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Are We The Baddies?

We can bemoan the loss of Christian values all we like, but this is where we are today and things don’t look like changing. For a growing proportion of our society, we are the baddies.

France has been rocked by the news that over 300,000 children were abused by clergy and lay people in the Catholic Church over a 70 year period. While acknowledging the horror of this news, we might be tempted to comfort ourselves by saying that it doesn’t affect us because we are neither French nor Catholic. Sadly, however, that won’t wash. Firstly, there have been examples of abuse much closer to home over the years, this can’t be dismissed as being something that only happens somewhere else. Secondly, most members of the public when looking at this incident won’t make a distinction between churches in one country or another, or between different streams of the church, they will just see it as proof that church leaders abuse children. Increasingly, a narrative is gaining ground that children are not safe at church and this latest case will reinforce this. Mud sticks and we are all touched by it.

Are We The Baddies? Click To Tweet

Now, you may feel that this doesn’t impact you because the people in your neighbourhood or parish all know and trust you. Well, things are just a little more complex than that. People are perfectly able to hold contradictory opinions. I had an uncle who was deeply opposed to immigration back in the 1970s, but he was really good friends with the local doctor, who happened to be Indian. Equally, people can easily believe that all churches are complicit in child abuse, but you as a church leader are the exception. Opinion doesn’t have to make sense to be strongly held.

Let’s push this a touch further and think about issues of sexuality and gender. Most people reading this will be Christians who fall on the conservative side of the issue; we hold to traditional views of sex and marriage. Our society, on the other hand sees the freedom of the individual to be whoever they want to be and to have a relationship with whoever they want and for the state to recognise these things as being a fundamental value. For many (if not most) people in our society, this freedom is a moral value; it is a question of good and evil and the church is on the wrong side of the line.

We might want to frame this in terms of whether or not you accept the Bible as God’s revelation, but for our society it is a simple case of right and wrong and we are wrong. We can bemoan the loss of Christian values all we like, but this is where we are today and things don’t look like changing. For a growing proportion of our society, we are the baddies.

This is important for our mission to the UK. The message of the Gospel is offensive enough to human beings without the added cultural baggage of the church being perceived as being evil. It is no wonder that so few Brits are converting to Christianity; why would anyone want to join up with bigots and child abusers? At the same time, it is less surprising that many immigrants who don’t share Western cultural values are turning to Christ. They are already predisposed to accept the concept of divine revelation.

This sounds like a council of despair and to some extent it is. I believe that we are living in the hardest missionary situation in the world. You may not get persecuted for sharing the Gospel in post-Christian Western Europe, but you won’t see many converts, either. It’s hard soil to sow in.

I believe that we are living in the hardest missionary situation in the world. You may not get persecuted for sharing the Gospel in post-Christian Western Europe, but you won't see many converts, either. It's hard soil to sow in. Click To Tweet

So what should we do?

Firstly, I think we need to get used to the idea that Christians are often perceived in a negative light. We tend to view ourselves positively, but this is not how much of society sees us. We need to be realistic about how we are viewed. We also need to realise that this is not the same as being persecuted. Indeed, some would say that we are the ones who are doing the persecuting, by not respecting the rights of people to be who they are and to love whom they want to.

Secondly, Churches have to have robust safeguarding policies in place. Not only that, people need to know that we have those policies and they need to know who to call and when. Hopefully, they will never be needed, but the presence of good structures can help to restore the battered confidence in the church. It won’t fix everything, but it is a start.

Thirdly, in a situation where churches are often considered to be bad people, we have to show that the opposite is true. We need to be doing good for the people in our neighbourhoods. Some might say that it is more important to preach the Gospel than to do good works, but that is a false dichotomy. We are used to the notion of intellectual apologetics; demonstrating the truth of the Christian faith through argument. In a situation where people are not predisposed to listen to our arguments, we can still demonstrate the truth of our faith through the way that we live and serve others: relational or practical apologetics. The church as a whole might suffer from a bad reputation, but your local congregation can have a name for doing good in your locality and this can earn you the right to share your faith.

I think the most important thing we need to do is to point people to Jesus. I know that this sounds obvious, but … It is easy to get wrapped up in arguments about sexuality, or to try and convey a package of beliefs. However, winning (or losing) arguments does not make disciples. People need to grow to admire and eventually to love Jesus. Concepts like repentance and faith make no sense to this generation in and of themselves. However, if people get to grips with who Jesus is and what he did, these things emerge with the Spirit’s help.

We might be seen as the baddies; but Jesus is definitely a goodie!

…let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:16 NLT

Oh, if you want to know where the title and picture for this post comes from…

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One reply on “Are We The Baddies?”

I take great encouragement in the sovereignty of God that He WILL save some despite the condition of the people of God, John 6:37 ‘However, those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them’.

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