PRELUDE
If we overlook the landscape of the Christian churches from a distance, we see a colorful scenery of large and small church communities and even smaller splinter groups.
If we approach this positively, all these denominations in the Christian faith reflect one or more facets of faith in Christ.
Wonderful, you might think.
A unity in diversity.
The oecumenical thinking Christians like to see this increasingly coming into reality.
Is this however, a feasible and therefore realistic aim that Christians can and want to look beyond their own church doors?
If we look at seventeen hundred years of Christian church history, from the moment when Christians in general were no longer persecuted for what they believed in, we then see in a constructive criticism something different than just an oecumenical Christian scenery of unity in diversity.
We then see inner ecclesiastical intrigues arise, the church used as a political weapon, wars waged in the name of Christ, believers who think and act differently than the larger group of Christians, persecuted and killed by their fellow brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately, a long list of the above can be made in detail.
The average person is not really happy about this.
Let alone how Christ thinks about the history of His followers.
In the opinion of the writer of this op-ed piece about the church, probably not really positive!
How could this have evolved from a movement from the first centuries, which conquered the then known world with the core message of faith (in Greek pistos = trust), hope for all people and love for all who live on earth?
Does the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, have the room in the life of His followers as in the first centuries of persecution and tribulation during the Roman period?
How is it then that this loving, healing power of the Holy Spirit during the period of Jesus Christ on earth is no longer found in those who claim to follow Christ?
And even more, what can we do to revive that free Spirit of Christ in our own personal functioning as a Christian in the visible world of today?
After all, where the Spirit of Christ is, is freedom.
How free are the Christians actually in their thinking, feeling and acting?
Critically considered, Christians are just like people; they say they have changed, because they have come to know Christ, but they continue to serve their own interests when it suits them.
How different are we?
Speaking in pious and true words in itself, makes nothing tangible.
Our actions and walks in life make it clear to everyone to what extent Christ is in charge of our lives.
Seventeen hundred years of above-ground Christianity shows where the church, the followers of Christ, actually stands.
Yet there is and remains hope and prospect of a new movement of God’s Spirit in our world.
That is the motivation of the writer of this op-ed piece and that he also wants it to see as a tool to give that Spirit of power of Christ room for manoevre in man and especially for those people who are searching for a real answer from Christ in the world in which they live.
