The Christian adventurer and survivalist Bear Grylls has revealed he attends church “a bit more now”, but “hates” being “pushed to the front”.
In an interview with Premier Christianity magazine, Grylls admitted he “sneaks in” to services.
“I like being at the back. I love that verse which says King David used to worship at the back, dressed in his ephod, which translators say was like a loin cloth! [2 Samuel 6:14].”
“A great church, for me, has always been a hospital rather than a theatre,” he continued.
Grylls, who has previously promoted Holy Trinity Brompton’s Alpha course and called faith “a quiet part of my life”, said past experiences of some churches had been off putting. “My experience was often either a theatre or in Latin. Or: Look how great we are! Or: We all speak in this nice voice, and it’s all very smiley and nice. I don’t believe church was ever meant to be like that.”
“The danger of church is you make it all too great and shiny and together. It’s so important for vicars to just be honest. Because everyone you’re speaking to struggles with stuff. Just share it. We’re all in the same boat.”
Grylls denied that his fame made it hard to attend services. “I don’t flatter myself…It’s more about finding good communities of like minded people,” he said. “My church has been a daily thing with one of my oldest friends. We read through the Bible every year, doing a little chapter every day. We’ve done it for a decade now…He keeps me accountable. If I miss a day, he checks in: ‘Brother, everything alright?’”
Addressing the topic of church scandals, Grylls said, “It’s horrific…The bathwater of church is…well, you only have to open a newspaper. Churches are closing, somebody’s been done for abuse…But the challenge is to see beyond that and lift the baby out the bath. The baby is beautiful. The baby is Christ, who is freedom and love and never judges.”
Grylls was speaking ahead of the release of his new book The Greatest Story Ever Told which retells the gospel story from multiple perspectives, and is written as a thriller. “It’s the proudest thing I’ve ever done,” he said.
Read the full interview in the new edition of Premier Christianity magazine. Subscribe at premierchristianity.com/subscribe
