Thank you very much for inviting me to speak.
It's been a while since I've been in this lecture
theatre. Feels very familiar. Let me just read
to you what Matthew sent me. He said, consider
the issue of class and ethnicity, class and nationalism.
looking at how we speak theologically and practically
as local ministers, churches and individual believers
into our increasingly fraught and fractured wider
society. And that's just the first half. So no
pressure then. I can't possibly give you answers
to all of these topics, but what I'm going to
hopefully finish today with is just some reflections.
are arranged around these sorts of ideas as we
look at implications of some of the things we've
been hearing today. Well, contemporary British
society is very fractured, isn't it? It's fractured
around questions of class, ethnicity, nationalism
and identity. Economic inequality has widened
over recent decades, while public debate has
become increasingly polarised. Political discourse
frequently frames communities against one another.
Conflict has always made good television and
now it makes good social media as well. So we
get urban against rural, working class against
middle class, migrant against native -born, cosmopolitan
against patriotic. And social media just intensifies
the outrage. We often prefer simplistic narratives
over patient understanding. And so within this
environment, Christian ministers, churches and
believers are confronted with difficult theological
and pastoral questions. How should Christians
speak into a culture marked by resentment? and
fragmentation? How should churches respond when
national symbols such as the flag of St George
become contested signs associated with exclusion?
What should Christians make of movements such
as Unite the Kingdom marches, which claim to
defend national identity yet can also be seen
to communicate hostility towards outsiders? How
can the gospel be proclaimed without becoming
captive either to partisan nationalism or some
kind of dismissive elitism? Well, as we look
at class in the 2020s and beyond, I do want to
comment a bit on the rise of Christian nationalism,
which is certainly not limited to one class.
But in popular depictions, it is linked heavily
with traditionally working class and benefits
class cultures. And I also want to point out
these are not academic concerns. They're not
abstract concerns. I mean, they emerge in local
congregations. They emerge in neighbourhoods
where people experience insecurity about their
housing, about their employment. where people
are concerned about immigration, about cultural
change and political representation. Many working
class communities feel neglected, both economically
and culturally, and some perceive churches, universities
and political institutions as dominated by middle
class voices that are not listening to them.
At the same time, minority ethnic communities
often experience exclusion. racism and suspicion
in precisely those contexts where national identity
is being most loudly asserted. Churches are not
immune from these tensions. Congregations can
unconsciously mirror the caste divisions and
ethnic anxieties of the wider society. So the
challenge is not merely political but theological.
must ask what it means to confess Jesus Christ
as Lord in a society increasingly organised around
competing identities and grievances. The Gospel
speaks to these questions. It speaks to questions
of belonging, of dignity, of neighbourliness,
of justice and reconciliation. But the church
must learn how to speak these answers in ways
that are truthful, compassionate and attentive
to lived experiences. Christian witness cannot
be aligned uncritically with nationalism if that
means excluding those whom Christ welcomes. But
it can't dismiss concerns about national identity
if it is to not appear detached from concerns
about economic insecurity. The task of ministry
is always deeply complex and it seems to be getting
even more complex. Well, how do we understand
these questions of class and ethnicity? Questions
of class and ethnicity are deeply interconnected
in modern Britain. In public discussion, we can
treat them separately and they often are treated
separately, but people's lived experience demonstrates
that economic inequality and ethnic identity
frequently overlap. Working class white communities
can feel economically abandoned and culturally
mocked. while minority ethnic communities may
face disadvantage and racial discrimination.
And political rhetoric sometimes encourages these
groups to see each other as competitors for resources.
Class has historically been central to British
identity. We heard from Matthew this morning
the way in which industrialisation created strong
working class communities shaped by labour, locality
and collective solidarity. And churches often
stood physically and socially within these communities.
Parish churches and Methodist chapels provided
not only spiritual care but also education. welfare
and social cohesion. But deindustrialisation
in the late 20th century devastated many local
economies. Stable employment disappeared from
former mining towns, docklands and manufacturing
centres, and in many places this economic dislocation
produced generational unemployment, addiction
and poor health and social despair. At the same
time, Britain was becoming more and more ethnically
diverse through migration from Caribbean, South
Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. This diversity
has raised questions in a lot of people's minds
concerning national identity and social integration.
