The results of the 2021 UK census revealed that less than half of UK see themselves as Christian. Does that mean attending a stone building once a week? Being part of an exclusive club? Therein lies the challenge for the Followers of The Way. It is not enough to go through the motions of ritual. Hearts and minds have to be reached. How? Young people have a great sense of spiritual realms. Social media is often an outlet. The new generation carry their church around with them. Ironically, this is what Jesus wanted.
A new church must arise. It is so vital that Jesus remains contemporary. He was the ultimate rebel. He turned the world upon its head. Taught values that nobody could see ...still can't. This was permeated by the establishment and it quite obviously made alternative beliefs more conformist. To retain Jesus means reinvention. A realisation that He walks beside us in everything. Not just the good times, though also the times of suffering and angst. Quite easy when you look at how He lived.
So, yes, Christianity can live on ...though in a new form. A spiritual form, rather than based on buildings and social norms. As though Jesus ever did that! In my own personal life then I have always clung to Him. Always seen Him as Master and Lord. Though I feel that the people that He hung out with were the type of people that I relate to. People who know their faults. People who are liable to drive hippy vans or dress up as punks. Because Love knows no boundaries, and the best human example of that lies in Jesus.
Call it modern Catholicism. Call it what you will. I see it as The Love of God reaching into every corner of life that it can find. This is the challenge that 'the church' faces.
A.
