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The View from Here

I met a woman at the British Library recently. She told me about the church she attends, explaining how it's a "real church" because it gets involved with social programs and outreach to the needy. "That's wonderful," I told her and then asked her about the Bible teaching there. "Actually, it's a bit simplistic and shallow," she replied. "In fact, we don't study it much at all."

On another occasion, I was invited to record a debate to be broadcast on one of the major radio stations here in the UK. The other person in the studio was convinced that the Enlightenment had put to death any authority the Bible might once have enjoyed. He was all about relying on badly applied science and new-age philosophy to guide his life. Did I mention he was also an Episcopal bishop?

And yet whenever I visit a church to speak, it's the Bible the people are hungry for. Not all the churches I get invited to would be described as typically "conservative evangelical" either. In fact, some of them are flamboyantly eccentric in their forms of worship. A few years ago, I was invited to speak at a Pentecostal church. I remember mentioning to the pastor that I was not of the "charismatic" persuasion—just so all persons involved would be clear on what to expect from my preaching. "Not a problem," the pastor replied with a broad Caribbean smile. "You just preach the Word; that's what your ministry does, and that's what my people need." And so it was.

It seems to me that the wisdom we find in the Scriptures concerning relationships is particularly precious at present. The words husband and wife have now passed out of common use here in the UK. They have been replaced by the generic and politically correct term partner. Even happily married men and women talk this way now, for fear of being met with a stony glare from some civil servant. Statistically, if you meet a woman with young children in London, she is much more likely to be unmarried than married. So it is considered safer to ask about her partner rather than about her husband. Jesus would've never gotten away with His remarks to the woman at the well if He had spoken them here today! I can hear it now: "How dare he! How rude to embarrass her about her marital status!"

With such pressures to be politically correct in a culture largely devoid of biblical morality, some people are looking for ways to make better ethical decisions and to bring some dignity back to their lives and families. I have been invited to help with leadership training at a growing church in London whose vision is to bring biblical principles back to family life and to serve as a family resource center—a kind of relationship hospital for their borough. I can't think of a better place and time than here and now for this type of outreach in the church. Insight for Living United Kingdom is in a position to provide sound leadership and solid biblical resources for projects such as this. So, the view from here is great!