Dormant Christianity

The small number of committed Christians in this country, especially among the young, is a call to fervent prayer and active evangelism.

Recently we heard that the majority of people in the UK do not identify as religious. A new poll says 6 per cent of British adults read or listen to the Bible, pray at least once a week, and go to church at least once a month. Of those who self-identify as Christian 55 per cent never read the Bible; 29 per cent never pray; one third never attend church. For all three measures of commitment, Anglicans were the most likely to tick “never”. The survey also identified that the lowest number of Christians was in the under-24s age bracket.

This is not a surprise. We know that, particularly for the historic denominations, there is a large level of nominal commitment among their membership that doesn’t translate into beliefs or practices.

But as evangelicals we need to look at our own lives and those of our members and ask whether we are doing any better. We need to guard against a spiritual mediocrity that takes the form of an intellectual commitment to the gospel and a superficial connection to a church, but is not a life-changing daily walk with God in reading, praying and worshipping.

This also is a call to prayer and evangelism; there is a vast mission field out there, especially among young people. We need to pray for our nation, one which has the vestiges of Christianity but not the life-changing power of word and Spirit. We need to pray for workers and for opportunities; we need to pray for the gospel to be taught to the young; we need to pray for all those who would like to call themselves Christian that they would truly know and love Jesus Christ.

Graham Nicholls, 15 September 2017