Although I am a humanist I have been impressed by the courage and commitment shown by many of the new churches in Leeds as they take on disused warehouses, old factories and other low cost previously commercial space to set up large evangelical churches often with broad and future thinking social missions.
This does not mean that I think they are ‘good thing’. I love the way they help to build social capital. And I love the way they engage people in thinking about the future and hope. I also love some of the very practical projects that they run to make our communities better places to live.
It is just the religion that worries me. And the ‘business model’ that implies a double bottom line measured in cash and souls.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/11501569]