The Diocese of Lichfield, Church of England（http://www.lichfield.anglican.org）
Bishop defends Church’s missionary approach to Islam, 29 June 2008
The Bishop of Lichfield has stepped into the debate about whether the Church should seek to convert Muslims by defending the church’s missionary approach to Islam. But the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, in a pastoral letter in parish magazines throughout Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire and most of the Black Country, said the Church had nothing to fear by recognising that Islam too is a missionary faith.
The bishop was responding to the controversy sparked by a Private Member’s Motion to the General Synod, and he said: “Both Christianity and Islam are missionary faiths. That means that each understands that the other has a message to convey to the world.
“Muslims do not respect Christians who compromise their faith or water down their belief in the uniqueness of Christ. A fundamental plank of a free society is the freedom to argue for one’s beliefs and to seek to persuade others. Just as important is the freedom to change one’s religion (‘be converted’) and to change it again.”
But he also argued that the decision to change religion must be taken freely, saying: “Any coercion is to be avoided. Christians do not believe that we can convert anyone. Only God can do that and he does not force himself upon us.
“He commands us to love our neighbours and it is very important for our living together peaceably that the majority Christian community learns how to love its Muslim and other neighbours. Part of that will be to learn about the Muslim religion and to show respect for Muslim communities. Part of neighbourliness will be to share our Good News with them.”
He also wrote about the “healthy challenges” facing Christians in areas where other faith communities are present, and asks whether our truth about the uniqueness of Christ translate into a unique care for the stranger; and he asks churchgoers to think about how Jesus treated those of other faiths.
He added: “Our own diocese has a whole variety of neighbourhoods with very different ethnic mixes. We can break the ice by going and taking official greetings from the church to the mosque or temple at their festivals and receiving their greetings at ours.”
Next month, bishops, clergy and laity from the Diocese of Lichfield will join with their partners from Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and Germany; to discuss “Mission and the challenge of Islam”. The issue is part of the CrossTalk international mission conference which takes place from the 7th to 9th July at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire.
The bishop elaborated on his position during a radio interview on Sunday morning. He told BBC Radio Stoke’s Lamont Howie: “We’re both missionary faiths and that’s clear. It’s just secular columnists who get embarrassed about the idea of conversion. Conversion is about changing your mind. And it wouldn’t be real religious dialogue if you didn’t expect people to change their minds and be converted.”
NOTES:
1.CrossTalk is an initiative of the Lichfield partnership which, in addition to the Diocese of Lichfield, includes the three Malaysian dioceses of West Malaysia, Kuching and Sabah; the Diocese of Qu’Appelle in Canada, the Diocese of Matlosane in South Africa and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg in north-east Germany. Further details of the CrossTalk initiatives can be found online at lichfield.anglican.org/crosstalk.
2.The full text of Bishop Jonathan’s Pastoral Letter is below:
Should we be aiming at converting Muslims?
There has been controversy recently about a General Synod Private Member’s Motion on multi-faith Britain. The motion by Paul Eddy, which is not expected to be debated until February next year, states:
“That this Synod request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain's multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.”
This motion neatly carries with it several current public anxieties without actually mentioning them. There is the whole question of whether multiculturalism is healthy for a modern society or produces ghettos. There is the question of Sharia law and to what extent we can have more than one legal system operating in the country. There are the caricatures of Muslims as if all young Muslims were potential terrorists. There is the worry about uncontrolled immigration taking jobs and benefits from the natives. And underneath all those is an instinctive racism, confusing ethnic and religious identities.
Already journalists are heating up the airwaves with the anxiety of secular columnists that right wing Christians might be targeting people of other faiths and “converting” them with unfair pressures. Hardly a danger in the Church of England, you might think!
In fact the recent report by the Church of England called Presence and Engagement deals fully with the churches’ task in a multi-faith society while another report called Present and Participating speaks about what it is like to be a black or Asian Christian in England. It is a great mistake to think that white means Christian and vice-versa.
The first Christians were all Middle Eastern and today there are far more black and brown Christians than white ones. In our diocese we have many church members who are from ethnic minorities, mostly cradle Christians but many converts as well. We badly need more black and brown clergy and lay leaders.
Both Christianity and Islam are missionary faiths. That means that each understands that the other has a message to convey to the world.
Muslims do not respect Christians who compromise their faith or water down their belief in the uniqueness of Christ. A fundamental plank of a free society is the freedom to argue for one’s beliefs and to seek to persuade others. Just as important is the freedom to change one’s religion (“be converted”) and to change it again. Any coercion is to be avoided.
Christians do not believe that we can convert anyone. Only God can do that and he does not force himself upon us. He commands us to love our neighbours and it is very important for our living together peaceably that the majority Christian community learns how to love its Muslim and other neighbours.
Part of that will be to learn about the Muslim religion and to show respect for Muslim communities. Part of neighbourliness will be to share our Good News with them.
Some people will take Paul Eddy’s motion and twist it into a racist statement. However if we stand against racism we will discover that we have much in common with our neighbours who, like most citizens, want their children to grow up in a safe and fair environment, contributing to the common good.
In the end the challenges to Christians which other-faith communities present are healthy ones:
•Can we match their commitment?
•Can we demonstrate God’s love more effectively than they?
•Does our truth about the uniqueness of Christ translate into a unique care for the stranger?
•How did Jesus treat those of other faiths?
Presence and Engagement emphasises that local is all-important. Our own diocese has a whole variety of neighbourhoods with very different ethnic mixes. We can break the ice by going and taking official greetings from the church to the mosque or temple at their festivals and receiving their greetings at ours.
The diocese recently combined with Saltbox to produce an excellent survey of how much voluntary work is done in the Stoke area by people of Christian and other faiths. Similarly the Black Country Net has produced a faith community survey which shows that the benefit to the Black Country economy from investment of time and people by faith-based organisations is over £32 million per annum.
We live in a time of great opportunity.
Jonathan Gledhill
Bishop of Lichfield
（End）
