The letter for May. ‘A New Kind of Christian’ I remember attending a District interview panel at Bromsgrove Methodist Church when I was candidating for the Methodist Ministry. One of the members of the interview panel asked me if I had read any books recently that had changed my life. My answer was ‘the Bible’ but from the facial expression of the questioner I am not sure that my answer was the one being looked for. I am not convinced that reading books changes lives but I acknowledge that it can be a catalyst for change to take place. One of my favourite books which has challenged my concept of Christianity is ‘A New Kind of Christian – A tale of two friends on a spiritual journey’. The book is written by Brian D. McLaren an American who has become concerned that the church in the West has not yet adapted to a post-modern age. He writes: ‘Doesn’t the religious community see the world is changing? Doesn’t it have anything fresh and incisive to say? Isn’t it even asking any new questions? Has it got nothing to offer other than stock formulas that it has been offering? ... Has the good news been reduced to the ‘good same-old same-old?’ The main body of the book is a fictitious conversation between a pastor and his daughter’s high school teacher. Arguably some of the most pressing spiritual questions coming out of contemporary Christianity are debated by two men. A fascinating insight into honest conversation between two people who begin to develop an affectionate trust of each other. Through their conversation the concept develops that personal daily interaction with God is more important than institutional church structures. This develops into defining faith as being a way of life where authentically good is more important than being doctrinally right: ‘Do you think that God would want a heaven filled with people who cared more about being saved from hell than being saved from sin? Who cared more about getting their butts into heaven than being good? Who cared more about having their sins forgiven than being good neighbours? Who in fact became worse neighbours precisely because they became so religious in their concern about their own personal souls?’ The book moves on to define three key areas of church activity being community, spirituality and mission. Community is about creating a place of belonging, Spirituality is about being a worshipping community together: reading the Bible together, praying together, studying together and celebrating and resting together. Mission is defined as follows: ‘Our mission is simply seeking, receiving and manifesting the Kingdom of God, the reign of God, the reality of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. In that mission the church is the catalyst, not the goal; you know I believe the Kingdom is much larger than the church, and the more successful the church is in mission, the more expansive the Kingdom. … Our mission is comprehensive – so that every Christian, ‘clergy’ and ‘lay’ (troublesome terms themselves), is equally sent – to a classroom, a factory, an office building … wherever – to be an agent of Christ, an agent of the Kingdom.’ My hope is that the foregoing has given you a taster for this challenging book. Traditionally Christians read and discuss books as a way of developing and honing their faith. I believe that this book is worth reading. It is good to be challenged and to wrestle with the issues that are facing the church in our country and in the world at this time. I am just starting to read a book called ‘On the edge of Pentecost’ by Tom Stuckey. He writes the following in chapter one: ‘What is mission? Mission is seeing what God is doing in the world and joining in. We in the West have substituted ‘Church’ for ‘Spirit’ as the third person of the Trinity and in so doing have reversed God’s understanding of mission. God has a mission; we are invited through the Holy Spirit to participate in it. When the Church does not join in with what God is doing in the world then the Church ceases to be the Church and becomes a club. What some view as the decline of the Church is simply God passing judgement on nostalgic religious clubs.’ I think this may be another challenging book? What do you think? May God bless you as you wrestle with the complexities of being Church in this modern age. Richard