On page 5 is a story about Destiny Church, described as “an American evangelical church”. Destiny Church and Ministries was founded in Glasgow around 1990. Its belief statement on its website certainly declares that it teaches everything you would expect in an evangelical church, with a few additions. It falls into the charismatic camp, with the expected prominence given to teaching about the Holy Spirit, and an attachment to claimed miracles such as healings. In the past it has had associations with “prosperity gospel” teachers such as the appropriately named Creflo Dollar. It has now suffered some splits and defections, with complaints about financial irregularities and exploitation of members being made to the charity authorities in Scotland. Hence the story in today’s paper. I have no notion whether there is any truth in these accusations, and I have no particular criticism to make here of Destiny. I happily confess I know little of them. However, even taking a sceptical view of some of their own claims, they provide evidence that parts of the Church are apparently far from in decline. Exactly how authentic the churches in Destiny’s network are, time (and for that matter eternity) will tell.
Then a little further on (page 23) I encountered the
headline “Secular Scotland feels little need for God, warns Kirk moderator”.
This is a story about the Church of Scotland’s continuing decline and indeed its
own narrative of that decline. It has recognized this formally in as much as it
is in the process of rationalizing (i.e. reducing) its number of parishes and
posts. The incoming moderator, writing for next months “Church and Life”, is to
claim “Christendom has gone” and that Scots live in a culture “that feels
little need for God”. The quotations are those that the Times’ journalist has
seen fit to include in the story of course. Presumably the Times has seen a
copy of the Church and Life article, rather than itself claiming any prophetic
insight.
I suppose that the Moderator might claim he has been
misquoted. We’ll see. But it is true that there is an ongoing debate within the
C of S about its decline and what it is to do. A blog post which is also quoted
in the article, authored by one of the Church’s academics, gives a flavour of
aspects of the ongoing discussion. The blog post focusses on how the human institution
that is the C of S should organize to survive. But nowhere does it engage with
the C of S’s central problem. It ceased believe and preach what was supposed to
be, and historically was, at its core – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To conclude
that the C of S’s decline means that there is no appetite for the Gospel it has
refused to preach is bizarre. Destiny’s story, at least in part, provides
evidence to that end.
It was not really the detail of either story that caught
my interest. It was that firstly both appeared at all. Again, this rather counts
against the idea that there is no interest in such things here in Scotland. I
assume that the newspapers, here as elsewhere, only devote column inches to
what they think their readers, or at least reasonable proportion of their
readers, will find interesting. The Times apparently thinks that news about Christian
churches falls into that category. Admittedly you could see both as fairly depressing,
and a sign of a secular media taking the opportunity to paint Christians in a
poor light. But secondly, beyond the immediate contrast between the two stories
themselves there are a number of other contrast that should be pointed up. And
this is where Keswick is relevant.
All last week we had the confident presentation of a Gospel and its impacts based on the authoritative Word of God. The confidence was not based in the talents of speakers like Alistair Begg (a Scot as it happens) or the other main speakers, one of whom, David Gibson, is based in a growing church in Aberdeen which, while presbyterian, is not part of the Church of Scotland. These men, and others, were both confident and competent. Not in their own talents, but in the Word that they preached. Now of course the audience they were preaching to was self-selected (although in Week 1 it has a distinctly Scottish feel). Many of us were there precisely because we shared the basic presuppositions of those who were speaking. No surprises there. But we have all now dispersed, some us to that part of the UK which it is claimed “feels little need for God”. As for ourselves, we’re only visiting. But many others love and live here in Scotland. And they are no doubt back with a spring in their step, and I hope a renewed ambition to share the Gospel that the Church of Scotland is so singularly refusing to share.
In the big tent as Keswick, over three summer weeks, there will be full hearts and occasionally damp cheeks. It will be warm in more ways than one. It’s an atmosphere where it’s easy to be a Christian and committed to the Gospel. It may be harder beyond the tent, but this is where the Gospel is in desperately short supply, and therefore where it’s desperately needed.
