Jesus more likely to shop at Asda or Aldi

Yesterday the Bishop of Reading bemoaned the Church of England's middle-class "Marks and Spencer" image. The Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, described his frustration that the established Church is regarded as the option for the highly educated or “suited and booted” only. Jesus, he said, would probably have shopped at Aldi and Asda. He said that church was “not about how you look, what you do, how you sound, how well you sing”. It should be a place “where people can be just as they are,” he said.

Bishop Cottrell was speaking as churches of all denominations prepare to mark “Back to Church Sunday” next weekend, with thousands of people expected to receive personal invitations from friends to give church another go.