And I'm sure you can remember all the different
metaphors that have been used from... You know,
in what way do we expect people to integrate
into an existing culture? Economic hardship and
rapid demographic change sometimes occurred simultaneously,
particularly in poorer urban areas. And so in
such contexts, frustration about housing shortages,
overstretched public services or low wages could
easily become... It wasn't necessarily that the
problem was immigration, but it's so easy for
immigration to become the visible target of people
who are concerned about other things, about their
insecurity in various ways. Churches have often
struggled to address these realities adequately.
Some churches have spoken prophetically against
racism. while failing to engage seriously with
class resentment and economic insecurity. Others
have focused heavily on traditional national
values while neglecting the experiences of minority
communities. The danger in both cases is reductionism.
Human beings are never only members of one group,
yet social structures profoundly shape or how
we speak about social structures profoundly shapes
people's experiences and perceptions. Now theologically,
Christianity insists on the equal dignity of
all people because all are made in the image
of God. All people are in God's image, all people
are sinners, all people are in need of the redeeming
death of Christ. This challenges all forms of
racial hierarchy and ethnic supremacy. Christian
theology at the same time recognises the reality
of sin and the tendency in every human heart
to want to create an in -group and an out -group.
We want to have someone to look down on. That's
the essence of pride. And so humans will always
create ways of excluding someone to look down
upon. The New Testament church wrestled with
precisely these tensions. Early Christianity
brought together Jews and Gentiles whose histories,
customs and identities were profoundly different.
The Apostle Paul repeatedly confronted divisions
concerning status, ethnicity and belonging. In
Galatians 3 .28, he famously declares that in
Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free. This doesn't erase social distinctions,
but it rightly relativises them before the greater
reality of belonging to Christ. And importantly,
the New Testament vision of unity is not homogenising.
The book of Revelation imagines people from every
tribe, language and nation worshipping together
before God. Christian unity is not achieved through
forced sameness. And this has profound implications
for our churches. Congregations should neither
deny cultural difference nor permit such differences
to become grounds for exclusion or superiority.
So, as we experience these tensions, We've got
both tensions between classes and tensions between
ethnicities, and those tensions are sometimes
conveniently made to collide because that suits
political discourse. In this context, we get
the rise of something like Christian nationalism.
And nationalism is one of the most powerful forces
emerging to shape modern political imagination.
Now, at its best, something like nationalism
can express gratitude for shared history, a certain
cultural memory and a social solidarity. Love
of place, language and tradition is not inherently
sinful. Christianity itself values facedness.
Jesus was born into a specific people and culture.
The incarnation affirms that human beings do
belong somewhere. But nationalism becomes dangerous
when national identity is elevated into some
kind of ultimate loyalty. The 20th century demonstrated
repeatedly how nationalism can descend into exclusion,
xenophobia and violence. When the nation itself
becomes sacred, Outsiders become threats and
dissenters become enemies. In contemporary Britain,
nationalism is often entangled with class anxieties.
Many working class communities feel that the
political elites have ignored or despised their
concerns. National symbols such as the flying
of the flag of St George can therefore function
as assertions of visibility and dignity. Flying
the flag may express a desire to reclaim local
identity and pride in communities that feel economically
and culturally marginalised. But symbols don't
operate in a vacuum. For many minority ethnic
Britons, the flag of St George carries much more
ambiguous associations. Some people may see it
simply as an English national symbol. Others
associate it with football hooliganism, with
far -right movements or anti -immigrant sentiment.
Context matters enormously. A flag displayed
during a community celebration may communicate
welcome and belonging. It may be communicating,
come and join us. The same flag displayed alongside
aggressive rhetoric about migrants or taking
back the country. may communicate hostility and
exclusion. We need to attend carefully to these
ambiguities. It's too simplistic either to condemn
all expressions of national identity as racist
or to insist that national symbols are always
innocent. Christians are called to discern the
meanings that symbols acquire in practice. Movements
such as Unite the Kingdom marches similarly reveals
that sort of complex dynamic. Supporters may
describe such events as expressions of patriotism,
concern for social cohesion or defence of traditional
values. And I'm sure there are many people that
is genuinely all that they're thinking about.
