A Response to Christian Voice

I have received a couple of comments from my previous posts directly from Stephen Green of Christian Voice and feel the need to respond so I'll have a go at expressing what feels like complex and mixed emotions and thoughts on the topic:

1. Stephen Green sees this blog as a bit of a "knife-in-the-back" to other Christians. I want to take this comment in all seriousness because I am committed to us working together in unity as Christians, to hear the voice of God right across our differences within the church. Where my statements have come across as presumptive of certain attitudes (and re-reading one or two things, I can understand that reading), I apologise. I don't want to presume on anyone's motivations, and it is wrong of me to do so

2. I am struggling with how to respond to the use of Philippians 1:14-18. These are verses I genuinely wrestle with over a whole host of issues in the church. Basically, if we take these verses at face value, whatever anyone else's motivation, whatever the slant in the message, so long as Jesus is proclaimed, then that is good and to be applauded. I am really not sure that this is what we are asked to take on board literally for all time and in every situation. I do believe (and this is the wrestling in the passage for me) that we should have a generosity in our approaches to other church streams and, by a Christ-like humility, be able to see how God will use a whole variety of Christian approaches and spiritualities. But the context in Philippians is of a small, persecuted church within the heart of the Roman Empire. Paul is writing this from within prison: basically, get the word out. This word is dangerous so will not be bandied about lightly because it costs. Whatever we may think about the challenges of making the gospel known in Britain today, the church has huge amounts of freedom and there are numerous vestiges of Christian presence and knowledge that we need to be conscious of before equating Paul's context with our own. The  "courage" that is referred to by someone else's comment to my posts is not in those that may choose to visit Birmingham for an hour or two on Saturday: it is in those that are living there, day in and day out. Whatever means those Christians choose to use, whether I like their theology or not, let Jesus be honoured in that part of the city. The fact that people from the outside can come in and potentially stir a hornets' nest where none exists will impact on the gospel and freedom of those that remain when the visitors have long since gone. That for me is an issue that needs talking about and addressing. I'm not convinced that those verses in Philippians are a carte blanche for endorsing any activity of the church willy-nilly. I am compelled to critique the prosperity gospel of some churches because it does not lead to freedom but binds and oppresses and is not a proclamation of Christ. So I would ask that we have some sober reflection on scripture in this instance rather than proof-texting

3. "nothing so provocative as a Good Friday parade" - this walk of witness was not provocative. That is the point: it was the product of a consistent relational engagement with the community, with church leaders that are known by mosque leaders. Saturday's demo is provocative because it is divorced from relationship

4. My final point would be an echo of "Asha's" that the ultimate point of reference here should be the local church. If we are truly committed to honouring the body of Christ, to the proclamation across the breadth of the church, we must be able to hear the Catholics, liberal Anglicans, charismatic Anglicans, convent community, Baptist churches and others, that may not conform to the Christian Voice's vision of mission but are all rooted locally, honouring God and living and witnessing in a Muslim majority area. Have we "listened" to all of them?

So, in summary, I hear the critique of not being "Christ-like"; my tone was clumsy and presumptuous. But I hope the above reasons make very clear my intentions and why I choose to disagree with Christian Voice.

Comments

[Peter]

Thanks Richard for those gracious words. You may struggle with Stephen Green's use of Philippians 1, but it seems to me you are living them. I have just made some comment on that in my latest post, "On talking nicely and other things."

[Mark]

Having had a long and protracted e-mail conversation with Mr Green a year or so ago, my experience is that "Christian Voice" see Christian unity as a one way thing... "Don't criticize us for the sake of "Christian Unity", but we retain the right to criticize and indeed question your faith when you don't see the world in the same way as us!"

(1) Re Mark above, you will be hard-pressed to find anything on the Christian Voice website attacking other Christians. In private iron sharoens iron; in public slagging each other off is a scandal.
(2) I hope our dear host might have the grace to admit that our witness in Alum Rock went off peacefully and goodnaturedly and did not upset community relations. It seemed to me that the Muslims expected us to share Jesus and were more than happy to take tracts and listen to what we had to say. One lesson learned: Gospel tracts in Urdu were particularly well-received.