As gospel people, how should we live confi-dently in dark times? was the challenging question, addressed by Os Guinness at the November event in York run by the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership.
Os provided a rich feast of cultural analysis and challenge, rooted in in-depth biblical understanding. He noted that civilisation in the West was grounded on clear Christian values. Yet the church in the West has now capitulated to the modern and post-modern world. Needing to face up to its lethal distortion of faith, modernity tends to push us from integration to fragmentation.
What is lost is the lordship of Christ over everything. The movement has shifted from authority to preference, accompanied by a huge gap between belief and behaviour.
Inauthenticity
So what has caused this meltdown? Os pinpointed three areas; the radical relativis-ing of all certainties; the range of options available, where choice is everything; and the rapidity of change. This is the age of unprecedented communication, where we suffer from inattention and the inflation of words through the internet. There is a rising sense of inauthenticity in society, with the prevalence of a multiplicity of facts rather the presence of clear truths. By contrast, as Christians, we are people of truthfulness and the solidity of words.
What can be done? First, ensure that people have the necessary tools to wrestle with modernity; recognising that the greatest authority is with Scripture. Add an understanding of how ideas have developed, which will help with evaluation. Also, engage in cultural analysis, recognising how the world today thinks and behaves. In a nutshell, in order to resist it, first recognise it.
It is imperative that Christians understand how ideas shape culture. It is always through leaders, not followers. Culture changes from the centre, not the periphery. Cultural ideas are changed through networks, not institutions.
Faithfulness
What does this mean for Christians? The kingdom spreads as the Spirit leads. The kingdom spreads through great reversals. In the advance of the k kingdom, culture is merely a by-product not a goal. Learning from 2000 years of engagement with culture, times of the greatest success carry with them the seeds of failure. The darkest hour is just before the dawn. The church goes forward best by going back first. The Reformation is a prime example. Faithfulness is the great issue of our times.
