." This spring, the Scandic chain, Scandinavia's biggest, ordered the New Testaments removed. In a country where barely 3% of the population goes to church each week, the affair seemed just another step in Christian Europe's long march toward secularism. Then something odd happened: A national furor erupted. A conservative bishop announced a boycott. A leftist radical who became a devout Christian and talk-show host denounced the Biblical purge in newspaper columns and on television. A young evangelical Christian organized an electronic letter-writing campaign, asking Scandic: Why are you removing Bibles but not pay-porn on your TVs? Scandic, which had started keeping its Bibles behind the front desk, put the New Testament back in guest rooms. "Sweden is not as secular as we thought," says Christer Sturmark, head of Sweden's Humanist Association, a noisy assembly of nonbelievers to which the Bible-protesting hotel guest belongs.” (Andrew Higgins, 14 July, 2007)

Exciting church growth in...

...Africa

"Just after the First World War, an Anglican diocese was established in Lagos in Nigeria. Ninety-one years later, it has become the largest active Protestant church body in the world.

"Much of the growth of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, however, occurred during the last two decades.

"From 24 dioceses in 1988, the church has grown to 156 dioceses. Every Sunday, the Church of Nigeria gathers 20 million people in worship of Jesus Christ." (Christian Today, 15 June 2010)

...Asia

"Protestant churches in Hong Kong are blooming with an annual growth rate 6.2% over the last five years and the number of Protestants in the former British colony drawing close to 300,000." (Christian Today, 1 June 2010)

...Europe?

Wouldn't it be great to see this kind of explosive church growth in Europe? We serve the same God. Let's keep praying for it!

Sweet and sour experience for British missions

Yesterday I had a great sweet and sour chicken at the Chinese Church in London. I was there for "Passion for Mission", a conference run by Global Connections (a network of British mission organisations and mission-minded churches). The building used to be a synagogue but now houses a large and vibrant Chinese Christian community. I'll be back in October to speak at their annual mission conference.

Bible... from heaven?

Not long ago I heard a story set in Hungary during the Communist regime. A Christian had received a package of Bibles which had been smuggled into the country for him to distribute. With the Bibles in his car, and no chance to safely hide them, he was summoned to the local police station. He knew that if he was caught with the illegal Bibles he would face prison at least. So he prayed and then threw the Bibles one by one out the window of his car as he drove to the police. He was safe, but he felt awful about the Bibles being lost.

Years later he shared about this in a Hungarian church meeting. Afterwards an old man stood up and told how one day he had been travelling down the road in his horse and cart. Suddenly from nowhere a Bible fell onto the seat next to him. Intrigued he took it home and read it and eventually became a Christian.

This isn't just a brilliant story. It's a great reminder that prayer works even when we are scared and depserate!

Not every European church is European!

This afternoon was a good reminder that a lot of people living in Europe today are not European. I attended an event hosted by a Korean church from London. They served a brilliant Korean bbq spread complete with two kinds of kimchee (one just isn't enough). From time to time loud cheers erupted from the next room where Korea was beating Greece in an early game of the World Cup. But the true reminder that this wasn't a typical European event was the free accupuncture being offered! I decided to not accept their kind offer...

Church in Albania replaces bulbs in street lights

Yesterday I met a woman named Janet who was recently in Lushnje (no that is not misspelled) Albanial. Lushnje is a town with some real needs. Such as unemployment is a staggering 60%!

A church plant led by an Albanian man in Lushnje is trying to be "transformative". When I asked what this meant, she shared the example that they have started a school that is teaching English lessons, providing jobs for teachers and education for young people.

But what I thought was the best example was this. Someone had stolen all the bulbs from the local street lights, meaning it was quite dangerous for local girls to go out after dark. So the church replaced all the light bulbs!

We are told to be a light to our community. Now that is taking it literally!

Big Church Day Out: 10,000 people came together a week ago for a day of praise and worship near Loughborough in England. Great to see so many people worshipping Jesus at once. Of course in Nigeria you can go to Christian events where over a million people regularly attend. So while the Big Church Day Out was tiny by comparison. Still a fun day out though!