Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
May/June 2006

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Pastoral Letter

Ross Collins, St Mary’s Church

It has been fashionable, at least since the mid-nineteenth century, to declare that religion in Europe has had its day, and Christianity no longer has anything to say. I suspect that it is at least partly because this prediction has never been fulfilled that it has not gone out of fashion.

Another significant reason is that those who proclaim the demise of the Western church are so often its own leaders..... and that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in which those who lament their marginalisation push themselves to the fringes of society.

The sad thing is that there are all too few Christian leaders who can engage with society. There are many who give in to whatever values modern life might briefly have settled upon – as if the church could never affect anyone’s behaviour or beliefs. At the other extreme, there are many leaders who will rant angrily at the vices of modern life – as if an earlier time were more virtuous and just. However, few thinkers or leaders will engage with the society around them – neither condemning it out of hand, nor accepting it as it is, but looking for the good in it while challenging the bad.

Of course, this is a tricky and complex task, and it is almost always easier to launch into a tirade or give up. To my mind, one good place to start in society is in its Christian origins. It is inconceivable that Western Europe would be as it is without the profound influence of Christianity. At one level, this is true of the spiritual insights of Western art, music and literature. At another, it is even more true of the ideas and values that have dominated the economic, political and social development of the last two millennia.

The key ideas and values that have shaped who we are include:

• the complete equality of human beings in the eyes of God and therefore on earth
• the absolute value of human life and the dignity of each human being

In one sense, these values are so much part of the ethical software of our souls that we hardly notice them. But then, the worth of human life may have a long tradition in the West, but less so in places such as China. The freedom of the individual that results from our equality may be something we take for granted, but would not be if we lived in much of the Arab world.

The values of equality and dignity drive so much of secular debate that we can forget their origin in our faith. We can also miss the fact that this is part of the success of our faith, not its failure – and that society still looks to us to contribute to the development of the next phase.

I see similar issues with how social policy, health and education are discussed. Most of the rest of the world can only dream of the educational opportunities and the health provision offered in Europe. Can we imagine them having arisen without the pioneering work of the church? Yet, now that they have less need of faith to provide them, are the health and education in our country any less of the fulfilment of Christ’s mission taken from Isaiah: "To bring good news to the poor, To heal the broken-hearted, To announce release to captives and freedom to those in prison"? Is it because they are not largely provided by the church that the West is regarded as a spiritual desert, and places like Nigeria are held up as paradigms for our future?

Curiously enough, many people outside the church are more ready to recognise the church's role in our culture than its leaders. Often they are more willing to look to the church for leadership than we are to give it. But if we are to make the most of the opportunity that is still there, we must engage more deeply with the society around us, seek what has already been achieved in Christ’s name, and then ask what more can be done.

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