Brexit's all very well – but what sort of Britain should Christians want to build?

I can just remember that long summer evening when I walked with my mum to my primary school, converted for the day into a polling station, so she could cast her vote for the United Kingdom to join the European Economic Community (EEC).

Since then, this partnership of nations has undergone a number of re-inventions to become what we now know as the EU. For more than a generation it has been a defining element in our political and national landscape.

While the Prime Minister's decision to trigger Article 50 is clearly deeply significant, what's perhaps less obvious is what its true consequences will be. In the cold light of day, 'Brexit means Brexit' is a phrase whose meaninglessness simply underlines the uncertainty that prevails.

Yet statements like this have helped make the actual process of Brexit become all-important. Much less thought seems to be given to the kind of society we seek once departure has occurred. The language on both sides is about getting the best deal. But this obsession with the exit door, rather than what lies beyond it, is like taking a badly-made suit back to the shop, ensuring we get a full refund, yet giving no thought to what we are actually going to wear at the event it was originally bought for.

The choice on the ballot paper was a simple one – should Britain remain part of a particular political structure. The result was simply too close for any of the accompanying narratives to claim any ascendancy, yet few seem prepared to challenge the assumption that the British people are anti-immigration, driven by self-interest and indifferent to anyone's economic wellbeing but their own.

We are also repeatedly told that the EU referendum has left us a divided nation, where Remainers and Leavers are so outraged with one another that our very co-existence is under threat. I think this is nonsense and I don't see any serious evidence of this in everyday life. The referendum was the first opportunity for my grown-up kids to exercise their right to vote; they voted differently from one another, but have long since moved on and found plenty of other things to argue about. I struggle to find anyone who thinks or acts differently.

But I wonder whether this narrative of division risks not only becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, but also exaggerating the impact of terminating our EU membership. Yes, the EU has become very different from the EEC. It would have been naïve to expect anything different. The world has moved on in 40 years – even the borders of Europe have changed in that time. Just as being in the EU has changed significantly, so in the next 40 years or so we can expect being 'out' to change and develop too.

So the future wellbeing of the United Kingdom does not simply hinge on whether or not we are in the EU. Leavers have sought to convince us that it is a cure-all, while Remainers have insisted that we have condemned ourselves to disaster. I believe that neither is right and as long as we allow ourselves to be defined by this increasingly obsolete and divisive rhetoric, we risk avoiding the real issues.

From a Christian perspective, what roles and responsibilities might we have as a faith community in the months and years ahead? As I reflect on Britain's current situation, I am reminded of the early narratives of the Old Testament, where God's people make the journey from a life of slavery in Egypt to full nationhood in what is described as the 'Promised Land'.

Some may be quick to seize on the parallels with a transition from oppression by a political super-power to becoming an independent state – but this is not my point. Embedded within the historical narratives of these events are the law codes, which made it clear to God's people that their nationhood depended on more than simply inhabiting a new landscape. They also had to embed the principles of justice and righteousness that books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy expounded. Success did not depend on being 'in' or 'out' of Egypt, but on embracing justice and holiness in every aspect of the society they then formed.

This is a principle that echoes throughout Old Testament society and into the New. The Psalms repeatedly assert that ustice and righteousness are the foundation of God's throne and implore earthly rulers to reflect this in their own domain. Jesus himself, speaking of the economics of 'mammon', declares that we should 'seek first the Kingdom of God'.

Europe has played a key role in holding our nation to account on this front. Many are the times when individuals and organisations have appealed to the European courts when they feel that our own systems of justice have let them down. If these accountability structures are to be dismantled, something of equal effectiveness needs to take their place. Many, particularly in our northern communities, have pointed out that EU funding has helped re-balance some of the economic inequalities in our nations, and are concerned to know that there will be a similar commitment from a UK Government in any future settlement.

So this is a time not only for the Church to be reminded of the principles on which God calls us to build society, but to consider our prophetic role in standing up and speaking out for righteousness and justice as the pillars of a good and wholesome national and international order.

Perhaps this is a time to assert that 'Brexit only means Brexit'. It doesn't just mean we will pull out of Europe no matter what, but that this is all we have decided to do. Brexit does not mean that Britain's interests (whatever that means) need to be pursued at the expense of everyone else's. Brexit does not mean that we have become anti-immigration xenophobes. Brexit does not mean anything other than that a small majority of British citizens chose to leave a specific political arrangement.

We have yet to discover the full implications of that decision, but if there is one message that echoes throughout our Scriptures, it is that the wellbeing of any nation does not ultimately depend upon the political alliances it chooses to make or withdraw from.

The words of Proverbs that 'righteousness exalts a nation' reflect an important principle. The writer of Deuteronomy spells it out with simplicity in its early chapters. If you want to impress other nations, if you want to stand out on the world stage, then follow these laws. Win the respect of others by the way in which you are committed to social justice in every stratum of society. Let them judge you by the way in which the least and most vulnerable are treated in your communities; by the way in which you welcome the 'alien and stranger' (which in today's language might more aptly be translated 'refugee and asylum-seeker'.)

These themes need to be declared again as post-Brexit Britain begins to take shape. Whether we are entering a promised land or about to descend into the abyss has as much to do with the society we intentionally seek to build and the values that we and our leaders embrace, as with the process that has now been initiated.

Rev Phil Jump is part of the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. JPIT has produced resources for helping churches think through the implications of Brexit, 'Conversation Welcome'.