Members of the public in Burnham-On-Sea have been offered free £5 notes in a unique experiment organised by a church.
A volunteer at Burnham Baptist Church spent 45 minutes in the High Street handing out leaflets – with an offer of a free £5 note to anyone who brought the leaflet back.
It was all part of an experiment to see whether local people would pass up the opportunity for a free gift since the leaflet was from a church.
A spokesman said: “As you might expect, some didn’t want a leaflet. Some took one and figured they weren’t interested, or put it in their pocket to consider later.”
“Some read the leaflet and wanted to know what the catch was, even to the extent of returning the leaflet and refusing the cash.”
“There was no catch, we wanted to show the results in our monthly Ignite service because we think that people often react to Jesus the same way.”
“Some don’t want to know. Some figure they will think about him later. Some think he’s all a bit too good to be true. Either way, they miss out. So, this Christmas, why not take a fresh look at the birthday boy? And we know what you’re wondering: ‘What did it cost those mugs?’ Well, just eight people came back.”
“If you still have one of those leaflets at the bottom of your bag or pocket, sorry, you’re too late.”
The church has posted the following video online on social media to show the results:
