UK #12: God Gathers, Protects, and Preserves

I wrote this on the plane, somewhere over the Atlantic off the coast of Greenland, and my way home (where I did arrive safely).  I have lots of specific stories to share in the coming days, but for this post I am going to focus on a theme that I have found again and again on this trip.  

A cross on the island of Iona, with the parish church in the background

 People have said the church in Europe is dying, or even dead.  When I talked to Rosie, she said that people have questioned why she is going into ministry, since the church is going to be gone in ten years.  And the church certainly doesn't have the cultural prominence that it once did.  But the church is not dead.

As I visited churches, from York Minster's Gothic arches to cushions on the floor at Holy Trinity Brompton in London (more on that in another post), the words of the Heidelberg Catechism echoed in my head: "God gathers, protects, and preserves [the church] for himself" (Q&A 54).  This is one of my favorite phrases in the Catechism because it reminds me that the church doesn't belong to me, or my congregation, or denomination.  We are God's church, God's people gathered in the world, and God is sovereign.

York Minster

God has been gathering the church for thousands of years.  Most of a thousand years in Britain alone.  God has passed down scripture through the ages--I saw Codex Sinaiticus at the British Library, which is the earliest manuscript of the complete New Testament from the middle of the fourth century (and it has the earliest and best witness for some Old Testament books).  It was all copied by hand in Greek.  It was moving to see how God passed his word from generation to generation.  God isn't going to drop the church now.  

So yes, the church looks different than it did 100 years ago.  
Yes, there are empty church buildings.  
Yes, it is not easy to be a Christian in Britain these days. 

St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh

But no, the church is not dead.  In fact, the church is growing in places.  I think because Alpha courses at starting now (or Christianity Explored at All Souls), many of the Sunday services I attended interviewed a member of the congregation that was a new Christian because of these courses.  So I got to hear a number of stories of how the church is growing because of evangelism. It was encouraging to see these new brothers and sisters in Christ and hear about how Jesus has changed their lives.

The church is not dead because God is not dead.  God is alive, and he continues to gather, protect, and preserve for himself the body of Christ. 

Worship at Holy Trinity Brompton in London

This is just as true of the church in the U.S., too.  I have heard that denominations are going to be gone in 10 years.  Our culture is changing.  It isn't as easy to be a Christian as it once was.  But I trust that God is still in control. Maybe the church will look different in 10 years.  If it does, I hope that we are as creative as some of the British churches.  I hope that we become as welcoming to different sorts of people without knowledge of the church. And I hope that we will see people of all ages being found by God and entering the church.  I look forward to serving this church and watching how God will continue to gather, protect, and preserve us.