Introduction: Ministry in a Divided Society
Ruth Hutchinson

Comment: Conscientious Objector
Adam Turkington

From the Director
David Porter

Christian Perspectives on Reconciliation
Norman Taggart

Ministry in a divided society
1. Pastor John Dickinson
2. Priest Ken Clarke

The Laughing Minister
Graham Cheesman

Forgetting to Remember
Peter Stevenson

Ministry in a divided society
3. Prophet Derek Poole
4. Peacemaker David Porter

Review: A New Start
Heather Morris

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COMMENT: Conscientious Objector
So I'm sitting here wondering how it came to pass that I am writing this article, how I can make some kind of challenging statement without alienating the vast majority of those who will read it. You see your theme for this issue is The Ministry of the Church in Northern Ireland and my spiritual history is basically a continual battle to reconcile my love for and belief in Jesus with my difficulties with organised religion. Basically I don't know where to start.

I don’t get church, I don’t understand it, either the services or the wider programme. I’m not a young person any more, but I’m still the MTV generation and church is boring. People tell me it’s not meant to be fun, they tell me it’s the message not the medium. What about parables then? And what has the church to say about the arms trade (apart from “Can I buy some shares please”) about the environment, about student grants, about the bombing of Iraq, about AIDS etc., etc. I reckon God has an opinion about the extradition of Pinochet, about redistribution of wealth and third world debt, but the church doesn’t appear to.

Many of my peers consider the church to be responsible for supporting much of what is wrong in the world, not least our own wee conflict. I would suggest that the Church has been almost exclusively responsible for our ‘troubles’. It has consistently failed to produce anything constructive, and more often than not has churned out traditional positions rooted in bigotry. There appears to be no understanding of how this sectarian sub-text manifests itself in the wider community. Furthermore, those who sit outside the tribal bickering want no part in its main cause.

Well, here’s a warning! Church attendance figures in Northern Ireland have been artificially inflated by the aligning of respective communities with one side or the other. Me, I don’t really care about nationality and I’m not sure what else the church has given me to believe in. What’s the focus? OK so it’s Jesus, but what does that mean — a Sunday service convincing others to become Christians, praying and reading my Bible every day? These things are not inspiring in isolation, only when enlightened by the person of Christ. Jesus was pop! People didn’t come from miles around to hear dry teaching or a list of do’s and don’ts. He was a storyteller, the TV of the day. He appealed to everyone, because he systematically dismantled the suffocating hold of an organised religion which had become self-serving.

Basic human nature hasn’t changed that much. People are interested in justice, in bettering themselves, in spirituality, in love. They don’t see the church providing these things like Jesus did. Take a look around. All these things are trendy, there’s no hostility towards them in popular culture, but the church is perceived as at best not associated, and at worst in opposition. Who’s to blame?

My social circle is composed almost entirely of those who have searched for these things in the church and have left disillusioned. OK so there are counter arguments but I’ve heard them all, and valid though they are, they don’t negate the need to address this issue. Credit where credit’s due. ECONI is a good start. Change is never easy but it’s better than being in a rut. If a shark stops moving forward it dies. Don’t make me spell it out.

Adam Turkington - Development Officer with the Shankill Festival. He is a member of the Christian Fellowship Church at Strandtown, Belfast.