Written by: gfesadmin on March 16, 2013

The Christian Faith is all about change.  In fact it is more than just ‘change’.   It is about transformation and as the Apostle Paul says, it is all about becoming a ‘new creation’.   It is about being changed and bringing about change and transformation. It was never meant to be a structured institution as we find it today.  It was always to be a vibrant movement of changed people committed to change people and their way of life around them.  Unfortunately it has become a religion captive to structures and vehicles created over time to help bring about the change. The present form of Christianity by and large is formed by a post-Christian culture.  It is a culture whose habits of life resemble very little of the overarching vision of ‘abundant life’ provided by Christ and taught by scripture.  CITATION Hun10 p 227 l 1033  (Hunter 2010, 227)

James Davison Hunter in his book To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World makes three major assertions.   While agreeing that changing the world is part of Christian Mission, it cannot be done in the manner and form in which it is generally understood.  The first of three essays of the book makes the point that  cultures cannot be changed in the way Christianity has been traditionally assumed to do it, ‘one heart at a time’ or from the ‘bottom up’.   Hunter says that only strong networks of intellectually elites creating space for an alternate culture can make it happen.  The second argument is against who may be categorized as the Christian right, the Christian left and the Neo-Anabaptists who are assumed to be the three major Christian culture-changing movements of the present time.  The third essay explains Hunter’s vision of changing the world.  He describes it as the ‘faithful presence’ of Christians without asking for or expecting anything lofty or for great sweeping transformation to happen but just living with the hope of making the world a better place.   CITATION Hut13 l 1033 (Hutchinson n.d.)

The concluding words of the book were a little disappointing to me.  “Certainly Christians, at their best, will neither create a perfect world nor one that is altogether new;  but by enacting shalom and seeking it on behalf of all others through the practice of faithful presence, it is possible, just possible, that they will help to make the world a little bit better.”  CITATION Hun10 p 287 l
1033  (Hunter 2010, 287)  It may seem at the outset to be the reality but they strip Christianity of its spiritual power and vitality perhaps projecting it as just another good religion.  Can we limit the  capability of the Christian faith to change the world only depending on political power, social status, knowledge and influence? 

 I always wish to keep before me two key principles underlying my faith in Jesus and my call to ministry.  Jesus used three very common illustrations to demonstrate the impact that his disciples could and should make on the world: salt, light and yeast – these are all agents and catalysts of change in their own way.  Secondly I am reminded of the nature of people Jesus chose to be his disciples and those to whom he would entrust the responsibility of carrying out His redemptive mission.  The Apostle Paul describes them well in his first epistle to the Corinthians “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.”(I Cor 1:27 NIV)

The villages of India are being transformed one at a time.  It is happening through men and women whose lives have been touched by the Good News.  They are not people of great acclaim, power, wealth or influence but simple people living out their transformed lives in a powerful way.   I conclude with the following quote from Martin Luther King. Jr:  “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.  And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.  A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”  CITATION 13Ma1 l 1033   (Brainy Quote n.d.)

 BIBLIOGRAPHY  l 1033 Brainy Quote. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_change.html#xgiCWE1QQMG0r5Zy.99 (accessed March 16, 2013).

Hunter, James Davison. To Change The World, The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity In The Late Modern World. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Hutchinson, Chris. The Aquila Report. http://theaquilareport.com/book-review-to-change-the-world-by-james-davison-hunter/ (accessed March 14, 2013).

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