SH: We have to actually make connections with people, and it is similar to the way that we see the task of a foreign mission. If someone is to go out they need to learn the culture and language, and then go and live among those people and engage and converse with them and find ways to connect their faith with them. So I think that is the starting point.
But the point in not losing the Christian faith is an important one. As if you go in a cross-cultural way then you have to partly adopt the culture in which you live, and basically live among them as one of them rather than as an outsider, and of course this throws up challenges.
It is not always easy to do, so I think one thing is that Christians have to stay connected to somewhere. You don’t go out alone but with others, and also in the mission always have to find ways to relate it to the Church.
Also the relationship with God is key. You have to keep a close relationship with God through worship and scripture and prayer. So you have to ask these questions and find what the core is. And when we ask this then we can broadly say that Christ is the centre. Christianity is centred around Christ and it is about following him. So you want him to be central and you always relate things to Christ about his teachings and also draw on the traditions of the Church, but always think “was this piece of tradition here for just that time and place”; you have to be flexible – it is not easy but I think it must be done.
CT: Do you think Jesus is a sticking point in trying to reach the people in the UK?
SH: In once sense no, as most people who are spiritual think Jesus is a good spiritual person and they respect him greatly, but the sticking point may be the Church’s understanding of Jesus. Anything that tries to say that Jesus is unique may make it more difficult for people, as they do not see Jesus as fundamentally different to other spiritual people they have heard about in history.
So in Christianity, the fact that Jesus is a member of the God-head is a unique position and may be a stumbling block – this is an issue but we cannot shy away from this. The challenge is how we debate them and use it to open up a conversation rather than close down the conversation. Sometimes when Christians speak about their faith, they are almost more concerned to defend themselves than communicate effectively with the people that are around them.
As I spoke to one person at a fair recently I said that I see God at work in many different places, but that for me Jesus is the place they all come together and they are all found in Jesus, and she could understand that. I also used the image of a rainbow and said that Jesus is the place where all the colours of the rainbow come together, and in this way he fulfils everything and takes it all forward, and so this is why I will always speak of Jesus.
It is a difficult balance to work actually, as historically Christians have often, even if they did not intend to, come across as a bit imperialistic and as dismissing others’ opinions. But we need to find ways to engage with people of all kinds.
