Truth Matters: An American Case Study

This blog post, like many others, has been a little while coming and a long time brewing. Today I want to write about the importance of Truth, as a definable, actual, real thing. And I want to talk about it in relation to culture. Fundamentally, though, I'll be talking about the need for the Church (which to all intents and purposes trades as an organisation on the idea that there is truth) to  have a bigger focus on truth and consistency than on relevance and accommodation to the culture.

Over the weekend I was at a Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland conference, for 18-30's, called "The Cause to Live For". It was a great weekend, with great fellowship, teaching, worship and ministry. The main speaker for the weekend was Alan Scott, pastor of Causeway Coast Vineyard in Ireland. Alan was talking to us about a huge range of things, focused on the kingdom of God and the part that we and individuals can play in advancing it. In the talk on friday evening, based on Ephesians 3:20-21, Alan looked a little at the challenging idea of thinking beyond the church to 'the city'. By city, Alan meant literally the cities where our churches our, but naturally this applies to culture in general too. One of the most poignant points he made was a challenge; "it is the task of the church to lead the city into life". This is bigger than any one facet of the church, it is about the Gospel transforming communities and the people in them, into the life that Jesus lived and wants us to live. Being a 'millennial' - a generation reared with social media, as I explored a little in a recent post - I naturally loved what he was saying, and found him to be a bit like a Vineyard-ed Tim Keller. 

One of the great Christian debates that I've avoided mostly in my life is how to make church 'relevant', 'accessible' and 'seeker friendly'. Alan's talk cut across that question with a bold statement, which I entirely agree with;

"to be relevant to a decaying culture is a vote for death"

Absolutely. When the followers of Jesus, often echoing the question of Eden - "did God really say?" - end up accommodating more to the culture than to Christ, we end up dying. The Church exists to lead the city into life. When the Church conforms too much to the culture of the world, then it votes for death. And churches can die. Because churches are living things, in a metaphorical sense. A desire to be 'relevant' is well-meaning but ultimately foolish.

This is because the Christian message, the Gospel, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, is a completely different message to the one that our culture proclaims, both deliberately and by implication. If we try and make church - or the Gospel - 'relevant', then we reduce the claims of historic Christianity about Jesus and everything to just another proposition in the intellectual marketplace. The reality of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is far bigger than that. Truth matters. I enjoyed a recent, if relatively splenetic, article from Damian Thompson in the Telegraph; "A Day of Judgement for Liberal Bishops", which makes the point perfectly. Read it, and come back to this post.

The Episcopal Church in the United States (hitherto referred to as 'TEC') has voted for 'relevance', and has found itself in dire straits. A quick survey of Google releases a multitude of articles and opinion pieces about why the church there is in so much trouble. TEC is, officially, the Anglican Church in America, but unlike the (muddled, battered but still with signs of life...) C of E, it is in serious decline. The basic cause of this is an embrace of theological liberalism by the leadership. It has got so bad that people who disagree with the TEC leadership are kicked out, removed, disciplined and so on. A recent article from a group of more 'conservative' American Anglican-types showed the impact that a fundamental plank of the TEC liberal movement has had, in the light of some recent Gallup research that showed that the population of the USA that identifies as homosexual is as little as 3.4%. The 'Stand Firm in Faith' article is perhaps a little gleeful, but it makes a valid point. Should the church change so much as to be unorthodox, in an attempt to reach such a small part of the population?

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely think that the Church should be reaching out to homosexuals in particular and everyone in general, but I do think that the accommodation that TEC has displayed is a swing too far the other way. As ever on this topic, I refer readers to my post "Christianity and Homosexuality: A New Approach". and especially the linked talks from my pastor John Wright. I honestly believe that the correct Christian response to any sin is a compassionate love, rather than a condemnatory judgement or indiscriminate acceptance.

I hope that this post won't spawn a flame war in the comments about homosexuality. My purpose was to explore the idea of 'voting for relevance', and this TEC conundrum seemed like a perfect case study. Ultimately, any dilution of the truth of Christianity is risky. In the short term it might seem like a good idea - but in the long term, it won't be. Oftentimes, in this modern secular and pluralist world, it is easy for Christians to think that their faith is in vain. But that is simply not the case. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:14, identifies with this;

"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain"

Truth matters. 

But Paul is not giving up - just as we who wish to follow Jesus faithfully should not give up. Verse 20 instantly brings us back to the truth of the matter;

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep"

This is massive. Paul believed this resurrection was a fact, a real historical event. I've compiled some of the evidence in the 'Resurrection' page above, and I recently reviewed a book that sought to disprove the resurrection. Because, actually, at the heart of the Christian faith, is a truth that gives life. Note the tail end of verse 20. Jesus is just one of the first to be raised from the dead. Paul has a hope for life thanks to the resurrection of Jesus. And that is exactly what the Church is called to proclaim. Life. Found in Jesus. Brought to the city. Cutting sometimes against the grain of the culture. But always in Love, grounded in Scripture, echoing the 2000 years of grappling with the big questions in the Church. Bringing Life. Thats what the church is for.

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