When the media comes calling

My (limited) experience with the media is that having them visit a church is usually something of a mixed blessing. Pastors are usually glad for the publicity, but very often what is reported is not how the church would like to be represented! Media involvement is a double-edged sword...

Sometimes, though, the press do just report things as they are.

PJ Smyth has been stirring the waters in Johannesburg with provocative sermon series (on subjects like sex) and provocative meeting venues (like a casino). The South African Sunday Times interviewed him and has run a feature on Godfirst Church titled Praise the Lord and pass the beer.

You can read the whole thing here. And here is an extract,

Fancy thrashing out the meaning of a psalm over a beer before the church sermon starts? Then you may want to join the roughly 1500 Johannesburg residents who have become congregants of GodFirst Church, which has adopted a string of sexy ways to lure non-religious people to church.

Earlier this year, GodFirst caused some controversy when it hosted an eight-week course called Sex in the City, which included topics titled All Night Long and I Kissed a Girl and Liked It. The billboard advertising the event contained a provocative image of a woman's red lips and read: "Jozi loves sex. God loves sex. Let's talk."

But it proved to be too hot for the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled that it "trivialised" God by creating the impression "that God loves sex in the same way ordinary people do" and ordered the church to remove it.