Get OUT More ... what will you do for Church Army Sunday 25th September 2005?

Church Army Sunday’s theme backed with FREE resources for Churches.

With statistics showing that two-thirds of the population believe the pub has more to offer the community than the church, and twice as many young people believing in horoscopes than the bible - Church Army is taking action.

This year’s Church Army Sunday on 25th September 2005 has been given the theme and the 123 year old society aims to equip churches to develop an effective Christian presence in everyday situations in the community such as at car boot sales, pub quizzes, film nights, fun days and meeting the needs of clubbers.

The initiative has already received the backing of a number of Bishops and church leaders and now Hugh Boorman evangelist and writer for Scripture Union and Word-on-the-web has produced a FREE guide for home study groups to help them explore over six sessions how to be mission-shaped people in approaching the challenge for churches and Christians to .

Hugh comments: “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.”

Philip Johanson, Church Army’s Chief Secretary adds: “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 .”

Last month at General Synod, Church Army launched a 7 minute DVD "" - which is now available FREE to churches and highlights the work of around 10 evangelists and projects across the UK and Ireland.

Church Army has been at the heart of evangelism within the established church since 1882. It was then that Revd. Wilson Carlile, a young curate at St Mary Abbots Kensington, founded Church Army to take the good news of Jesus Christ to those people who would not normally have had contact with the Church - this has been the goal ever since. Ann Morisy, Director of the Commission on Urban Life and Faith, outlines something of the society’s character; "Church Army has respect for being a pathfinder organisation that goes into places first. The radical discipleship demonstrated by its evangelists is what makes the work so important within the Church at this crucial time in our history.”

Over the past few years Church Army has helped the church work towards becoming more “mission-shaped.” – deriving its shape and style from its mission context rather than from an understanding of what we think Church should be.

Church Army evangelists come from across all the traditions within the Church of England and around 350 evangelists share the Gospel through words and action in almost every diocese around the UK and Ireland. Some work with children; some with the elderly; some with homeless people; some with refugees and asylum seekers; some are church planters; some are deanery evangelists; some are diocesan evangelists; some are even evangelists in a specialist role or location, such as a chaplain to a nightclub or supermarket. The hours they work are unsociable to say the least, but they tend to have one thing in common - a call to be at the cutting edge of relevant outreach in communities and a focus on developing fresh expressions of church.

Church Army is inviting churches to download all the resources FREE from the website by visiting the  and also to sign up on-line to support Church Army Sunday’s campaign for the church to . Those without access to the internet can obtain materials by phoning Church Army on 020 8309 3519.