I know many ministers who are doing their best, really their best, to be a servant to their congregations, and trying to impart something. But they often feel trapped in all this organisation, with social functions driving them crazy. I have a feeling that the more people come to church as a social centre, the less it becomes a place of worship.

The story of how Dick van Dyke was driven away from organised Christianity – he was once a Sunday School teacher, and later a Presbyterian elder – is a sad one. But I think this line is a fantastic insight – and from a book that is full of them.