WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Even by contemporary liberal standards, the black metallic roadside billboard makes for an unconventional advertisement for a church.

But Ivor Grant, the pastor at this non-denominational Protestant church in a shopping mall on the southern edge of Winnipeg, is unapologetic about the shock tactics he is using to entice people through the door.

"What we want to do is to say that God has an interest in our sexuality. God invented it. Clearly he had an understanding of what could give us pleasure."

"People love sex. They are interested in sex. They think about sex. It's used in movies, music, advertising," the 42-year-old pastor explained. "We live in a sex-obsessed society. For the church not to talk about it seems to make us irrelevant."

Grant, who was born in Jamaica and immigrated to Canada many years ago, said he draws his inspiration from Tommy Nelson, a Baptist pastor in Texas, and says that no other church in Canada has properly addressed sex and the Bible.

For six weeks he delivered sermons each Sunday addressing various aspects of sex in the Bible. He's currently running an evening class he describes as "blunt and explicit."

The bread and butter of his study classes is the sensual Song of Songs, the famous but frequently ignored book in the Old Testament that gives a sometimes explicit, sometimes allegorical, description of a lifelong love affair.

"For 2,000 years, the church has basically allegorized the Song of Songs. They've said what this book is really about is Christ and the church, (that) it's not about a man and a woman having sex," he said.

"But when you begin to read the book, you begin to think, ‘No! There's something else going on.' Female body parts are mentioned. When you understand Hebrew poetry you realize male body parts are mentioned, too."

In many ways, Grant is traditional in his teachings, despite his novel approach to drawing newcomers to his church. He believes that sex before marriage is wrong. He is against abortion.

And he says that because of his methods, the word of God is getting through to people who wouldn't otherwise be interested. Eight newcomers, all women, have joined his 50-member congregation since the sex-talk classes began.

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