The last few weeks have seen pretty big stories hit the headlines! The death of the pope, the postponement of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the now Duchess of Cornwall, the calling of the General Election for May 5th are probably the big three. Of course the latter also ends up including discussions about immigration, the economy, law and order and education. Add to these the growing support for the Making Poverty History campaign, the renewed call for tightening of the abortion laws in the UK, the debate that has taken place around euthanasia in the USA and pronouncements by Tony Blair, Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard about the role of Faith in the 21st century and you realise just how much is going on in the world. That’s not to mention all the stories you read of in your local paper and watch on your regional and local news.

How do we as Christians respond to the whole plethora of things that are happening in the world around us? When the Lord Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17 he asked that the Father would protect them in the world, but not take them out of it. The same prayer is true for us. How do we remain in the world, literally in this system of things, whilst remaining distinct in it?

Avoiding Exlcusivity
There is a challenge here for all of us as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our churches too often become fortresses of faith that have nothing to do with our communities and our neighbours and our society. We can fool ourselves into thinking we are doing well because the odd person comes along to our church services – most often from another church! We console ourselves with the thought that we are remaining true to the Lord. We are maintaining doctrinal purity and integrity and keeping ourselves right. We don’t have time to debate whether or not that is actually the truth. One thing is for sure though, the fortress of faith, or the exclusive mentality not only doesn’t work, it isn’t biblical! Jesus never told us to have nothing to do with the society in which he has placed us. He told us in Matthew 5 to be salt and light, and in Matthew 13 to be yeast. He expected us to engage in our world and to be standard bearers of truth and love and grace. The central sin of Israel was not only pride. It was the fact that they lived in the privilege of their relationship with God without carrying out the responsibilities of that relationship. Too often, the church has done the same. Whilst we are cosy in our meetings, our communities are full of hopeless and hurt people, desperately needing our help, our involvement and our time.  Ask yourself if you are actually involved in your community. Is your church? Are you being salt and light where you live, work and study?  Exclusion is wrong and the church should have no part of it.

Rejecting Absorption
A second big danger that we face is that of absorption. We become no more than a mimic of our society. The church falls into this trap too. We have re-invented God in our image, to borrow an analogy from both George Bernard Shaw and Karl Barth. So our God is comfortable with our consumerism, our individualism and our greed, but like us, gets hot under the collar about the issues that we are concerned about – normally the moral issues around sexual behaviour and protecting the right to life at the beginning and end of a person’s journey. Absorption into our culture means that we lose our identity, our distinctiveness, and our Christ likeness. We become a lame and weak church with nothing to say. When we do speak, we do so negatively. This is not the image of the church I see in the New Testament, and it is not the image of Israel I see in the old. We are called to do everything in the name of Christ [ Colossians 3], to present our whole bodies and our whole lives as living sacrifices to God [Romans 12]. We are not called to be people who exclude, nor are we called to be absorbed and a pale reflection of an already bland culture. We are called to be involved!

Embracing Involvement
This is where the church should be. This is where the headlines of our day meet the commitment of our hearts. This is where we roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. The issue that links the headlines with us is that the world is still a spiritual place and people need us to be the Christians God has called us to be. We will never eradicate physical poverty without addressing spiritual poverty.  We will never make a difference unless we get involved. As a Christian, what is your view on education, on tax, on helping the vulnerable, on poverty and on justice? Surely a brief reading of the Minor Prophets show us we should care. God is more interested in our views of justice and righteousness than he is our empty religious words and detached communities. To be a community of faith is to be a group of people who love Jesus and love people.

We need to learn to express not just what we stand against, but what we stand for. To be intimately involved with the world, yet indissolubly connected to our God. This is what makes us more than politicians, more than social workers, and more than educationalists. We believe in and are committed to the peace of God  - the Shalom of God – for the whole person. We become people who cannot simply turn a blind eye, we are the ones who engage, commit and remain. So as Christians our whole lives are dedicated to His service and the good of those around us. We embrace those our society turns its back on. We work for a better society, an improved community. We work because we don’t think tomorrow’s headlines have to be the same as today’s headlines. We are involved because we know it is right. We do not sacrifice our identity on the alter of inclusion though. We engage as Christians in a world of hurt and pain because we know God’s Kingdom is being established through every thing we say and everything we do. We don’t just wear a cross, we carry one, every day in service and devotion to others.

After all, that is what God has done with us, isn’t it?

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‘Excerpt from an article written by Rev Malcolm Duncan, Leader of Faithworks, for Christian Herald, April 2005.’

Rev Malcolm Duncan
Leader of Faithworks
1 Kennington Road
London SE1 7QP