But critics can interpret the same march as locals
for being exclusionary nationalism. or coded
hostility towards migrants and minorities. The
church cannot respond merely through slogans.
Instead, Christians must ask a deeper question.
Who feels included with the imagined nation that
they're defending? Who feels excluded? What fears
and hopes are motivating participants? And how
does the rhetoric used reflect or distort the
gospel? One danger for churches is moral condescension.
Middle -class Christians may quickly dismiss
working -class patriotism as ignorant or xenophobic
without listening seriously to experiences of
economic insecurity, social fragmentation or
political abandonment. As one who was looking
on as an outsider during the Brexit vote, I could
see this happening over and over again. The demonisation
of the other side happened continually, but also
that each side accused the other ones of being
the ones who were demonising them. And conversations
would descend into it almost immediately. Given
that so many of our evangelical churches are
middle class, we have to be very careful that
that sort of condescension is not reflected in
the way we talk. That kind of dismissiveness
just deepens resentment and alienation. Christian
ministry requires attentive listening. We can't
dismiss these concerns about national identity,
but neither can we baptise nationalism in Christian
language. Throughout history, Christianity has
been used to legitimize national superiority
or imperial ambition. And when crosses and flags
become too closely intertwined, the gospel is
distorted. Jesus consistently refused political
messianism. Can't say that word. He refused to
become a political messiah. His kingdom transcended
political borders and welcomed outsiders. But
the tension is unavoidable in our current context.
Christians belong simultaneously to earthly nations
and to the kingdom of God. Augustine famously
described believers as citizens of both the earthly
city and the city of God. The earthly city will
be shaped by competing loves and power struggles.
while the city of God is ordered towards divine
love and peace. Christians can't withdraw entirely
from national life, but neither can they identify
the kingdom of God with any particular nation
state. And by the way, I would recommend reading
Augustine's The City of God, well, at any time
really, but especially right now. So as we speak
into this fraught situation, Let us pay particular
attention to the kind of language we use. How
we speak about these issues matters profoundly.
Language can heal or wound. In a polarised culture,
speech often becomes performative and adversarial
and social media only plays into this because,
frankly speaking, that's what's going to get
you the clicks and the likes. That is what is
going to propel the machine. Public discourse
rewards outrage rather than understanding, and
churches are not immune from this temptation.
So ministers are going to face pressures from
multiple directions. Some of the people in your
congregations will expect explicit political
alignment. And we'll see it as a portrayal of
the gospel if you don't explicitly align Christianity
with one particular group or party. Others will
demand neutrality and see it as a portrayal of
the gospel if you do connect with any particular
political view. And again, social media is just
going to amplify the conflict. So practically...
One thing this means is resisting caricatures.
It's very easy to portray all expressions of
patriotism as racist or all concerns about racism
as anti -British. And that kind of binary thinking
just obscures the complexity. Christian ministers
are going to have to cultivate a very nuanced
public language that acknowledges complexity
and resist. the temptation to give slogans and
clickbait. For example, churches can affirm that
many people display the flag of St George out
of genuine affection for their country and their
local community. Simultaneously, churches can
acknowledge that some people experience such
symbols as intimidating because of their association
with extremist movements. Both realities can
be true at once. And pastoral wisdom requires
holding these tensions together without collapsing
into the slogans. Similarly, Christians should
avoid language that dismisses entire social groups.
Now, I realise this is difficult. Sometimes terms
such as left -behind communities, white working
class, immigrant communities, they're convenient
shorthand. for the complex realities that we're
trying to talk about. But they can also flatten
human complexity. We should speak about people
first as persons made in God's image rather than
primarily as demographic categories. And we also
need to listen. Effective ministry begins not
with pronouncement but with... No, that's the
wrong thing to say. Sorry, I didn't mean to say
that. We need to listen to the communities we're
speaking into. Ministers who never enter working
-class estates or immigrant neighbourhoods will
struggle to have credibility speaking about either.
