Revelations occur in almost every field of human endeavour – science, social science, religion, sport and philosophy. They are defining moments in which a person sees beyond a problem to a different set of measurements changing the impossible into achievable reality. Three decades ago a sub four-minute mile was deemed impossible. Once the barrier was conquered however, 3 min 55 became commonplace. Confining beliefs always hinder our ability to believe that we are capable of greater things than we have settled for.
As a Christian I’m well aware of the long history Christianity carries with it. On one hand it has been the core of Western values which have shaped the security and wealth of our social heritage and has inspired many of the most creative thinkers and artists of history. Yet Christian history is also littered with dark corners.
As I cast an eye over the depth of our past I see a movement that began with a divine inspiration that changed the face of history. The early Christian faith was no mere political event with a charismatic leader; it was an audacious plan born in the mind of God; an intrepid vision that has gripped the lives of billions of people over 2000 years. It is the knowledge that through the person of Jesus, God’s kingdom was birthed on earth; that in Christ the future hope of heaven burst in to our present. In so doing, the great yearnings of the human spirit are now available: peace, grace, love, hope, healing, contentment – indeed salvation. Yet to suggest that every local church sustains all these gifts is to overstate reality. So what goes wrong?
A big part of the problem is that we Christians try to point people to the Kingdom of God rather than living together as Kingdom people. We use billboards, advertisements and every possible form of media to attract people. Yet in the earliest church the only way a person could become a Christian was to know one! It wasn’t what they said that was of any great value; rather it was the kind of people they had become that sparked interest. History informs us that the church fails best when it has too much to protect – status, wealth, power.
So are we done for? Hardly! Personally I have great hope for the church in New Zealand and I do so for no other reason than a deep belief in Jesus message of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. When lived, the message offers an alternative way of being that continues to give birth to creative thinkers, artists and social transformers who add a spiritual depth and texture to all societies.
If you have rejected the church as outdated and out of step, think again. Institutions are not churches. The people living and telling the message of God’s Kingdom are. When animated with the values and spirit of that message they become the most creative and lateral change-makers humanity can produced. You may be one of them.
Digby Wilkinson 2009