"Inter-faith dialogue - an evangelical's journey"

I came to faith from a family that was sympathetic to Christianity. This did not include much church going, however they thought it would be good if their son attended. So I was introduced to a village Christianity of the high church variety, being picked up by the parish priest as he journeyed between congregations.

 

It left me with a sense of God and a sense of wonder of the God of creation.

 

Next I was bowled over when I watched the quality of relations between teenage boys attending a youth club run by a wise but not ordained teacher of the faith. When I discovered it had a bible club with it I jumped at the chance of going. I became impressed and wary in equal measure. I was impressed by the way I was helped to think for myself with an open bible, with the way that I was helped to listen to others, with the people who led and attended: and with their summer, Easter, and Christmas holidays. When I meditate, hunks of teaching and discovery still come back to me from those days.

 

I recoiled internally but continued to attend the bible club until one night I became aware of my smallness and my rebellion and pictured myself lying in bed shaking my metaphorical fist at the Almighty. I remember my prayer - three words- “ I give in”. The ‘hound of heaven’ had caught up with me. I woke up in the morning thinking ‘now you’ve done it’. I have become a Christian. I thought ‘I wish I hadn’t’ but clearly I had said ‘yes’ and the thought that God might overlook my little ‘yes’ seemed inconceivable. As the weeks went by I felt my heart warmed ‘and I discovered an appetite for prayer and bible reading.

 

I began to attend a Free Church when I discovered the bible club leader  also preached there. When the school chaplain was vague about scripture (as I saw it) I argued and he told me I believed only in the penal substitution theory of atonement. I asked the bible club leader who said there were lots of biblical ideas of the atonement and lent me a book! He suggested some evangelicals put their doctrine before scripture and missed the meaning of the text. He wasn’t even sure that some evangelical teaching about scripture was biblical!

 

At a youth fellowship I was deeply moved by a session led by his sister who was a probation officer. This led me to wonder if my ‘B’ form mind could make it to University.

 

At University I was welcomed by the CU with thoughtful loving and open grappling irons! I met with people I loved and discovered they thought I was a bit untidy in my thinking but they made me mission secretary and put me on the exec. One memory from that time was the discovery that my introduction to the faith had been to a very private view of the ‘good news’. I discovered Social |theology when I bumped into Isaiah chs 1 and 58 in my daily bible study. I thought, I have heard sermons on this that tragically missed the point. At university time was spent  with overseas students (of many faiths) and with liberal Christians. I often found these conversations broadened and deepened my perspective even when we fundamentally disagreed. On a visit to a Monastery with “Cath Soc” I was charmed as a monk gave a talk that said what they could learn from evangelicals. (He did not know that they had brought one with them!). He modelled something priceless. His God was bigger than any sect.

 

After 11 years in Social Work and I candidated, somewhat reluctantly, for  Anglican ordination. I was scooped up and found myself, by choice at a liberal-catholic college. I was often stunned by the plethora of assumptions that the way of Jesus involved one in becoming culturally middle class. Liberals did not seem to have much to offer to the working class multi faith bit of B’ham I lived in. Some fellow students recoiled when I said I wanted to live there. I thought God wanted a church there too. Cities, justice, and inclusivity mattered to this lad from rural Lincolnshire. In time I came to pastor a majority Black Anglican church with many muslin staff engaged in social ministries . I found myself constantly asked to help with copying documents, with joint advocacy for people who were oppressed, and with being asked to give witness to my faith. I found many acts of love from those of other churches and other faiths humbling, encouraging and challenging. I began to notice the multi faith dimensions of Jesus life and ministry. There seemed a big gap between how Jesus was with people who were not ‘of Israel’ and how some churches were with people of other faiths. Some evangelicals locally suggested I was neglecting evangelism for social ministry. But people were being added to the church and many had a strong testimony and a heart to serve. By this time tongues-interpretation-prophecy had been quietly given during prayer ministry at church. This got my attention. I became a card carrying evangelical charismatic involved with the Anglican Renewal Ministries. Muslim, Sikh and Hindu friends and I talked often. Prayer with and for them sometimes really hit the spot, they told me. Their prayer for me was I was sure important too. There were ‘signs following’ from this ministry of service and dialogue. On a recent visit back a retiring Muslim member of staff talked not about the social ministry (in my last year there were 15,000 enquiries) but about learning about God and prayer from his Christian friends.

 

I was asked to apply for a post with Church House/Lambeth Palace and was seconded by them to serve as a branch head in the Dept of Environment serving also as Secretary to the ‘Inner Cities Religious Council’. In my new post I was surrounded by teachers from five faiths to whom I listened, with my ears, heart and bible open. In some ways I am perhaps more evangelical but perhaps I can settle for being differently evangelical. I am convinced that to ignore climate justice and people of other faiths is to have a “Zombie Theology” but that is another journey to be shared on another day: see John Reader 2008.

 

I wonder if we have somehow finished up with an ill considered idea of the holy, an idea of the holy that is foreign to the way of Jesus. He surely gave to all, received from all and witnessed to all but he stood deeply against the leaven of the Pharisees. We may usefully ponder why so much of the gospel accounts wrestle to address the idea of a wrongly grounded righteousness. Is it because all of us (catholics, liberals, evangelicals, pentecostals or the orthodox) need his grace to see and resist this in ourselves?. Well maybe but as one who believes that scripture is “God breathed”* I suspect it is because I need it.

 

*See the writings of BB Warfield, a reformed theologian http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/ipaper/isbe_inspiration_warfield.html 12 02 10 He writes:- The Greek text has nothing to say of inspiring or inspiration, it speaks only of “spiring” or “spiration”).