{"id":7455,"date":"2017-03-04T08:46:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T08:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7455"},"modified":"2017-03-06T08:39:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T08:39:02","slug":"the-beauty-of-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/the-beauty-of-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty of the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wandering around St. Albans Cathedral I marvelled at the beauty of the old, imperial building. The attention to detail, the sheer scope of the ancient project &#8211; it was breath-taking. The chance encounter with the orchestra rehearsing Elgar only amplified the moment. I don\u2019t know, perhaps I\u2019m the only one, but sometimes church buildings seem a darn sight more impressive than the people they house.<\/p>\n<p>Choosing a Church today can be a bit of a chore. Modern, convenient transport means we aren\u2019t restricted to the parish church. We can shop around. And so we produce lists; things we\u2019re looking out for. Worship style, child care, service times, outreach projects etc. etc. \u201cWhere will be best for me, for my family?\u201d, we muse.<\/p>\n<p>All good questions. The problem is, if that\u2019s all we\u2019re basing our decision on we\u2019re restricting ourselves considerably. Our list of desirables, is just that &#8211; <em>ours<\/em>. It presumes we know our needs, and we know what Church is meant to do for us.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the best services I have been to haven\u2019t been in English. Perhaps there was translation available, or perhaps not. They were so different to my norm that I could more plainly see the beauty in a people coming together for one main reason: to worship a God that they know.<\/p>\n<p>You see, it\u2019s not about the quality of the coffee, or the style of preaching, or the size of the group. The people ultimately come together because no matter who they are they have a greater thing in common.<\/p>\n<p>It makes the true Church the most diverse and inclusive place you will ever find. It\u2019s not about race, or gender, or language, or age, or profession, or location. It\u2019s about someone who transcends all of that: God.<\/p>\n<p>And if I turn up to Church looking to be impressed by the people &#8211; better versions of myself, more likely than not &#8211; then maybe I will feel comforted and maybe I will feel affirmed in my stylistic choices, but I will forgo the chance to learn something that my personal culture doesn\u2019t let me see.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe beauty of the Church is that for the most part, it doesn\u2019t look like me.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yJ0w1u10VM\">https:\/\/t.co\/yJ0w1u10VM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CVM Demolition Squad (@cvmDemolition) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cvmDemolition\/status\/837658868050182145\">March 3, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Deep down I know that a world full of people like me would be a horror film. Humanity only grows in richness, and collectively reflects more of its Maker, through its diversity. The beauty of the Church is that for the most part, it doesn\u2019t look like me. And that is a very good thing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/the-beauty-of-the-church\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u2019t know, perhaps I\u2019m the only one, but sometimes church buildings seem a darn sight more impressive than the people they house.<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[396],"tags":[39],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/st_albans-cathedral.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1Wf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5044,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/church-without-walls\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":0},"title":"Church Without Walls","date":"20 March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The fastest growing churches are the ones without \u00a0'walls', the New Testament church, the persecuted underground church in China, the Pentecostal church in South America and parts of Africa. They have no buildings, no institutions, no professional leadership, but they have the body of Christ involved in all spheres of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3263,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/man-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":1},"title":"Man Sunday","date":"8 November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Level Four evangelism \u2013 \u201cman-friendly church\u201d was once a far-off, lofty place we only aspired to one day reach. In the meantime, there was a whole stack of work to be shifted in getting Levels One and Two off the ground. (To the uninitiated, in CVM\u2019s Four-Level Evangelism Strategy, these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/real-men-dont-do-church-part-three\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":2},"title":"Real Men Don&#039;t Do Church &#8211; Part Three","date":"12 August 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s think now about the more personal issues that a man faces.\u00a0 Sure, there will be a fa\u00e7ade that most men construct that says, \u201cHey, I\u2019m doing just great\u201d but behind that there is often a much more raw reality. \u00a0Many men are really wrestling with issues such as sexual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":401,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/news\/where-have-all-the-men-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":3},"title":"Where Have All The Men Gone?","date":"9 February 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In an article from the 9th of February Steve Doughty of the Daily Mail picks up on the problem of male attendance in the church, as highlighted by the Church of England. Dwindling numbers of men at Church of England services have resulted in a 'testosterone deficit' among the faithful,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7445,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/international-womens-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":4},"title":"International Women\u2019s Day","date":"8 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day today \u2013 so why is Christian Vision for Men highlighting this? In lots of spheres across the world, people are working for equal opportunities for men and women. CVM is involved in this too\u2026 The problems The current average gender ratio in the UK Church is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IWD.png?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3176,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/a-men-friendly-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":5},"title":"A Men-friendly church?","date":"11 October 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years\u2019 back our church stopped doing the Saturday morning men\u2019s breakfast thing. Sacrilege? To be blunt, it was mostly older chaps who went along, and, the reality was, no-one really invited any unchurched men along. It was a social club that was never going to reach the lost.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7455"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7460,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455\/revisions\/7460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}