The BBC news today was highlighting the problem with illiteracy in this country.
Some people think this greatly affects how churches should do things, but it is my belief that illiteracy does not affect the church anywhere near as much as many people think it does.
You do not have to be able to read and write to listen to a sermon, or to listen to the Bible read.
In the days of the Puritans there was higher illiteracy than today but they gave expository sermons, and read the Bible out loud in households so that even those who could not read, could daily listen to the Bible.
There was also high illiteracy in Bible times, but again the Bible was read and preached out loud.
This doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about illiteracy. My daughter has been supporting a charity in India that teaches illiterate Indian women to read the Bible, and I think this is a great idea.
But my point is that illiteracy is never an excuse to stop expository preaching or being a word based church.
