by Ian Paul, Psephizo
The perennial question for anyone thinking seriously about the Christian life and our place in the world has two parts to it. First, we need to think about the world we are in, and try to make sense of it. Secondly, we need to ask what kind of ‘church‘ we are to be—what kind of people God has called us to be in this kind of world. Many ask this question at an individual level (‘What has God called me to be and to do in my world, in my context?’) but scripture always appears to address this question in corporate or communal terms: what kind of people is God calling the followers of Jesus to be, and therefore what does that mean for me as an individual?
In times of felt crisis, such as the Covid pandemic, these questions appear to have particular force. But they are questions that we always need to be asking, since from a biblical perspective we are always in a time of ‘crisis’. The term derives from the Greek term krisis, and since Jesus tells us that the promised kingdom of God is ‘at hand’ (Mark 1.15), and Paul tells us that the ‘wrath of God is being revealed’ (Rom 1.18), then we are always in a moment of crisis, even if we avoid thinking about this too much from day to day.