Empty Hanger makes Bible alive

For a generation that does not have a good appetite for Bible reading, Empty Hanger is a fashionable answer.

Empty Hanger is a project that utilizes clothing as the medium to tell gospel stories. The scheme is an effort of the London College of Fashion and of the Bible Society.

Five costumes that portray characters of Jesus and his family tree members – Eve, Jacob, Rahab, and Joseph – have already been designed by students of the said college. Rev. Joanna Jepson, chaplain of the college, gave inputs for the design.

“The five characters are part of stories that convey profound struggles of heroes and anti-heroes which will connect with the children,” Rev. Jepson explained.

The Bible Society now challenges young people from schools across the United Kingdom to fill in the sixth hanger.

Young people has to design a costume that they feel captures who they are. Or technology classes can create a clothes rack that symbolizes the whole community or school.

"I hope that as Empty Hanger goes around the country, children will enjoy it and that it fires their imaginations and fires their creativity," Rev Jepson wished.

“Empty Hanger will help young people to consider issues of environmental sustainability, deceit, self-deception, fame, ambition and being an outsider,” Luke Walton, culture program manager of Bible Society said. .

The Bible Society has produced a video on lesson plans and details of the fashion designs.

Schools can also invite Rev Jepson or a local representative to visit them for an interactive event.

Local churches can make this as an outreach strategy by sponsoring the scheme to be held in a secondary school near them.

Empty Hanger has been tried in Gloucester where schools were encouraged to use the outfits in school lessons on a range of subjects, from art and design, PSHE, design technology and RE.

Empty Hanger was launched on October 21 at the Christian Resources Exhibition, Telford through Chris Blockley, chaplain of Bishop College School in Gloucester.

Sources:http://www.christiantoday.com/ http://theundergroundsite.com/