A Little Inoculation Against the Social Gospel

One of the things about being in a declining denomination is that you have to endure the cycle of new plans to revive things. It's a matter of endurance because, by and large, the decline is due to the abandonment of the gospel and so the plans almost never have much to do with the gospel.

So one day I went along to a local denominational meeting looking at how we were going to revive things in my town, Rochdale. We're one of those left-behind towns that have sunk into what feels like an irreversible poverty following the collapse of the UK cotton industry in the mid-20th Century. With the poverty comes a large range of social problems, as you might expect.

I sat and listened to a passionate cleric deliver a vision. It was a vision to revitalise Rochdale - not spiritually, but socially. The churches would work together to deliver social care, address poverty and suffering leaving a radically different town - a veritable land of milk and honey! This was a passionate example of transformation by what is called the "social gospel." For those who believe the social gospel, the purpose of Christianity is to address the social problems of our society, bringing in the kingdom of God now.

Now I suspect my initial reaction and the reaction of many others in the room was pragmatic. This vision was being delivered to a small group of church representatives, largely elderly, largely from declining churches struggling to pay the bills and keep the doors open. In contrast, the (relatively) huge funding, staffing and resources available to organisations such as the NHS, Social Services and education have, as yet, to transform Rochdale in this way. It was hard to see how we were going to make the key difference. My suspicion is that most people left the meeting and shrugged their shoulders - here we go again on the next cycle of failed revival. Certainly, as far as I could tell, nothing ever happened to implement the vision. Rochdale hasn't made it to milk and honey status yet! The clergy moved on and the locals were probably confirmed in their suspicions of clergy!

It's not the most important thing, but this kind of social gospel never really "works," if by "works" you mean delivers on the transformation promised, let alone creating some sort of realised kingdom of God on earth. It can and does have an impact, especially when the church is a more formidable organisation (say 100 years ago). Liberal Christians have brought care and compassion in all kinds of situations, as, it must be said, have people of other religions and charitable organisations. However, real transformation takes something more than that.

That points us to more important things than what "works". We need to know what is true. The social gospel is not the gospel of Jesus. I'm sure there are many areas of disagreement I would have with the purveyors of the social gospel, but three stand out to me.

The first is sin. When we see the problems of our world in areas like mine, we need to look below the surface and recognise that the cause is sin. Sin has broken everything. The causality for different situations may be complex, but the root is always sin. Ironically, while historic, biblical Christianity has always had a focus on sin, social gospel advocates are more likely to be those who minimise sin, even denying that much of what Scripture calls sin is really sin. This makes those who follow the social gospel ultimately impotent (as also are the NHS, Social Services and schools). It's not that what they do is always bad, or totally pointless. But it is that it doesn't deal with the root cause. Any solution must at least start to deal with sin. Jesus, on the other hand, had no qualms in pointing out the sin at the very heart of our beings (Mark 7:20-23). More than that, Jesus' very name defines him as the one who saves us from sin (Matthew 1:21). Again, the sad irony is that social gospel advocates are often the most resistant to Jesus' death atoning for sin.

The second thing that is missing is the power to transform. The vision outlined by that cleric frankly needed a most miraculous supernatural intervention to have any hope of making a difference. Yet, ironically again, the purveyors of the social gospel are the most likely to doubt the miraculous. However, Jesus promised the transforming power for the Holy Spirit living in us (John 14:15-16; see also Galatians 5:22-23). This is the kind of power we need to make any real change.

The third thing is heaven, or, more accurately, the new creation. Jesus quite starkly tells his disciples that the poor will always be around on this earth (Mark 14:7; John 12:8). I don't think that's his way of saying the poor don't matter! Instead, it helps us focus on the most important thing, which is being a disciple of Jesus. Only the disciple of Jesus will receive eternal life in the new creation (John 3:16). While the kingdom of God began when Jesus came, it will only be finished and perfect when he returns and brings in the new heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:13). It is only here where the effects of sin will finally be taken away and not before (Revelation 21:3-4). This is the real land of milk and honey!

Sitting in that meeting was a little inoculation against the social gospel. It was like having a small dose of it put in front of me to remind me how flawed and unfaithful it is - however passionately and eruditely it is presented. The mission of disciples of Jesus is to make more disciples by teaching them the true message of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). This has the power to begin to effect change now - starting from the heart. It also prepares people for eternity, which will be better by far than any program for transformation now.