Evangelicals: Reform to Make a Real Christian Britain

”Movement for Change: Evangelical Perspectives on Social Transformation” is a new book from Evangelical Alliance UK discussing the challenge of ‘post-Christendom' Culture.

Edited by Dr David Hilborn and published on 29 April, the key message of the new books is to encourage Christians in Britain to radically change their thinking if they are going to make an impact on today’s society.

The 13 featuring essays comprised the book. They are all written by leading evangelical Christians, including Lord George Carey, retired Archbishop of Canterbury, Professor David Bebbington noted British Scholar of evangelicalism and Jim Wallis the charismatic preacher and leader of Call to Renewal.

The book calls on Christians to engage in changing society not only through local church congregations, but also through their living environment. In doing so, it draws inspiration from past evangelical attempts at ‘world-changing'.

The authors recognise that the church in Britain now exists in a ‘post-Christendom' context. Together, they suggest that new models, and fresh applications of old models, will be needed to change the situation.

They tried to dissect the possible reason- as Britain has neglected its specifically Judaeo-Christian heritage, British culture remains more generally open to ‘faith' and ‘spirituality', with people ‘picking and mixing' from a range of religious options.

In his Foreword, Evangelical Alliance General Director Joel Edwards writes, ‘Our culture today is similar in many respects to the pluralistic, spiritually hungry culture which surrounded the first Christians'. In the face of this, he adds that developing a coherent account of our place and the place of the Church as a whole within our rapidly changing society is needed.

In his Afterword, the Alliance's Strategic Development Director Martyn Eden writes that the new Christian Movement for Change needed in 21st century Britain will be ‘a movement of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ, integrating that faith into every dimension of their lives, and working together to transform society so that it matches more closely God's design and intentions.'