Churches need spaces where people from different
backgrounds can encounter one another as neighbours
rather than stereotypes. And churches are almost
uniquely positioned to be able to provide that
sort of hospitality. As we listen to people,
it requires attentiveness to pain because working
class anger is often rooted in real experiences
of neglect, of economic precarity and cultural
humiliation. And if you haven't experienced what
it's like to live on the edge, you don't know
just how stressful that is. So listen to people.
Minority ethnic fear is often rooted in real
experiences of discrimination and exclusion.
It's not enough to say, well, they prove that
there's no structural racism. I mean, that's
not the point. Those particular studies proved
one thing. But you have to listen to people's
actual experience of what it's been like to live.
And Christian ministry can't afford to validate
just one form of suffering. Everybody has their
own forms of suffering. So how do we conduct
a local ministry in this kind of society? So
far, it's certainly pretty impossible. And local
ministers do have... a uniquely difficult position
in some of these issues. So unlike national commentators
or politicians, the local church leaders minister
among actual people whose lives intersect with
them daily. A single congregation might include
older working -class patriots, recent migrants,
middle -class professionals, unemployed young
adults, and people shaped by profoundly different
political narratives. In fact, we would like
it if our congregations included all those groups.
That's actually what we're aiming for. The minister's
task is not to silence disagreement artificially,
but to cultivate a community where disagreement
doesn't destroy fellowship. Now, this requires
theological depth as well as pastoral patience
and probably a good deal of moral courage. It
would be much easier just to serve one social
group at a time. A congregation can easily become
culturally middle class, even while proclaiming
universal welcome, just because it's easier to
stick with people like you. But remember that
we are called to be hospitable and hospitable
to strangers. And hospitable is not just friendliness.
Biblically, hospitality involves bringing the
stranger in. In practice, this may involve churches
examining whether their styles, their leadership
structures and social cultures unintentionally
exclude certain groups. Would a smoker feel comfortable
inside your church services? You need to deliberately
think of who are the people you would like to
bring in and what things might they feel uncomfortable
about. And sometimes you won't know until you
actually start talking to people about what it's
like walking into your church. Ministers have
to preach prophetically. against some of the
problems we're seeing. We must realise that racism
contradicts the gospel because it denies the
equal dignity of human beings created in God's
image and that class contempt similarly also
contradicts the gospel. Sneering attitudes towards
working class culture, towards their accents,
even towards their patriotism. are profoundly
damaging and often overlooked within educated
church cultures. Middle class good manners are
not the same as godliness. And this needs to
be addressed overtly because people just won't
realise. It's so easy if you've always been a
Christian in a middle class context to assume
that the nice people around you are models of
what Christians ought to be. But it's not the
same thing. The gospel will undermine any culture
and it takes work to work out what exactly is
the Christian culture that we're aiming for.
The issue of accents is particularly significant
in Britain. How people speak remains deeply tied
to perceptions of intelligence, respectability
and authority. Received pronunciation still carries
social prestige. while regional or working class
accents may be unfairly associated with ignorance
or aggression. And you can see this in the way
people's body language even reacts to another
individual once they hear the accent. Is the
body language reacting in attention, and this
is someone I need to listen to, or is it reacting
in, I'm now a bit suspicious of this person?
