The greatest challenge we face as Christians in Britain is how to be authentically Christian in a society that is so diverse. What we say is very important – so is how we say it! The last couple of months have brought the need to be clear about who we are and what we believe into sharp focus. It’s not an easy task! In church on Sunday it can be quite straightforward to live out our Christianity. Surrounded by people we know and things we understand, we can express ourselves in a much more relaxed way. But what about on a Monday morning? How do we express our distinctive Christian faith then? How do we do it if we live in a place where lots of faiths and cultures collide and co-exist? How do we display our distinctive Christian faith there?  We cannot change the diverse face of Britain, so how we do not only survive, but also thrive in it? How do Christians connect in a place like modern Britain?

The answer lies in two words – distinctiveness and diversity. The Apostle Peter urged those to whom he wrote to ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.’ [1 Peter 3:15].  We need to learn to be distinctively Christian in a diverse society.  Here’s how I think we can do it – by following the full advice of the Apostle Peter. The full text of the little excerpt above is this:

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, do not be frightened. But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ, may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Step One: Set apart Christ as Lord
How you give an answer to a Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Seikh or Buddhist matters. There has been an argument that says that we all serve the same God – and therefore should learn to be ‘one’. I don’t buy that. Christianity is an inclusive faith, but it has at its core a commitment to the exclusive claims of Christ – He is the only way to God.  We can’t buy into the idea that all paths lead to God, because we don’t believe they do. Christianity has distinctiveness about it. At its heart, lies a set of exclusive claims. We must be ready, however to engage in dialogue with the Muslim, the Jew, the Hindu, the Siekh the Buddhist and the secularist. We are commanded to be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us why we believe what we believe and hold the hope that we hold. We must learn to b e distinct in a diverse society. You will not be applauded – you may still be marginalised and suffer because you hold to Christianity – but that does not change the rightness of the action. We must never be ashamed of Christ – he has never been ashamed of us.

Step Two: Speak clearly, with gentleness and respect
Christians can be too harsh! You can know the truth, but live in such a narrow minded way that your lifestyle and attitude excludes people from hearing what you have to say. Too often people of other faiths cannot hear what we say because of how we treat them. We are obnoxious, dismissive and patronizing. We condemn before we listen and we attack before we talk. As a Christian, I must learn to share my faith, clearly, respectfully and gently. I do not bang people over the head with my bible. I do not dismiss them as heretics. I demonstrate the distinctiveness of my faith by the way I treat them. I learn to understand what motivates the Muslim, the Jew, the Hindu, the Seikh and the Buddhist. I discover things upon which we can agree and commitments we can make to the community, to our neighbourhood and to our world. I find the common ground. But I do all of this whilst remaining distinctly a devoted follower of Jesus. I demonstrate that we can have a distinctly Christian faith and work in a diverse society meeting lots of different needs. The two are not mutually exclusive.

The only stumbling block that any person should have is the stumbling block of the cross. My narrow-mindedness, my bigotry, my prejudice, my racism and my suspicion of those who are different have no place within the outworking of my Christian faith.

Conclusion
We will be misunderstood, we will be marginalised and we will be criticised. If we as Christians serve our neighbours, love our enemies, do good to those who persecute and hurt us and serve all those who are in need we will be accused of watering down our commitment to Jesus, of abandoning our fait. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the most radical thing we can do as Christians at the moment is embrace the diversity of our society and the distinctiveness of our faith. It is the only path we can take.

It is what Jesus would do.

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

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