Church Army Sunday Challenges Churches to Focus on Mission

Church Army Sunday is to be celebrated on 25th September. Under the theme "Get OUT More", Church Army Sunday is more than a Sunday, it aims to equip churches to develop an effective Christian presence in everyday situations in the community.

Church Army has been at the heart of evangelism within the Church of England since 1882. It has spearheaded the Mission-Shaped Report which inspired many UK churches to explore a fresh expression of the church in the mission context amid declining church attendance.

According to the Church Army, statistics showed that two-thirds of the population believe the pub has more to offer the community than the church, and twice as many young people believe in horoscopes than the Bible. Therefore, Church Army challenges every church to go out to bring back the missing pews.

This year, in celebrating Church Army Sunday, a free resource was published to help churches and Christians explore how to be mission-shaped.

Philip Johanson, Church Army’s Chief Secretary commented, "We have around 350 evangelists whose aim is to share the Gospel through words and action. Their work can generally be described as pioneer evangelism - seeking to reach people that are otherwise outside the church’s influence."

"We are always looking to find new ways for parishes to be ‘mission-shaped’ enabling them to have a sharper cutting edge in their mission activities and the materials that we have made available FREE on our website are our attempt to make a practical response to help equip congregations with some practical guidance to help them Get OUT More."

The free resource is produced by Hugh Boorman evangelist and writer for Scripture Union and Word-on-the-web (a Church Army’s ministry providing daily bible studies through email). The initiative has already received the backing of a number of Bishops.

Hugh commented, "Whatever your feelings about mission and evangelism we can’t escape the fact that Jesus called us all to be His witnesses. But, for many of us, this isn’t easy especially in this rapidly changing world in which we live."

"The home study guide that I have produced, along with the various actions ideas on the website, is designed to help Christians and churches to walk alongside those you already meet in your daily life and share something of your faith in a way that is relevant to your companions and not threatening to either of you."

In addition, at the last General Synod, Church Army launched a 7 minute DVD "What will they believe?" - which is now available FREE to churches and highlights the work of around 10 evangelists and projects across the UK and Ireland.

Church Army is inviting churches to download all the resources FREE from the website at www.churcharmy.org.uk/cas and also to sign up online to support Church Army Sunday’s Campaign for the church to Get OUT More.