Comment
Lynda Gould

From the Director
David Porter

Christian Citizenship and Northern Ireland
Drew Gibson

Church and State in Conflict - Ambrose
Alwyn Thomson

Christian Citizenship in the Republic of Ireland
Patrick Mitchel

Church and State in Conflict - Hubmaier
Alwyn Thomson

Beautiful Ministry
Graham Cheesman

The Cost of Citizenship
William Storrar (Scotland)

Early Days in the National Assembly for Wales
Aled Edwards

Church and State in Conflict - Kasemann
Alwyn Thomson

A Light to Enlighten the Nations
J A Sider (USA)

Church and State in Conflict - Summary
Alwyn Thomson

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IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES
I was reading recently of an innovative church project, which aimed to help Christians learn about life in deprived areas of the inner city. This wasn’t about reading books; rather it was about walking streets and meeting people. It sounded easy, but for many it was a demanding and uncomfortable experience. One woman’s story has remained with me. Leaving all her credit cards, her cheque book, house and car keys in the church safe, she symbolically set aside her personal wealth for eight hours to come alongside people whose lives were stunted by poverty, whose choices were non-existent. With only a pound coin in her hand, she was trying to see the city and its people through the eyes of God.

After walking somewhat aimlessly through the streets she sat down to rest. She started talking to a man who was begging. Though he was rough in appearance, she found that he was educated and began to enjoy their conversation. A passer-by gave him some coins and he went to get something to drink. Empty beer cans fell from his pocket as he stood up, and the woman assumed that he was going to buy more beer. In fact he returned with a plastic cup of coffee which he shared with her. He asked her what she was doing in the city and wasn’t at all surprised to know that she was from a church and was praying for the city. He said that he, like many homeless people, prayed and believed in God. “We’ve no one else to cry to in the night,” he said. The woman wept openly, struggling to understand the source of her tears. She wasn’t sure if she was crying for the man, for herself, for a stupid selfish world or for her stupid selfish church with its petty bickering. The experience was profoundly moving and significant, challenging the woman to consider what it means to be a Christian in the midst of poverty.

While reading the story I thought how sad it is that we have to create programmes or projects to enable Christians to experience life from someone else’s perspective. What has happened to our faith that we have lost touch with reality and responsibility? For me it is another sign of the times. Christians seem to be disengaging from the world around them, systematically redefining and reconstructing a lifestyle that does not see needs other than it’s own. The values and attitudes that shape this new reality are more middle class than biblical. Christians seem to be consumed by christian sub-cultures, and having lost the ‘plot’, distance themselves from the poor and the marginalised. Apathy and indifference are justified by the assumption that it is the role of the State to care.

Where is the Church on issues of poverty, unemployment, equality, racism, homelessness, and urban regeneration? These are painful issues for christians, which should cause us to think again about love, faith and responsibility. Yet in our churches we are distracted by programmes and pre-packed evangelism. We don’t have the time to sit down beside strangers or look around at what is happening outside our buildings and sub-culture.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed, and announce the year when the Lord will save his people.”
(Luke 4: 18-19)

In this proclamation at the dawn of Jesus’ ministry we catch a glimpse of his heart of compassion for people. It could also be Jesus’ manifesto for the Church. Yet where do we see it lived out in our Churches? What I see are pre-packaged programmes and strategic visions that have more to do with making others like us, than making others like Jesus. The needs of the alienated and the homeless are irrelevant, as our focus narrows in the ever-decreasing circles of our own self-interest. We are citizens of our culture rather than of the Kingdom of God.

We need to start living out the values and principles of the Kingdom Jesus described as he read from the scroll in the synagogue. We need to spend more time talking to strangers and weeping for lost opportunities to show that we care.

Lynda Gould - recently taken up the post of Training Officer with ECONI. Her previous experience has mainly been in youth work. She is a member of Knock Presbyterian Church in East Belfast.