Faith in the Future

A couple of weeks ago an interesting monograph landed on my doormat courtesy of the postal service. It had come from my MP, Alistair Burt, who had been involved in a cross-party  committee studying life in the UK. The resultant document is just under 60 pages long and entitled Faith in the Future.

The paper caused some flapping of coat-tails in wonderment that Christians, more precisely Christian politicians, might have ideas and views that were influenced by their faith. Apparently, if some of the articles are to be believed, we are supposed to operate in some sort of faith-vacuum where what we believe about matters theological are not supposed to affect what we believe about matters political.

The report itself is rather interesting. Firstly there are some interesting observations about life in the UK. Based not upon their faith but upon the work of others in the field of social analysis, the writers observe that as a nation we are simply not happy, or at least not as happy as we think we should be (Introduction p10). Furthermore:

For all our material and social progress, as a nation we are still radically dissatisfied.

Again based on survey data, the report observes that:

Although vaunted as the solution to all our problems, and despite having clearly revolutionised the way we interact with our homes and our world, the societal evidence demonstrates that ownership of more 'things'... is not the route to emotional or physical well-being

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The conclusion would seem to be that rampant consumerism and selfish accruing of personal wealth have not made us a happy society. In fact one could argue that it's made happiness less achievable than ever because it has pushed society towards independence rather than interdependence.

So, what's the solution? Well our authors don't provide new policy ideas to be enacted on our behalf (hooray!) but they do offer a series of defining questions that, if taken seriously, present quite a challenge to our current way of doing society. Here are their five questions:

• Does my action encourage people to develop positive relationships in their families and communities?
  
• Is my action socially and globally responsible?
  
• Does my action promote a climate of trust and hope?
  
• Does my action promote self-esteem and respect for others?
  
• Does my action encourage people to fulfil their God-given potential?
  

How interesting that only one of these questions mentions God directly, yet for some people that is once too often. This does not strike me as a bunch of fanatical Christians trying to foist their personal beliefs on the nation as some newspaper article may have suggested.

I find these questions fascinating. I'm not sure they are the questions I would have chosen as defining questions for our age, but I've never really given it much thought more's the pity.

What I do wonder is what shape the ministry and mission of the church should take if these questions truly are the questions we need to answer in order to build a society of hope and optimism. They certainly raise the bar for personal responsibility both for our actions and for the potential for change. 

I am certain that society will only change for the better with both a large scale move of God and a realigning of our lives away from selfish gain and towards generous living. But that doesn't mean that we give up and stop trying. And I wonder too if these are the questions of a missional church?

If you want to read the report, then follow the link of this webpage.