The Church of England’s image crisis
by Martin Davie, Christian Today:
Imagine there was an organisation that existed to provide people in every part of the country with the help they needed, regardless of who they were and of their ability to pay. Would that not be an organisation that deserved universal support and appreciation?
At this point you may think that I am writing about the National Health Service, given that this is a well-known organisation which fits the description that I have just given. However, the organisation I was actually writing about was the Church of England. Just like the NHS, the Church of England exists to provide people across the length and breadth of England with the help they need, regardless of who they are and of their ability to pay.
Given that the two organisations are similar in the ways I have just described, the question that arises is why the NHS receives universal support and appreciation in the way that the Church of England does not. On 5 July this year the NHS was seventy-five years old, and the anniversary was duly marked with a whole series of events, activities and television and radio programmes with the common message that the NHS is a wonderful thing and its creation in 1947 was a great national achievement.
The fact that the NHS’s seventy-fifth anniversary was marked in this way is a just reflection of the great contribution that it has made, and continues to make, to British society. The NHS has done an immense amount of good to a huge number of people by helping them with their physical and psychological needs and it is right that everyone should be grateful for this fact.
The Church of England has also done an immense amount of good for the people of England and it has been doing it for a much longer period of time. The Church of England began its ministry to the English people at the end of the sixth century and it has continued that work ever since. During that time it has contributed very significantly to the physical well-being of innumerable generations of English people, but more importantly it has also provided for their spiritual needs through its proclamation of the Christian message, its celebration of the Christian sacraments and its formation of generations of Christian disciples.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
