Feeling Persecuted

Graeme Smith with a culturally subversive message

ver the last couple of years I have noticed a growing tendency amongst Christians in the western world to lament the loss of rights that have existed for centuries. They see the loss of moral teaching, as it has been upheld by the Church for centuries, as a personal attack on the Christian faith.

The reality is that for many centuries the Church in the western world has walked the paths of power and has been an integral part of holding society together. Yet with this influential position came first a relaxation of prophetic zeal, and then a watering down of what the path of discipleship is really about. What was born as an essentially subversive, life changing movement became a controlling and stifling force of societal control.

In recent years it has become evident that this position of power and authority has now been eroded to such an extent that what has been labelled Christendom has collapsed in most of the western world. I don’t propose to go into an explanation of the situation in this article as it has already been covered in great depth in numerous books, such as Stuart Murray’s excellent Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World.

It is due to this erosion of privilege and influence of the churches that a sizeable and vocal minority are now feeling “got at” and are shouting loudly about discriminatory policies in all areas of life. The furore over the British Airways stewardess who was not allowed to wear her crucifix over her uniform is a prime example of this attitude over what is really a triviality.

It is even debatable whether this persecution is even a real phenomenon or whether it is actually an increased awareness that is to blame? The Anglican Bishop of Bolton, England, David Gillett, said recently, “Religion is big news these days, so people have become more conscious of faith issues. That means Christians are now finding decisions going against them in a more high-profile way. But it’s a case of those issues getting more attention, rather than there being more discrimination.”

Even if Bishop Gillett is wrong, is this alleged persecution such a bad thing? As I have already said, the Christian way of life was originally a subversive voice in a time of persecution and amongst a people who were so used to the religious life that, for many, it no longer had the depth of meaning that it was supposed to have. This of course finds its echoes in today’s Christianised, but ultimately secular, western society.

What is beyond doubt is that the early followers of Christ experienced intense persecution, even to frequent martyrdom. Across the world today there are societies in which being a Christian, indeed being a person of any faith, meets with punishment of the harshest forms. Under this persecution the Church has seen wild growth.

Yet as Christianity faces terminal decline in the west, Christians complain when the historic privileges the Church enjoyed are no longer as accessible. We cry out for justice from the state so that those who ridicule us or who blaspheme against our God receive their deserved punishment. However, Jesus cried out to God, whilst in the midst of excruciating agony, for Him to forgive those who were crucifying Him.

So what are we to do? Are we to continue to lament the loss of the historic privilege and influence that the Church has enjoyed? Or are we to embrace the radical nature of the Christian way and forge ahead in the new found freedom to show Jesus’ culturally subversive message to a fallen world. If we choose the latter option I suspect that we will be more attractive to a world full of people searching for something deeper and more real than the world offers, even when we speak what at face value many would deem to be unpalatable by the world’s standards.

Writer: After six years lay ministry in Latvia, Graeme Smith now finds himself as an Envoy running a corps in the UK. He’s married to Zoe and they have two wonderful daughters, Sian (3) and Abigail who was born in April. Passionate about mission and discipleship, he is aiming to enter training in 2008.