Commuting to work in Lewisham this morning (along with thousands of others) the train was severely delayed by a “fatality” at Wimbledon Station. As we crawled past the red and white police incident tape the guard apologised for the “inconvenience caused to your journey”. Someone was facing his/her Creator and Judge and we were told it was an “inconvenience’.

I have recently returned from Northern India where a train fire had killed 40 people (barely headline news in a country of superlative statistics) and about 1,000 had died in Hyderabad as a result of the high summer temperatures; more people created in God’s image confronted with issues of eternity, with or without God.

Magnitude

Confronted with issues of this magnitude, what relevance does a small mission agency with our Basis and Statement of Faith have? Many potential mission partners approach Crosslinks because of these statements of our beliefs, and existing mission partners have to sign their continuing assent to them on an annual basis. So do members of Crosslinks at the Annual Meeting of Members. If this is one of our main distinguishing features how does it help us in the stark realities of God’s world? A recent external review drew attention to the fact that the “Basis of Faith and issues surrounding it are not openly discussed”. I propose to remedy this by occasionally picking a part of our Basis and, however dated the original language may sound, briefly showing its relevance for today.

• This Article printed above deals with the undeserved favour and mercy of God towards us, and is perhaps the most significant difference between Christianity and other faiths (whether deemed religions or not). Christians recognise that God is in no way obliged to show us kindness, and we are totally undeserving of any goodness (all other faiths allow adherents to make some contribution to their benefits).

• This is a humiliating doctrine because it deprives us of any basis for pride. We, in Britain and Ireland with our long Christian heritage, have no greater call on God’s kindness than the unreached millions of North India’s Ganges basin. It was because of God the Father’s love that He sent His Son to rescue us and clothe us with a righteousness that was not our own, not because we had any hold on Him. “…So do not become proud, but stand in awe.”(Romans 11: 20 ESV). We should be overwhelmed by God’s goodness to us. What a relief that we are free from having to earn God’s approval! Are we grateful? 

• This is a motivating doctrine: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1). We may not be able to earn God’s approval but the ‘redeeming work of God the Son’ means that we have been purchased at the great price of the death of Christ. As His possessions we owe Him lives of obedience. Because of what we have received, Christians should be marked by godly living. Are we marked by godly gratitude? 

• This is an enabling doctrine. Ezekiel’s famous valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37) is an illustration of the natural state of humanity: helpless, hopeless and lifeless. Into this valley came the Word of God (the Sword of the Spirit), and life returned. We can neither turn to receive God’s rescue nor live godly lives without ‘the quickening power of God the Holy Ghost’. Are we praying that God the Spirit would give life to our non-Christian neighbours? 

• This is a challenging doctrine. God in His goodness and wisdom has given His children the inestimable privilege of being His co-workers in proclaiming “the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We are to make known to non-Christians around us in Britain and Ireland, and to the ends of the earth, the wonderful and only possible rescue that we have received and which is available to all who believe. How are we participating in this? 

So, you see, Article 1 of Crosslinks’ Basis is terribly relevant to our 21st Century world.

Crosslinks magazine August 2003 index