a post christian culture

(the picture above features a film night at Cafe Forever, where our church meets)

Ashley and I are also getting to serve in other areas while we are here in London. Again, our primary calling is to the CV program, but we are also getting to serve a small church plant located in the East End of London called City of Peace. What’s fascinating is that we often come into contact with people who have never really heard of Jesus Christ or know much about him. England is becoming a post-Christian society and we are getting to see why that’s the case. The latest poll I noticed on an AOL article during Halloween was taken among 2000 people living in England and the results were that 65% of those polled believed in ghosts while only 55% believed in a God. In many ways it is forcing the church here to address people who haven’t any idea of the existence of Jesus Christ. Two larger churches in Central London have developed courses to address this need, which you may have heard of. One is called the Alpha Course and the other is called Christianity Explored, which is associated with All Souls (John Stott used to be the pastor). Anyway, I’ve recently been able to run a Christianity Explored course with our church and 5-6 adults, who have had little or no contact with Jesus Christ and his church, have gone through the course. For instance, at the start of the course we asked the participants how they felt about studying the Gospel of Mark. One person responded by saying the he was looking forward to getting to know more about Mark and who he was. We were able to point out (hopefully with as much humility as we could muster) that the gospel of Mark is about Jesus, rather than Mark. I’ve really come to realize that you can’t assume anything when communicating the gospel in a post-Christian secular culture. We’ve seen at least one person make a profession of faith through the course and the others are still in process as they interact with the core teachings of Christianity along with our community.

In thinking about these experiences I believe there is a lot to be learned for how we communicate the gospel in America as well. Many believe that America is only a few decades behind Europe and it is becoming increasingly secular and post-Christian. For my part, I have assumed much when communicating the gospel to others and how I have designed programs for the church. In many ways I have assumed too much as I have only interacted with a churched culture, and therefore I have completely neglected a segment of society that needs to hear the gospel. I guess this is the challenge that America will face in the coming years. Well, enough of my rambling. I hope some of what I have been learning will benefit you.

pregnancy!

We have some great news! After almost 2 years of seeking God’s will for our lives with regards to starting a family we have been given an answer. Ashley is in her 12th week of pregnancy and all seems to be going well. Ashley has her share of morning sickness. Actually, for about a month it was more like all day sickness but she has definitely turned a corner.