Should we change church service times for football?
by Ian Paul, Psephizo:
At the end of last week there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the press and on social media about the relative importance of the final of the women’s football World Cup (which England lost to Spain 1–0) and church service times. Kaya Burgess at The Times posted a report under the headline:
Skip worship and pray for the Lionesses, says church
and quoted Libby Lane, the bishop of Derby, as saying:
I know lots of people will want to watch the match live. That is fine from the Church of England’s point of view. Others will prefer to go to church and avoid knowing the score until they can watch the match on catch-up, and that is fine, too. Church services happen at different times in different places, so people can choose one that is right for them.
The reaction to these comments from many Christians and clergy was not warm. ‘Why do we have a bishop for sport?’ asked one. ‘I can’t wait to hear from the bishop for “Going to church on a Sunday”‘. After some pressure from C of E comms, Kaya changed the headline to:
You can change Sunday worship plans to cheer on Lionesses, says Church
The story continued with four examples of people doing just that from a range of places around the UK.
I thought this story was fascinating, since there are multiple layers of issues wrapped up in it. The first and most obvious is the relationship of the church and its leaders to the media, and some basic issues of media training. Some of those commenting on the story leapt to Libby Lane’s defence, saying that the headline, and even the story as a whole, misrepresented what she said. But here’s the basic question about dealing with the media: why say something that is so easily ‘misrepresented’ (if that was what happened)? I have done quite a bit with the media, including appearing on both television and radio, locally and nationally, and I don’t think I have ever once been misrepresented in this way.
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