The christian church is losing ground in almost all western countries. Is this inevitable with modern science and education, as some secularists and atheists say?

Or are we missing something?

Jesus gives us a strategy

On the night before he was executed, Jesus spent time with his disciples giving them last minute instructions. And they weren’t a set of instructions to take home and live out on our own.

He gave us an example and actions we should live out in community.

People were to be attracted to his kingdom via visibly distinctive, extraordinary behaviour amongst his followers in community.

• We will be known as a community where we all love one another, following the way in which he first loved us (John 13: 34-35, 15: 12, 17).
• He modelled a radically different mode of “servant leadership” in washing the disciples’ feet.
• He gave them and us a community meal, remembering his life and sacrifice inaugurating a new covenant community.

Thus instead of being given some theoretical teaching, Jesus left us with a strategy of showing the world a loving community in action, and inviting them to “taste and see” that it was good.

Jesus becomes tangibly real and alive in communities of believers that live differently in accordance with his teaching.

The dynamic of the early church

We know from scripture that the first century christian churches were far from perfect. But they did grow from small beginnings to a large and influential community. Some of their success can be attributed to practices that followed Jesus’ teaching and example.

Radical kinship in community.
Lives, property, resources were commonly shared in radically unselfish ways.

Table worship-fellowship.
Meetings were often based on shared meals where all were welcome – slave and slave-owner, male and female, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor (Colossians 3:11).

Participatory worship.
All could make a contribution. There was an aspiration that no-one controlled the meetings, only the Holy Spirit.

Church as a community.
The church (Greek: ekklesia) was an a community assembly where God dwelt through his Spirit, not primarily an organisation or a building. A small group of committed Jesus-followers living a radically different lifestyle that challenged the status quo.

The strategy down the ages ….

The history of the christian church is marred with disputes, division, even violence and corruption. Nevertheless, ever since Jesus gave us this example and teaching, committed communities of believers have lived out his ethic of loving service.

• In the first few centuries, the church was known for its radical love and acceptance, its respect for women and children, its care for the poor, the sick and the alienated, and love for enemies.
• In the 4th century, Basil of Caesarea: ministered to the sick through radical communities of healing that were inclusive of those typically shunned and excluded, and started the first hospitals.
• In the 13th century, Francis of Assisi began communities which emphasised poverty, service and care for the natural world, as their way of following Jesus.
• In the 15th century, the Anabaptists (which included the Moravians and Mennonites) stressed community, non-violence and the work of the Holy Spirit. This was the genesis of the modern European missionary movement.
• Later, in the Americas, Moravian communities stressed radical kinship and deep support for the poor, the marginalised (e.g. native Americans) and the enslaved (some even became slaves themselves to minister to other slaves).

These radical, counter-cultural, committed communities point the way for us to also follow the way of Jesus.

…. and still today

• Bruderhof communities around the world emphasise simple living.
• Koinonia Farms in the US aimed to demonstrate the way of Jesus through its work for inter-racial reconciliation, an area where the US church has been severely compromised and (in many cases) needs repentance and changed attitudes. This movement experienced hostility and violence from state and church.
• L’Arche communities care for, and build community with, the disabled (despite some failures and abuse).
• In the UK, Love Your Neighbour, which began as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, is now a network of hundreds of churches and charities helping people to overcome pressing social challenges.
• The Simple Way with Shane Claiborne and others is renewing lives and inner city environments in Philadelphia.
• Englewood Christian Development Corporation is doing community development in Minneapolis.
• The Underground ministers to affluent, poor and/or hurting communities via more than 200 microchurches in Tamp Florida and elsewhere.
• Father Gregory Boyle’s Homeboy Industries develops “radical kinship” with gang members after release from prison, demonstrating the power of unconditional love in the kingdom of Jesus.
• In Australia, Manna Gum led by Jonathan Cornford seeks to reclaim and practise Biblical teaching on material life, and promote understanding of the ways our economic lives impact upon ourselves, others and the earth.

Common themes

These examples exhibit common themes that follow the strategy outlined by Jesus, and which we can all draw from.

• They are communities of Jesus followers trying to live out the reality of Jesus’ teaching recorded in the Bible – simplicity, serving, love, non-violence, reconciliation, etc.
• They invite people to come and see Jesus, like Philip to Nathaniel in John 1:46. It will be this experience that will give people incentive and reason to want to follow Jesus too.
• In this way, we can pray that all may know . . . (John 13-17).

That all may know

Missionary Lesslie Newbigin expressed some of these ideas well:

“The business of the church is to tell and embody a story.”

“The gospel is not just the illustration (even the best illustration) of an idea. It is the story of actions by which the human situation is irreversibly changed.”

“The only hermeneutic [way of explaining the meaning] of the gospel is a congregation of men and women who believe in it and live by it.”

The real difficulty?

GK Chesterton said: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

It may be that it is easier to simply preach the gospel in words and set aside Jesus’ more radical teachings on community, love, service, forgiveness and simplicity.

But it may also be that the church will continue to lose ground until we embrace the ethic and actions that Jesus set before us.

Acknowledgment

The ideas for this page come principally from a seminar by historian Susan Harper for the US Fresh Expressions movement. The graphics are taken from the slides from that seminar. The main graphic is a photo of a mural by Hyatt Moore.

You can read more about Fresh Expressions here and join up to gain access to their resources.