CHRISTIANS are not to be like everybody else, "except a little nicer", says the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rt Rev Dr Frank Sellar.
"We are filled by God's Holy Spirit to radically new attitudes that promote the counter culture of Jesus. When we don't do that, it is a dis-grace, but when we do the whole of society benefits."
Dr Sellar was speaking as the Church unveiled the eye-catching poster on this page. It has been created by a team of Christian artists and is aimed at capturing the denomination's Vision for Society Statement which, it says, places "peacebuilding firmly at the heart of Christian discipleship and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland".
The statement packs a lot of big ideas into its 146 words, and while originally written by and for Presbyterians, Christians from other traditions will find much to affirm in its five paragraphs.
"The Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ, calls us to be peacebuilders," said the Rev Stephen Johnston, minister of Kilkeel Presbyterian Church and convener of the Church's Good Relations Panel.
"He was unequivocal when He gave us the Great Commandment to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind'.
"Jesus then went further and introduced a radical counter cultural second element, and that is to 'Love your neighbour as yourself,' (Mark 12:30-31), the heart of peacebuilding.
"Peacebuilding, however, will look different in my own community of Kilkeel, Co Down as it will in Belfast, Dublin, Londonderry or Cork, but its centrality to Christian discipleship remains the same wherever we are."
The statement reads:
WE, MEMBERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND, saved by grace and called by God to grace-filled relationships, in the power of the Holy Spirit as ambassadors of Christ’s Kingdom in a broken and divided world;
BELIEVE that the Good News of Jesus Christ challenges and equips us to develop radically new attitudes and relationships with our neighbours throughout the whole of Ireland.
WE CONFESS our failure to live as Biblically faithful Christian peacebuilders and to promote the counter culture of Jesus in a society where cultures clash.
ACCORDINGLY, WE AFFIRM Christian peacebuilding to be part of Christian discipleship and reassert the Church’s calling to pursue a peaceful and just society in our day
WE SEEK a more reconciled community at peace with each other, where friend and foe, working together for the common good, can experience healing and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
