This twelfth article in the series ‘The Community of Believers’ discusses how societal changes since the World War II have challenged the UK Church, arguing that adherence to biblical truth is the only strategy for confronting these changes successfully.

Is there a case for Christians today applying biblical principles of community in their fellowships or in any of the communities to which they belong? We have discussed these principles, as they are recorded in Scripture and were understood and practised in the early Church, in previous articles in this series. Is our society today more like the society faced by the early Church in New Testament times than possibly at any other society in history? How can we, like the early believers, be effective witnesses in ways which transform lives and impact our whole society?

Radical Social Change

Understanding the social environment is essential when planning any operational strategy – whether a Christian mission, a local church outreach, or a commercial enterprise. In 21^st-Century Britain we have been experiencing a social revolution since the 1960s that has radically changed the culture and social values of the nation.

The strategies that may have met with success in the first part of the last century now need to be adapted to reach the next generation. The rate of social change shows no sign of slowing down but has, in fact, been accelerating, especially since the worldwide financial crisis in 2008.

In Britain, the changes in social values have produced a celebrity culture at one end of the spectrum and inner-city ghettos of the marginalised and dispossessed at the other end. But of even greater significance have been the effects upon the belief system of the nation. It is no longer possible to declare that the UK is a Christian society.

The process of secularisation has been gathering momentum since the end of World War II. Major landmarks have included the disappearance of Sunday Schools in the 1970s, followed by the abandonment of acts of worship and biblical teaching in day schools. Together with the decline in church attendance since the 1950s, this has produced a generation of adults who are almost entirely ignorant of the Bible and its moral values. Additionally, the 21^st Century has seen a deliberate attack of secular humanists upon the role of religion in society and especially upon the Christian faith.

The past 70-year period of social change has profound implications for the future stability of society. All our major social institutions of law and government, education and welfare, were based upon biblical principles; thus, today the foundations of society are being shaken. It is relevant here to repeat the question asked by the Psalmist to which we referred in the first article of this series: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3). It is this question that we wish to address in the final instalments of this series, this week and next.

The past 70-year period of social change has profound implications for the future stability of society.

Biblical Truth

Today the foundations of our civilisation are being shaken. We are entering both a destructive period, and a fundamentally creative period of social change that will produce a paradigm shift in the nation and even beyond (since we now live in a ‘global village’ whereby whatever happens in one part of the world affects all the others).

As the foundations of Western civilisation crumble and the ‘old world’ that has been dominated by Europe and America for centuries disappears over the horizon, the way Christians react will determine the future of the world for years to come.

Those who study trends in church growth have for decades been noting shifts from west to east and from north to south. It has been forecast that during the 21^st Century, the impetus of missionary endeavour will shift from Europe and America to China and Africa. That is already happening, as we see the growing number of Nigerian and Chinese churches flourishing in Britain, who regard our society as their mission field, and it is probably a vanguard of what will spread across Europe in years to come.

Seizing Opportunities

If the churches in Britain are to seize the opportunities that the present situation of social decay offers, there has to be a radical change of mindset: a change from coping with decline to planning for expansion, a change from operating in an institutional context to a more missional context.

The latter is one of the most important changes of mindset we face, as it involves leaving behind the old securities of large denominational institutions that have the endorsement of the state, and which in the past have played a significant part in the structure of local community life. It means going out like Abraham into the unknown, armed only with faith in God and the conviction that he will guide the steps of those who put their trust in him.

It also means recognising the fact that the ‘mission field’ in Britain has undergone a radical change since the beginning of the 20^th Century. The Victorian era offered a warm, friendly and supportive environment for Christian mission. This changed through the period of two world wars to a ‘noncommittal’ environment of sceptical tolerance. The attitude in the 21^st Century has now changed to hostility: Christians, who declare their faith in opposition to contemporary values find themselves at variance with the law and without public support.

This radically changed social environment has greater similarities with that faced by Christians in the first three centuries of the Church than at any time in subsequent history. This is creating a renewed interest in the history of the early Church and in the faith and daily life experience of believers in Jesus who lived under the hostile power of Rome. This raises several important questions, such as,

• Can the faith and practices of the early Church be recaptured today?
  
• Should we be studying and learning from the way the early Church operated in a hostile social environment?
  
• Are there principles from the early Church which we should embrace today which could prove a giant step forward in mission because they are God-given, tried and tested, and relevant to our current situation?
  

If Christians are to be fruitful as well as creatively involved in rebuilding society on more than secular foundations, we have to find ways of being proactive rather than reactive, injecting biblical principles into the public square and demonstrating their ‘public benefit’, whether or not we necessarily appeal to biblical authority.

In order to do this, the most effective means of communication is through role models; demonstrating practically the theoretical concepts centred in a community of believers similar to that of the early Church, which proved so effective in transforming the Greco-Roman world.

If Christians are to be fruitful as well as creatively involved in rebuilding society on more than secular foundations, we have to find ways of being proactive rather than reactive.

Historical Precedents

There always have been attempts to improve the operation of the contemporary Church by introducing new expressions of Christianity based upon biblical principles. Indeed, all new sects or denominations have grown out of the desire of Christians to re-emphasise the importance of some neglected biblical truth.

The Pilgrim Fathers valued, and wanted to declare, the autonomy of the local church – and emigrated to what is now the USA to worship in the way they wanted; the Quakers also wanted to get away from clericalism to a simpler form of worship in which all believers could participate.

The Brethren believed that the word of God was being neglected; the Baptists emphasised the importance of the declaration of faith being followed by full immersion in the name of the Trinity; the Methodists valued the small group as the core place of learning and expression; the Pentecostals saw that the Third Person of the Trinity was not given the freedom to operate in the institutional churches; the Charismatics discovered spiritual gifts which were not recognised in the traditional churches, and we could go on.

In recent history, there have been a large number of new expressions of Christianity which have in many ways fragmented the overall Christian witness through their attempt to emphasise some neglected aspect of biblical truth. They have more often brought disunity than unity. The move to church unity and uniformity last century reached a high point in the 1960s - the heyday of the ‘ecumenical movement’.

But is there such a thing as the right kind of disunity which challenges the majority? Is there a place for dissent and change? Change is always needed – without change we are like the Dead Sea which stagnates, when what we need is living streams. Change is to be encouraged most when it comes willingly from within.

But might there also be a place for active dissent? The Great Ejection of 1662, the 350^th anniversary of which was ‘celebrated’ in 2012, while painful and disruptive at the time, opened up the society of that day to creative change – the effects of which we can still acknowledge today. It also gave birth to many significant change-makers in our history.

So, can we justify a new attempt today to benefit from the experience of the early Church, which challenged all the social institutions of its day, including the might of Rome? The answer to this question has to be in the affirmative, owing to the strong similarities between our present social situation and that faced by Christians from the apostolic era to the time of Constantine.

Questions for further reflection:

1. We have identified two areas of ‘metanoia’ – both personal and in society. Can you think of other areas in which Christians today need to have a change of mindset?
   
2. What effect has studying the biblical basis of the community of believers in whole Body ministry had upon you? Does it invoke hope? What changes will you hope to bring into your life and fellowship?
   

Next week will be the final article in this series when we will be looking at the challenges facing this generation today and attempting to draw out the characteristics of an ideal expression of ekklesia.

Please click here for previous instalments in this series.