As in previous years, churches from Kingston and beyond will be attending the Green Fair on Bank Holiday Monday 28th May.

I haven’t taken part before, but would have been quite happy to turn up and simply be in that environment this year, maybe bringing just a little of Christ to those seeking something spiritual on the day.

The trouble is that there seem to be more and more hoops to jump through every year. Despite the fact that the local churches seem to have run the event quite successfully in the past, suddenly the Eden People in Guildford are the experts who now have to provide anyone attending the Fair with training. No training, no involvement.

Possibly because of one or two slightly odd incidents in past years, it’s now not enough to simply be a Christian talking to others about faith and life. No, there has to be in-depth training, lest we possibly say something that’s “wrong”.

I have nothing against training in itself, but this lays a heavy hand upon something that could have simply been Christians getting involved in the community.

Of course, Christians can continue to do that wherever they are, on their own, and without any paid training. And that is what I hope people continue to do.