The following is taken from this months copy of  my Church Magazine. It was written by our Vicar, Rob Williams, but I thought it would benefit from a wider distribution.

I’ve just finished listening to BBC Radio 4s ‘Thought for the Day’. For some time now there’s been an ongoing debate as to whether the content of ‘Thought for the Day’ is relevant to people today, also whether the views of non-religious contributors should be aired on the daily three minute slot, or whether the slot should be scrapped altogether. After listening to what I’ve just listened to – from a Christian contributor – I have to admit that I’m left wondering if the third of those options above should be the one to go for.

I wonder how we Christians come across to people who listen to such broadcasts. The whole issue of how Christians express themselves and communicate with others has been in my thoughts for some time, and I’m led to ask if people are bothered about a Christian presence in our society? Do they still listen to what Christians have to say? Or, as critics of Christianity claim, don’t they care any more?

To listen to some critics of the Christian faith, people have already decided for themselves, which is why, they say, statistics show a steady decline in church attendance. Certainly, the Church takes statistics seriously and any decline in numbers attending a church indicates that something is happening, and this can’t be anything but worrying. The question is what is happening and why? Statistics can’t totally answer this last question without asking more questions. Such is the nature of statistics. There may be many reasons for the decline in church attendance – a falling out with religion being just one of them. Another reason might be that people perceive the Church as not keeping up with the rate of change in society as it should, and because of this it’s in danger – by default – in making itself irrelevant. The public might see the Church ‘at war’ with itself, unable to reach compromises and solutions to contentious issues that secular society has long since reached or is reaching, or they hear Christians making comments that they regard as ‘out of touch’ with the way that people live today.

I don’t believe it to be the case that the Church has become irrelevant, but in a culture where change is rapid it might be more accurate to say that the Church hasn’t yet found the right words with which to communicate to people living through rapid change.

The last thing that the Church needs to do in the face of negative criticism is to place itself in a state of siege and to start looking inwards. One justifiable criticism, from both those inside and outside the Church, is that looking inwards is exactly one of its problems at the moment.

All this detracts so much from what is happening at local levels throughout the Church. Many churches – of all denominations – are ‘grounded’ in the life of the communities they worship in. The activities of these churches not only answer the requirements of the gospel imperative to be of service, but also contribute something that is beneficial to the communities they live in. This goes some way to debunk the notion that this is a Church looking inward on itself.

Easter is the greatest of the Christian festivals as it celebrates the victory of the risen Christ over death: and not just death, but all of the negative attitudes in this present life that threaten to send us into a spiral of apathy and inactivity too. The message of the Easter gospel is that it gives ‘good news’ and hope to all people.

There is a lot that we can criticise the Church for, a lot in its past that hasn’t been good, but don’t let’s allow ourselves to be persuaded by its critics that Christian influence in the spheres of many aspects of our common life as a society hasn’t been a positive one for good as well as for radical change. Many of the social reforms of the past have come about partly as a result of Christians engaging themselves in the wider life of society.

At Easter Christians affirm their belief in the unchanging nature of God – the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. However, if God is unchanging this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Church must be the same. Rather it has to be otherwise. What has enabled it to do its work in the past is its ability to adapt to different situations and to the needs of the time. The principles that underpin the work of the Church and its engagement with society remains intact, what changes is the way it engages and also how it communicates with the culture of which – I might remind everyone – it is a part.

Robert W. Williams.

Tags: Church, Communication, easter, Ministry, mission, sharing