Pastor Disguised as Tramp to Fool Church
A pastor aiming to communicate a ‘serious message of acceptance’ to his congregation, posed as a tramp in his own church doorway.
Derek Rigby wore a wig, some ‘dirtied-up’ charity shop clothes, and surrounded himself with cans of lager and syringes outside Trinity Methodist Church in Prestatyn, North Wales.
He was largely ignored by his church membership as they arrived on Sunday morning, ‘apart from a few who told me to get away from their cars,’ he told BBC News. When he revealed his identity, ‘some were very embarrassed,’ Mr Rigby said. ‘Nobody was angry with me, but they were shocked they had ignored me in the way they had.’
See the BBC news article for more info and a short video.
Mm I wonder how it would work for me. I think if I tried it at our church I would be surounded by people asking me in and offering me coffee. We used to have people like that attending our church quite often when we met in our city centre building, so I think they would cope well. I can not imagine though, that I could disguise myself so well that I would not be recognised.
Simon Jones said:
Sadly I think that this just shows how out of touch with reality the church is on the whole. I think that the moment someone builds four walls and calls the place a church they have created 4 barriers to people hearing their message.
Good on him though for doing that.