Growing up in small town England I knew of almost no committed Christians. Churches existed, we drove past them all the time, but I wasn’t sure if anyone went in them.
When I eventually started attending church what I found there confused me slightly. Services started at 0930 when I’d be ushered upstairs into a ‘youth room’ away from all the adults. We’d sit in a circle, have a discussion and listen to some thoughts from the Bible. I enjoyed it but I picked up that not everyone wanted to be there. I was there by choice but many of the other teenagers were there by necessity, or habit or by the strong arm of their parents!
Some of their reticence about going to church was probably also just the result of a crisis of confidence affecting much of Christianity. You see, in the 90s, very few of the ‘cool kids’ in the culture went to church and none of the people we looked up to or saw on tv or in sport were Christians either. To my observation Christianity was at a low ebb. After all Time magazine had boasted that God was dead and decades of pushback by cultural elites meant that church was most definitely not in vogue. Growing up I could count on 'no hands' the number of Christians that played a part in our family’s life.
After I made a decision for Christ and got stuck into church at University I found a community of friends who were trying to build their lives on Jesus. My family were a little bemused by my embracing of Christianity and my friends lamented what they saw as me ‘getting religion’. I soon picked up the message that being a Christian meant belonging to a pitied minority. It meant that I had opted out of the mainstream and was now part of the loony, awkward fringe of society. To those that knew me I had crossed over from life to death.
Today things seem different.
It may be simply that I’m now firmly encased in a Christian echo chamber but I don’t think it’s just that. The atmosphere has changed where Christianity is concerned. It’s now not uncommon to hear a celebrity on TV make reference to ‘their pastor’ or talk about the valuable things ‘Christianity gave to the world’. The people influencing my children online turn out to have a deep Christian faith and many of the footballers they admire are comfortable being known as a Christians.
There have been public conversions of intellectuals and celebrities alike and millions of people have watched the lectures on the Bible produced by Jordan Peterson. Books such as Tom Holland’s Dominion in which he makes a case for Christianity’s positive influence have replaced Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ on many bookshelves, and more and more people are distancing themselves from the strident materialism popular in the early noughties.
In the past month alone I have come across or been encouraged by seven separate occasions relating to this change in the air. Some of them are close to me, others far away.
Are these evidences that Aslan is, once more, on the move?
The month began with a friend coming to Christ in one of our Sunday services. He and his wife have been knocking around church for several years but this month something finally ‘clicked’ or (to use his words) ‘scales fell off his eyes.’ In fact Sundays are the most common place a non-Christian seems to show up if they’re exploring Christianity. Whereas churches used to run evening events or midweek courses for non-believers, those things seem to be taking a backseat to the plain and simple message: ‘bring them to church’. Last week my sister surprised me by asking to come to church with me.
This month I read that the founder of Wikipedia has become a Christian. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/wikipedias-founder-converts-christianity/#:~:text=Last%20week%2C%20Larry%20Sanger%2C%20the,dominated%20by%20atheists%20and%20agnostics.
I learnt this month that another influential YouTuber has become a Christian. Alongside my boys’ favourites: Dude Perfect and How Ridiculous they can now add Ryan Trahan to the list of publicly Christian influencers https://www.tiktok.com/discover/ryan-trahan-turned-to-jesus#:~:text=I%20started%20taking%20a%20lot,developing%20a%20relationship%20with%20god.
A good family friend in the weeks before he died, reached out to Jesus to save him. This individual was well known among our social group for his confident atheism. His ‘change of status’ resulted in his funeral being held in a church - much to the confusion of many of his friends.
At said funeral last week I also learnt that one of the people I grew up with has since become a Christian and has been going to church for sometime. I had no idea and was amazed and encouraged by the reminder that Christ is at work in unexpected ways and in unlikely places.
On Valentines day I caught up with a friend having not seen him for several years. We went for a two hour stroll across the Downs and I was amazed to hear what’s been taking place in his life recently. We used to play squash together regularly and each time we played he’d want to debate me on some aspect of my faith. He was a confident and well read atheist and materialist. Last week as we talked he revealed he was no longer an atheist, was trying to pray and was interested in coming along to church someday. My jaw hit the floor. This was something I’d prayed for for years but never believed would happen and yet here he was, expressing a soft-heartedness toward faith. Jesus is clearly at work.
Two friends with non-christian husbands have told me this week that their husbands, despite being previously hardened toward the faith are beginning to enquire of Christianity and showing signs of interest in the gospel.
There's no doubt much more going on than we're aware of but it's becoming socially acceptable again to pray with friends and the wisdom contained in the Bible is being received again with curiosity and respect.
It's time for the church to shake off its crisis of confidence and share afresh the message that brings life to the dead.
Amen.
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