Is the Labour Party disintegrating or is it rediscovering its own roots? This is the big question facing the four remaining contenders for its leadership, vying to replace Jeremy Corbyn. The four are: Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Emily Thornberry and Lisa Nandy.

Sir Keir Starmer is the front-runner and bookies’ favourite, but he is remembered as a passionate Remainer who did much to create and sustain the chaos in the House of Commons during the final months of the previous Parliament. Rebecca Long-Bailey is one of the new generation of MPs on the left of the party who claims that she will maintain the socialist agenda of Corbyn which she aims to make more acceptable to the public.

Emily Thornberry, former Shadow Foreign Secretary, worked as a barrister before becoming an MP but blotted her copybook in the last Parliament by being a rabid contender for a Second Referendum. Lisa Nandy, who has Indian heritage, formerly worked for the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. She has the backing of the National Union of Mineworkers and is passionate about supporting the interests of small towns and communities.

Soul-Searching

James Keir Hardie, 1902

Labour’s search is of far greater significance than the selection of a leader although, of course, the leader will inevitably be the public face of the Party. But the central issue is the identity of the Labour Party itself. What is its raison d’être? What are its aims and objectives? What is the Labour Party all about?

The defeat of Labour in its own heartlands at the recent General Election is a severe blow to the very existence of the Party and the soul-searching that is now taking place in the leadership campaign is a reflection of the deep anxiety over the very existence of the Party in the future.

At such a time, surely, the Party should be striving to rediscover its roots. Keir Hardie, the Scottish miners’ leader who is credited with being the founder of the Party and became the first Labour Member of Parliament, was a passionate preacher of the gospel. He was a member of the same evangelical Congregational Church as David Livingstone, the intrepid explorer/missionary. Keir Hardie’s biblical principles as a non-conformist Christian became part of the foundations of the Labour Party.

At such a time of soul-searching, the Labour Party should be striving to rediscover its roots.

Labour’s roots have strong links with mining communities and with Christian values, especially the teaching of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, which was widely used in the speeches of Labour MPs from the Welsh valleys.

Perhaps the reason why Labour has lost its way in recent years is because it has cut itself off from its Christian roots and instead embraced atheistic Marxism. The rot set in in the immediate post-World War II period, when the highly anti-Semitic Labour Government of Clement Attlee reneged on the Balfour Declaration and the sacred trust of the Mandate to establish a homeland for the Jews. Instead, they sent back boatloads of Holocaust survivors to camps in Germany, or to drown in the Mediterranean.

Discerning the Hand of God

But Labour is not the only institution in Britain that is being shaken to its roots. All the pillars of society are being shaken, from High Street stores to the monarchy – one powerful institution after another is being shaken, as prophesied in the Bible in passages such as Isaiah 2:12-22, Haggai 2:6-7 and Hebrews 12:26-29.

Churches are also being shaken by disagreement over a range of issues from false teaching to same-sex marriage. But as the denominational structures of the churches crumble, God is doing something remarkable in drawing together like-minded Bible-believing Christians from different traditions. Many of these are coming together in home-based groups which may or may not have links with local churches, but draw believers from various traditions. They form neighbourhood Christian groups with a commitment to prayer and Bible study. Their prayers for the nation have undoubtedly had an impact on recent events.

Many people are anxious about the rapid changes that are taking place as the framework of what was thought of as our Christian civilisation is beginning to fall apart. But what we need to do most in seeking to understand what is happening, is to discern the hand of God – to distinguish between what is human activity and what is initiated by God, or used by him to achieve his purposes.

Many people are anxious about the rapid changes that are taking place - but what we need to do most is to discern the hand of God.

Uprooting and Planting

Jeremiah was told that in his lifetime he would see the pillars of society crumble and fall. God told him his mission was “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer 1:10). In order to raise a people of faith who would prepare the way for Messiah, God had to do some stripping away.

It was not only the totem poles and altars to Baal that had to be demolished, but all the main pillars of the nation – the things in which people put their trust - which included the monarchy, the priesthood, the Temple and even the city of David their hero. It was the small groups of praying people studying the books of Moses and the prophets when they were in exile in Babylon that formed the nucleus of the new community that would rebuild Jerusalem and prepare the way for Messiah.

These small groups scattered around Babylon formed the template for the groups of Christians scattered around the Roman Empire, established by the Apostles who were eye-witnesses of Jesus. They went out in obedience to his final words, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The communities they formed were unique. They were ordinary people of both genders, all ages, different nationalities, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor – but the one common denominator was their absolute commitment to Jesus. Their uniqueness was that they were separated from the world while still living in the world. They drew invisible sap from the vine while having a visible presence in the world as branches of the vine.

This is what God is doing today: raising a remnant of Jesus-people – a community of believers – out of the crumbling structures of the Church, to be his witnesses in a new mission field that has forgotten its roots. The day will come when there is a great backlash against the lies and deception and rottenness of the secular humanist world we have created. This will create a hunger for truth and reality that can only be met by the gospel – wonderfully preserved in the communities of believers.