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Radio 4,2 mins

Thought for the day - Bishop Tom Butler - 26/07/13

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. I was once having a conversation with an architect who鈥檇 helped to design a large shopping mall. The key to success, he said, is to ensure that none of the shops have an obvious door, the customer needs to be able to come across the threshold without necessarily taking a conscious decision to do so. They鈥檙e in the shop before realizing it and then there鈥檚 a good chance that something will catch their eye and they鈥檒l start buying. Of course, he went on, it鈥檚 quite the opposite with most of your churches. First it鈥檚 difficult to find the door. Then more often than not it鈥檚 locked, and if it isn鈥檛 you have to use some muscle power to push the door open. You have to have a great deal of determination to get into a church outside service hours, so it鈥檚 not surprising that few people just drift in. I was reminded of that conversation yesterday when reading the recent interview which the Archbishop of Canterbury has given. He pointed out that the church has 16 thousand branches in 9 thousand communities. They are potentially a tremendous resource for all sorts of social good, as the dramatic expansion of food banks based on church premises demonstrates. Of course they have to be open, accessible, and staffed by willing volunteers, but up and down the country that is happening, with churches during the week, particularly in rural areas, being used as post offices, prescription collectors, internet cafes and a host of other activities. What was new in the archbishop鈥檚 interview was him linking all this with the creation and maintenance of credit unions to give short term loans to those who need them which might, in the words of the archbishop, 鈥渙ver a decade help to put high interest pay day lenders out of business.鈥 Is this really credible?...

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