Make Me A Christian

A new “reality” tv show has just started in the UK, called “Make Me a Christian”.

The premises of the show is that a group of people interested in finding out more about the Christian faith spend three weeks “living like Christians” under the guidance of three mentors headed up by the Rev George Hargreaves.

This sounds brilliant; it sounds like the type of programme I would really like to be involved in.

Before it was on I started to think about how I would approach it. What would be my starting point in showing people what its like to live as a Christian?

Fairly early on, I think I would include a trip to an interactive prayer room with bits of paper on the wall for people to draw on, with sand pits, with water; lots of interactive prayer activities.

I would start off by talking with the group about the way we communicate with God and that there is no single way to do this, but that if we want to get to know God, if we want to find out about life as a Christian, our starting point must be communication as we have a God who wants desperately to communicate with us, who knows us inside out and loves and cares for us.

I would make sure there were chances for the group to study the Bible in the round, to discuss and debate and ask their questions, and I would make sure that the people I had as speakers were people who brought the Bible to life; who spoke with excitement and passion and love.

This programme's starting point was to go into the participants' houses and tell them all the things that they couldn’t have in their lives whilst trying to live as Christians; that they needed to clear out the rubbish. The Christianity they are preaching is the God of “YOU SHALL NOT” and that includes questioning.

Its not a God I know.

I believe in a God who invites us into the ring and tells us that its okay to try wrestling; I believe in a God who says "come on, give me your best shot, I can take it! If you are angry with me, shout at me, if you don’t believe in me, tell me, if you think the world is turning to rot, if you are hurting, if you are broken, then come on, give it all to me. I can take it. I love you."

This show – this piece of TV – seems to preach and teach a God which I wouldn’t want to know, and this fills me with an overwhelming desire to beat the “mentors” with sticks. The only thing that restrains me from hunting them down, is that I know they would see this as persecution for their faith and so clear evidence that they are doing the right thing and the devil is afraid of them. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Yours as ever,
The Broken Man

Christians In The News

A lot of the time I am ashamed to be a Christian. I know that is a shocking statement to make, as someone who is hoping to be a priest one day, but let me explain. When I speak to people about God they have an impression of the church as being full of hypocrites, as a place where the most judgmental people in society gather. They see Christians as irrelevant, as worshiping a long since dead god. I believe in a God who is transforming, who is loving, who is so incredibly powerful and Holy that we can’t begin to comprehend it.

A sense of dread grips me every time I see a Christian on TV. Are they going to say something ridiculous? Are they going to do yet more damage to how people see God? So I sat uncomfortably in my seat last night when a vicar appeared on my TV screen to talk about problem they had in Birmingham when a new Mosque had opened, and how lots of people had objected violently. I thought; “here is a Vicar who is going to add fuel to the fire”, but I was wrong. She spoke calmly, she spoke about the fears that people have of Muslim terrorism, and that the desire of a group of people to pray should be supported. Nothing she said compromised the Gospel; she did not say that she believed that Islamic beliefs are correct, but she did say that we should show love to everyone. Hearing her speak made me cry; cry that there are people out there who are displaying Christ’s love, who care passionately about justice and who care about people of every faith and none.

May God bless her and her work.

The Broken Man