My Bishop has frequently said that the church needs to learn the language of Radio 2. But I speak the language of Radio 3, and increasingly it feels like there's no place for me in the CofE.

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Now, it's quite right we've learned the language of Radio 2 - the CofE has dramatically failed to communicate its message in working class communities. Even in the 50s, a decade of church growth, the number of baptisms dropped as we lost our residual links with England's workers.

But we've swung so far, so fast in the other direction that it really feels like the church speaks a completely different language. We glorify 'lived experience' at the expense of any kind of detailed knowledge of scripture, the Fathers or Anglican history.

We assume people don't want to hear it, even though churches that do value these things are more likely to grow. And those who are interested in deep engagement with our texts are seen as problematic or awkward, and they're dismissed as cranks or stuck in ivory towers.

I was recently at a 'virtual' clergy study day, and the level of patronisation was insane. Everything that was a quote from a historic writer had to be explained, as though the clergy would not be interested or know anything about their tradition.

And this was delivered by someone who probably saw themselves as recovering our historic roots. But it felt like a lot of the theological reflection in church contexts: all half-digested Rowan Williams quotes out of context and half-remembered missiology.

What would these church leaders have to say to someone like me 20 years ago, who was new to the church, bright, and starting troubled teenage years? Precisely nothing. There would be no substance, nothing about God to communicate.

Would I have stayed if I was brought up in the CofE in an ordinary parish? Probably not. I would have dismissed the church as lacking credibility, intellectually flabby, and a club for do-gooders.

If what I was told was to 'find what God is doing in the world and get involved', then I would have gone into the world. And not bothered with church. What's the point of a church which sees itself as an optional extra in the quest for the good life?

Now you might dismiss this all as out of touch: after all people who went Oxbridge and who listen to Radio 3 might be a minority the church shouldn't bother trying to reach, much as we see Instagram and Facebook as more rewarding tools for evangelism than Twitter.

But that is a mistake: my generation were the best educated in history until Gen Z came along; more and more people are interested in 'geek culture'; people care about historical wrongdoings etc. We're living in a culture that values learning - the church runs from it.

So this is a plea to those in church leadership: stop running from who we are. Stop running from the difficult questions. Stop using soundbites. Read the Fathers, read the Scriptures, talk about them, and teach them.

Because for everyone you bring in by using Radio 2 language all the time, you lose someone who might listen to Radio 3 language. We need both ways of speaking, and we need them now.

Here endeth the rant.

(And for the avoidance of doubt, I am not knocking my bishop. It was a good and apposite point he made some time ago. But it has got me thinking about how I feel as a part of the CofE, which is why I use it!)