3 responses

1. 

   the Fool

   12 August 2007

   Hmmmm, you make some good points.

   I agree that US evangelicals get a bad press in UK, despite their theology is not too different from UK evangelicals. I also agree that there are cultural differences within and outside of church in the two countries.

   In my opinion what does appear to be different is the US Christians willingness to speak out / preach their beliefs. In itself this is not a bad thing, indeed it should be applauded.

   However the moment that anyone loses sight of their own sinfulness, and God’s all-encompassing love, then their comments easily become single issue, myopic, inflammatory and even offensive.

   Without demonstrating, or speaking in, real ‘Jesus’ love we lose our credibility as Christians, becoming no different to the next man, no longer the salty lighthouse we’re called to be.

   Reply
2. 

   ianjmatt

   12 August 2007

   Hmm

   I think the issue, even in the UK, is that for many people “taking the whole Bible literally” and “believing the Bible is God-breathed/inspired” are synonyms. This is the problem. Dan, like me and many other people would subscribe to the second statement but would not use language like the first.

   There are two problems. The first is that we live in a global media village now, and the activities on Ted Haggard, the death of Jerry Falwell and even the rantings of Fred Phelps all make the national news here in the UK. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact of American fundamentalism on the perception of Christianity in the UK.

   Secondly, we have our own problems – the very public spats over the Atonement, Jerry Springer, the Silver Ring Thing etc all brought our own fundies out of the woodwork and onto public view. The split between Keswick (including UCCF) and Spring Harvest, with the less than truthful press releases on both sides, plus the problems between conservative and open evangelicals at Wyclife (a story first broke in the Guardian) all show that the ‘strident’ voices of fundamentalism with this ‘literal’ demand on scripture is very public here as well.

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3. 

   Brian Day

   4 January 2010

   Hi, I know this comment is a bit late, but your blog was the first result returned, when I searched for 'uk evangelicals' on samepoint.com.

   I have been a born-again Christian since the age of 15 in 1985. I have lived in Doncaster, England, since that time except for a 3-year break between Sept 2005 and August 2008, when I lived in Derby, England. Although I was born-again outside of the Church – my family professed to being Church of England, but never went to church – I emerged into the Kingdom at the time of Mission England/Mission Sheffield, which had a relatively significant impact on the area. However, it seems that the influence of the traditional stereotype of the English Church in every city, town and village thwarted a radical change in how the English – Anglican and agnostic Church of England – perceived the Christian faith and the Church.

   It is true that the English do not like to get too excited in professing their faith. In Derby, a Pentecostal pastor even mentioned how an Elder he knew kept his faith a secret from his workmates.

   I have seen in Doncaster, upon my return in August 2008, that churches still conform to the pattern of the world. The Pentecostals have almost abandoned the Holy Spirit in favour of conforming with the X-Factor-style showbiz culture that many people are caught up with at the moment.

   I agree that Christians should not alienate the unbeliever, although many Christians I know underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to arise from within themselves in Doncaster. In some instances, the Holy Spirit leads an American to evangelise and that's great. But what are we doing months and years before we even know he will visit our town or city?

   I'm excited that the Holy Spirit is embraced in the UK more and more in recent years.

   Reply