“In a survey revealed in a national newspaper it has been discovered that about one third (33%) of Britons believe that Jesus rose from the dead. The findings of a national poll contradict the picture of a secular society where Easter is little more than a chocolate-eating holiday. Women are more devout than men, according to the findings, with 37 percent believing in the resurrection compared to 29 percent of men; and Wales is the most Christian region with 43 percent saying they believe that Jesus rose from the dead.” [1]
Nevertheless Easter congregations have been declining since the late Sixties. In the Church of England in 1970, there were 1.63 million Easter communicants. In 1980 this had dropped to 1.55 million and to 1.37 in 1990. The Roman Catholic Church does not collect statistics but has endured a similar decline in Mass attendance. However, on a normal Sunday there are now more at Mass in Britain than the Anglican Church.
So there we have it, as the belief of people in the resurrection of Christ seems optimistically high, their personal attendance at church is depressingly low. This means that either the service vicars offer is irrelevant or that the belief people hold does not equate with conviction. It could be both.
The scriptures say that the “devils believe and tremble” but it doesn’t make them saved. We can believe what we will, but in reality we will only do what we really believe. I sincerely believe we should take a cold shower for 10 minutes every day, come rain, hail or shine, I really do believe that, but you won’t get me near one, be assured of that!
What we really believe is shown by what we do, not what we say. That has always been the case. Although Wales seems to indicate they are the most committed, I have found it to be the most spiritually dead. The Elim churches in that region are the smallest and the weakest. Nobody wants to be posted there, not even the Welsh! They had a revival in 1904 and can’t stop talking about it, but during the succeeding 100+ years their passion for God has virtually dissipated.
Sardis, one of the seven churches in Turkey, was a church that had a testimony of life but in reality they were dead. This is what these latest statistics reveal. The most important events for the Christian are the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. His glorious return is important for both the Christian and the world! Those who don’t celebrate those fundamental Christian pinnacles of witness, yet profess a spiritual basis of life, are little more than the heathen, and probably worse off. There is no passion in their profession because there is no basis in their possession.
It could mean, of course, that the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church are losing their members to the Pentecostal Church! In some cases that is correct, but it is not the whole answer, for the ‘Church’ population of Britain is inexorably declining. If a third of the people in Harrow believed that Jesus rose from the dead, and really believed it, we would see 71,000 attend church today and there would not enough buildings to hold them.
Old Albert and his equally old dog, Rosie, were walking towards me. I asked “What make is your dog?” “A thoroughbred Retriever” he replied. “So, she fetches things” I said. “Does she by heck, throw a ball and you fetch it yourself,” he replied.
Her nature belied her breed, a little like those statistics above. Let me take it one step further: there are those Christians who sincerely believe that prayer, praise and worship are very important to them, but they are late to the services and absent from the prayer meeting, simply because they don’t really believe what that they say they do. Jesus said: “By their fruits you shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20), and never a truer word was spoken. Perhaps we have a few thoroughbred retrievers in HICC?
Lastly, there is a passion born of the Spirit – I like the word ‘passion’ it expresses what is really inside. Too few have passion; it is another word for love. When passion has gripped your soul and fired your heart, it transforms everything about God into a dynamic drive that centres all on Him. In the early days of our conversion, passion was an automatic word to describe our experience, but as time passed life has whittled away that fervency, until a very lukewarm residue has been left. This is not so with everyone, but certainly so with many.
You can argue all you will about the church not being in touch with the modern world and the leaders being deficient in a multitude of ways, but where there is real life with passion our churches will be full – every week.
[1] Daily Telegraph
