Street Pastors & Men's Spirituality

Two articles in the October 2006 edition of Christianity Magazine have given me cause for thought:

A piece on street pastors has helpful references to where I used to live (Southend) and where I live now (Camberwell). This is an initiative which seems to be having a positive impact on communities and is something I think we will need to come back to, depending on where we find ourselves next year. What encourages me is that this is non-denominational, just local Christians getting together (with some training) to be and bring the Good News of Jesus right in the heart of their local trouble spots. Something I would also love my home church in Southend to be encouraged by and to take hold of.

In the same magazine, an article on men's spirituality made my blood boil. This one's not available online, but packed full of trite generalisations like, "[men] can get worked up about football, be animated about cars, and enthuse about DIY, yet be tongue-tied and lethargic when it comes to prayer, or Bible study, or Christian witness." Were someone to write something similarly sterotyped about women's spirituality there would be outrage. I am still composing a letter to the editor on this one...

...but maybe there is something here to think about in churches where so much of the programme excludes people who work all day and who are too tired for church in the evening. Perhaps the challenge is to continually look for new ways to ensure that everyone is included - isn't that part of what we mean by Kingdom values?