Things I Miss About England: Faith

The wise sage and my ex- housemate Matt used to say "A church should know when it's dead"

So much has been documented about church decline in England that I'm sure I have little to add that won't have already been said. But when I was hanging out at Soul Survivor and Momentum, I got thinking of Matt's words again.

The great thing we see in the Bible is that death precedes new life. Death does not have to be the end; there is the hope of resurrection. During the time we spent in the UK, I came across churches, ministries, Christians who seemed to have stared death in the face. They no longer ignored or justified the numbers (or distinct lack of them); they saw the culture for what it was without condemning it. It would be easier, unstandable even, to get utterly cynical.
But instead it was like seeing snowdrops and crocuses on an otherwise dormant landscape.

A passion for a lifestyle of justice, an increased level of engaging with the culture, the church incarnate, environmental awareness and concern. People still preaching the gospel like the old school and still seeing an awakening. The workplace as the mission field. The ends of the earth within sight. Ordinary heartfelt worship in the presence of an extraordinary God. Old ideas, new expressions but all brimming with life.

I think when you know you something is dead, you have let it go. You grieve, your mourn, you may even wail and sob for awhile, But you know the thing you have loved is gone and there's no going back. The only way is forward, and eventually you come to terms with a new world. You might even smile again one day.

But only if you admit that its gone....

Sometimes I wonder if the energies we invest in things are trying to recussitate, keep alive something we should let go.
If we admit its already gone, then finally we can invest out energies in sowing something new into the land. Then we can look for the first signs of Spring.