Possible Episcopal Church Ads

I have never felt very confident of my own ideas for getting people into church. I do think that The Episcopal Church has a lot to offer, however, and the public at large may not be aware of it. This, along with other considerations explained in Lionel Deimel’s Web Log, led me to create a number of possible ads for The Episcopal Church. I began with 22 of these, but have pared the list down to 16 with the help of Facebook friends.

My post, “Tooting The Episcopal Church’s Horn” discusses how I came to this project and exhibits all 16 ads.

A sample ad is below. Click on it to see a larger version.

Pews

I don’t actually have strong feelings about pews in churches, but I admit that they are a “new” invention in the history of Christianity. Certainly, the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe contain magnificent spaces devoid of pews. I must say that I do deplore the pews of colonial church enclosed in little cages.

Contemporary churches benefit in an obvious way from eschewing pews—flexibility is gained, whether for worship, meetings, or other events. I’m hardly ready to recommend that St. Paul’s remove its pews, but I do want to recommend an essay I encountered that makes theological and practical arguments for doing away with pews.

The essay is “The Problem with Pews.” It is aimed at a Roman Catholic audience, but it seems as relevant to non-Catholics. You can read “The Problem with Pews” here.