Who knew the BCP would appeal to foreign students? Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 06:19PM By Judy Pollard Smith “IT WILL NEVER work” they said. “Too old-world,” said another. “Not modern enough,” said a third. “We have to change the language to reflect the times. Young people will never go for The Book Of Common Prayer in the 21st Century,” said the rest of them. It’s not that I’m trying to prove anybody wrong, but the evidence is in. It’s not The Book of Common Prayer on its own that wins the day, it’s how you use it. What do you frame those words with during the rest of the life of the church? How does the church family express Jesus’ love, his fellowship, his brand of kindness, his way of sharing food, of caring for and focusing on each individual? St. George’s Reformed Episcopal Church in Hamilton, Ontario uses only the BCP at all services (as do all Reformed Episcopal Churches) and has watched a rebirth of interest in the BCP with the most unlikely of populations. The church sits in the heart of the student rooming house area and that is where this story begins. In a program called Open Doors held each September, the congregation invites the neighbourhood in and welcomes back the McMaster students for a free BBQ (700 hamburgers served)! At the BBQ, church members hand out flyers advertising their free weekly ESL conversation nights in the parish hall. Foreign students love having a place to go for friendship and English conversation when winter nights are long and flooded with memories of home. The hall fills up quickly on Tuesday evenings with people drinking green tea and enjoying new relationships. There is no specific invitation to church, only a verbal invitation that says “You do not have to be a Christian to share this building with us. You are welcome to come in anytime you see that front door open.” And come they do. And that is where the BCP enters, stage right. On most Sunday mornings during school terms you will find a sprinkling of students from the Chinese Scholars Program at the university, perhaps some Iranians, some of whom may be Christians, some of whom are not, learning and wanting to do as we do. They have their blue Anglican hymn books open and they try to sing their way through George Herbert’s wonderful King Of Glory, King of Peace, or the ancient Irish Be Thou My Vision, and often before the Sunday School leaves the sanctuary to go downstairs, the simple message of Jesus Loves Me, This I Know. And then various parishioners help them to open the BCP to the Service of Morning Prayer. Click here for the rest of the article: http://anglicanplanet.net/canadian-...the-bcp-would-appeal-to-foreign-students.html