M & S Image

The Church of England needs to shed its middle class

"Marks and Spencer"-only image in order to attract the

Asda and Aldi generation of worshippers,

a senior bishop has warned.

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The Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading, spoke of his sense of frustration at the view that

the Church

of England was the "Marks and Spencer" option only,

for the highly

educated or "suited and booted".

Jesus would just as likely have shopped at Asda and

Aldi as at

Marks and Spencer, he said.

He said: "Even today I meet people who think you

have to be highly

educated or suited and booted to be a person who

goes to church.

That's so frustrating. How did it come to this, that

we have become

known as just the Marks and Spencer option when

in our heart of

hearts we know that Jesus would just as likely be in

the queue at

Asda or Aldi?

"Jesus got us started with church simply. Like this

- sitting us down

in groups on the grass and telling simple stories.

Not simplistic.

But certainly not complicated. All his first disciples

were down-to-earth

people who wanted to know what life was all about."

The bishop's remarks come as the Church of

England launched

its Back to Church Sunday campaign to attract

lapsed worshippers

and others into the pews this Sunday, September 27.

The campaign comes after provisional figures

published earlier this

year showed average Sunday attendance in the

Church of England

fell to 978,000 in 2007 down from just over one million

in 2002.

About 1.7 million people attend Church of England

services each month,

according to the 2007 figures.

The Back to Church Sunday campaign includes

a rap-style radio

advertisement. Other bishops supporting the

campaign include

the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Steven Croft,

who has posted at

YouTube invitation inviting people to "come as

they are" to church on

Sunday. The Bishop of Doncaster, the Rt Rev

Cyril Ashton and a team

of fellow motor cyclists have already toured

South Yorkshire to promote

the campaign.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan

Williams, backing the

campaign, said: "The Church's responsibility

to welcome all comers isn't,

of course, restricted to one Sunday in the year.

But this Sunday in

particular prompts us to do a better job of saying

to people that we are

ruly glad to see newcomers and they always have

a right to be part of the

family. I pray that this year's Back to Church Sunday

will assure the whole

population of this country that they are loved and

valued by God -

and by those who worship God."