Pilgrim Soldier

Last Sunday the sermon at Riga 1 was preached by our outgoing Regional Commander and he was speaking about the characteristics of the Church that are found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 5:12-16.

As I read on my thoughts turned away from what was being preached and onto the fact I’ve been hearing people say that we should get back to a New Testament Church style or model for at least the last decade. Some people will no doubt have been hearing or even saying this for even longer.

The reason for this stance is that they look at the experience of the Church in the New Testament and see so much that is missing from today’s 21st Century Church. They are right there is a great deal missing. Why do we not see the sorts of things that happened back then in the majority of today’s churches? When was the last time you saw people healed simply because a Christian’s shadow fell on them?

Now some would say that the times for signs and wonders was reserved for the times of the apostles. Others would say that we don’t have enough faith today. Still others would point to a better scientific understanding of what really happened in some of these miracles.

For me at least some of the problem can be found throughout Acts. The very next set of verses to those Henrik preached on start to tell the story. Initially the apostles, and then later the church as a whole, started to face persecution. There was a very real possibility that if you confessed to be a “Follower of the Way” that you would be thrown in prison or worse.

There was therefore an urgency about faith that doesn’t tend to be seen in our Western society in which the Church has stood as a bastion of respectability for centuries. Yes we are aware of the fact that there are still people being persecuted for being Christians in some of the more oppressive countries in the world, but once they become more enlightened, more sophisticated, this persecution is bound to stop.

I’m not so sure about that. I think the urgency that the early Christians faced is quite a large part of why it was so successful. When we are faced with persecution of any sort we either run away, or band together. The early church came together and drew support, not only from the Holy Spirit, but also from their sisters and brothers in Christ. They shared in each others trials and when they prayed for those being persecuted the thought at the back of their mind must have been that next time it could be then.

Before coming out to Latvia I was involved in an organisation that had done some work on behalf of the persecuted church. I even had the privilege of meeting with the parents of James Mawdsley, who you might remember was imprisoned in Burma. I also raised the profile of persecuted Christians at my corps. The thing that came across time and time again was that those under persecution never asked for prayers that the oppression might stop. Instead they always asked for the strength to stand up to the conditions they found themselves in.

Matthew 5:10-12 tells us how blessed we are if we are persecuted for Jesus’ sake. 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that all who seek to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.

But being honest how many of us are prepared to be persecuted? I’m not just talking about the sort that we get from those who ridicule us for needing a crutch to lean on. I’m talking about the real persecution that is faced by many of our brothers and sisters in Christ today.

We even complain when the windows of our halls are smashed, or the walls are graffiteed (sic). I’ve even known of at least one corps in the UK that used to have a guard outside the hall all meeting to ensure local youths didn’t smash the windows of their BMWs and Mercedes.

We want to see revival, but at the same time want to live in comfort and security. We don’t want to have our lives turned upside down and don’t even consider that maybe God is calling us to be persecuted as well.

Now why do we never see that as an option in all these church growth strategies?