View from Number 10

I have just returned from the Evangelical Alliance Council meeting where we were exploring the challenges of being Good News people in what is a polarised society.

We are all aware just how divided Britain is at the moment, with certain issues very much to the fore – assisted dying, immigration, and gender ideology to name but a few. Christians can also take very different viewpoints and there have been a lot of conversations about Christian Nationalism and how much of it seems to conflict with the Bible’s teaching on the Kingdom of God.

It was again a privilege to be in a room with such a great bunch of Christian leaders – around 80 people drawn from churches, Christian organisations, the business world, and media - along with many of the EA staff. I tend to feel quite humbled by the wisdom and giftings when among this awesome body of people; several have become good friends over the last decade, and we find that we pick up conversations from a year ago.

It was challenging to consider how we as followers of Jesus must follow his example of meeting people where they are and avoiding hasty judgments about their views. It is easy to retreat into safe spaces where people share the same ideas as us but, as God’s people, we are called to cross the room and engage with those with whom we may disagree. It is important to learn to listen to other people’s views and to show them respect – and to love fellow Christians who embrace different perspectives and traditions and seek to journey with them as much as we can.

Social media is prone to feed us information that underpins our views or presents us with outrageous extremes of the very opposite kind that get our hackles up. Such algorithms subtly fuel divisions and can result in real hatred and online bullying and trolling. As Christians, we need to engage prayerfully with what we come across and avoid any hasty responses. We need to stand back and consider where the information has come from and try and read things through God’s eyes, keeping clean hands and a pure heart.

Let’s rise to the challenge of taking a mature and godly approach to issues which cause conflict, and to behave well – we must learn to disagree in an agreeable manner, maintaining relationships as much as possible and do all we can to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). The church of Jesus must be different in the kind of ways he taught - to be both salt and light, helping preserve what is good and exposing the dark things around us.

My prayer is that we will all grow in maturity as we engage with challenging issues and to show patience and understanding with those who we might be inclined to judge. May the Holy Spirit equip us to serve the Lord in ways that honour him and cause others to look on and ask what makes these people different.

With my very best wishes for this autumn season,

Shanklin URC is one of over 3,000 churches that are members of Evangelical Alliance in the UK. Three more Island congregations have joined this year. There are also over 500 Christian organisations who belong and 31,000 personal members…