I love hearing about Church history. Whether that be the early church in the book of Acts or the start of denominations like Methodism and the Salvation Army. Listening to Question Time at the minute and hearing them talking about the amount of people trying to create a revolution in the middle east over the past few months, i remember stories about the abolition of the slave trade or the day of Pentecost and i love the face that the Church has been part of so many revolutions. So what i would like to know is when is the next one? Some would say it if you look at the Church it is a long way off, although some would say we have this sleeping giant just ready to awake. So why isn't it happening? One of the reasons is that we have become defensive about our faith, and defensive about what we believe. In a world that is becoming more secular, and in a country like ours that has become less Christian, instead of using this culture shift as a challenge and a chance to become part of a new revolution, we have become more restrained, by trying to keep our own traditions and our own ways safe. We can see some elements of this still when we see cultures within a lot of churches not being able to connect with the culture outside the doors. Being part of a revolution is not about doing what everyone else does, or even changing because everyone else does. What being part of a revolution means is to stand for what you believe that goes against what is going on around. What it also means is that you don't go into your shell, batten down the hatches and sit it out, but move out and show what you have is of the greater good. Could this be the Church? or shall we just wait until it is all over, but if we continue on the back foot, there maybe none of us left to come out from behind the door.
Richard
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