Broken Britain?
An evangelical church from Aughton near Ormskirk decided on a high-profile way to answer the current ‘Broken Britain?’ question. Aughton Park Baptist Church took out a lease on a town centre shop and for six weeks used it as a drop-in centre for local folk to discover more about its ‘Broken Britain?’ exhibition.
Pastor Billy McCurrie explained: ‘Initially, we enquired about the possibility of renting premises for two weeks in March, with the aim of putting on a creation exhibition. However, the agent offered it for six weeks at a very reasonable rent, and with only a matter of weeks to get organised, the whole church pulled out all stops to organise three different, yet related, exhibitions’.
The first exhibition displayed the 130-year history of the church, which still meets in the same building where it was established in 1878. An eye-catching window display – supplemented by a 24/7 PowerPoint presentation – pointed people to the Lord Jesus Christ as the answer to the nation’s problems.
‘Members of the church volunteered to staff the shop and the venture opened up a number of excellent contacts with local people’, Pastor McCurrie said.
The second exhibition, which ran in mid-February, focused on the history of the Bible. Finally, with help from Answers in Genesis (AiG), a creation exhibition – complete with a scale model of Noah’s Ark – was held from mid February to mid March.
Paul Taylor, from AiG, who worked alongside the church, said it was an ‘exciting and worthwhile’ venture in which to be involved.
Pastor McCurrie added: ‘It was encouraging to see how the church members responded and rose to the challenge with practically everyone getting involved. People called into the shop asking questions and making enquiries. It’s our deepest prayer that those who know only too well the effects of broken Britain in their lives would come to know the one who can put broken lives back together again’.
