What attracts people to Church?

On Tuesday I had 10 minutes of fame being interviewed on BBC Radio Manchester (if anyone actually listens to it!!).

Someone had seen the poster outside our Church which said, "Easter without Jesus is dead". Now I thought it was a clever poster which might make people think about the importance of the resurrection and the fact that without Jesus the Easter holiday is just 4 days out of the office for people who work in banks.

Somehow the message that people were getting is that the church thinks Easter is Dead!

So I was interviewed on how we try to attract people to come to church. This was a curious experience as I am very indifferent now about the attractional approach. However, I think that there is still some value to attracting people who have lapsed or who have had some christian input in earlier life. I know that this is addition, but there are still some 20-30% of the population who could be brought in if the present members were more active in inviting them.

So for me the real issue is not the snappy posters, but helping the people who form the present worshipping community to become more attractive examples of what it means to be a Christian.