Again, these are issues that need to be addressed
overtly because people won't realise that they're
doing it. And ministers must create space for
difficult conversations. Avoiding controversial
issues is easier, but it allows resentment and
misinformation to grow unchecked. So churches
can become places where fears about immigration,
identity and economic insecurity can be discussed
honestly without descending into hostility. Oh
yes, I know what a big ask that is. I know how
difficult it will be to curate and to chair these
sorts of discussions. But the goal is not victory
in an argument. The goal is mutual understanding
and discernment. So studying the Bible, having
a shared meal, hearing people's testimonies,
these sorts of things are all part of helping
people actually encounter each other and listen
to each other rather than retreating into political
abstractions. And all of this needs to be grounded
in church discipleship. We're not just... creating
social action for the sake of it. Our primary
identity is not political, but spiritual. What
we are trying to do is create mature Christians
who know how to love. And so we need to gather
around the word before being engaged in public
controversy. This matters because it reorients
what our human identity actually is as sinners
in need of Christ. Christian unity is not just
sentimental and it's not just structural. Churches
proclaim a unity through the shared truth, the
truth that actually gives people identity and
actually teaches people how to relate to each
other. And that means that the church can create
an alternative community. So now I'm going to
talk for a bit about... the church as alternative
community. Because we're more than just commentators
on society. The church actually embodies an alternative
social reality shaped by the kingdom of God.
It gives people a new peer group to belong to
and to model themselves by. This is not withdrawal
from society, but a faithful presence within
it. Inviting people to church is astonishingly
powerful. I think it's easy for us to forget
just how radical a community a church can be.
Just by existing as groups of people with meaning
who show hospitality, we are being radical. Christian
communities witness powerfully just by being
Christian communities. In an age of fragmentation,
these sorts of communities are deeply counter
-cultural. Society increasingly sorts people
into homogenous groups based on, well, you know,
all the different identities they can be based
on. But churches possess the unique possibility
of gathering people who would otherwise rarely
encounter one another. But it's not automatic.
Many churches sadly do reflect the segregation
of wider society. Congregations easily become
overwhelmingly middle class, ethnically homogenous
or politically uniform because it's just easier.
It's easier to be with people like you and it's
easier to walk into a group of people who seem
to look like you. So it's going to require intentional
effort. One practical implication involves leadership.
We've talked a bit about this today. Churches
do need to be conscious about seeking leadership
that reflects the diversity of the body of Christ.
Working class voices and minority ethnic voices
shouldn't just be included symbolically, but
genuinely. It's hard to do because in a context
where everyone's busy and resources are stretched,
it's much easier. to go to the person who by
their upbringing and background already has confidence
and public speaking skills and those sorts of
abilities. It's harder to see the potential in
someone who didn't grow up that way but can be
nurtured and taught to have those qualities and
be a truly biblical leader. But we have to do
that hard thing because otherwise, well, we're
not. being faithful to God's witness and we're
just going to continue to perpetuate our stereotypes.
So, yeah, genuinely raising up different leaders.
Another implication concerns mission. Churches
often focus outreach towards groups that resemble
the existing members. But the gospel constantly
moves to... the groups that are not the same
as the existing members. So if we're going to
look at ministry in more deprived areas, that's
going to require long -term commitment rather
than just temporary charitable projects. The
New Testament describes Christians as aliens
and strangers in the world, and that's an important
reality to keep hold of. Christians belong everywhere
and nowhere. And importantly, our mission should
avoid paternalism. Working class communities
and migrant communities are not merely recipients
of church benevolence. They possess gifts, wisdom,
and they need the gospel. Effective ministry
involves partnership, not just rescue narratives.
Don't just provide food for poor people, eat
with them. Talk with them. Get to know them.
Jesus redefined community repeatedly throughout
the Gospels. When he was asked, who is my neighbour,
he knew he was really being asked, who is not
my neighbour? And he responded with the parable
of the Good Samaritan, in which the hero belonged
to a despised out -group. The parable destabilises
our natural tendency towards tribalism by insisting
that neighbourliness transcends ethnic and social
boundaries. It transcends people like you. Now,
this does not require Christians to abandon local
or national attachment. It's okay to love your
country. It's even okay to be sad that it's not
the same as it used to be. That's okay. But it
means that these sorts of attachments must always
be subordinate to the command of love. A Christian
may value English culture, Welsh identity, Scottish
tradition, even Northern Ireland. But at the
same time, you have to reject hostility towards
outsiders. The problem emerges when Christian
faith becomes fused with nostalgic nationalism.
Nostalgia often idealises an imagined past of
cultural homogeneity and social order. Yet such
narratives frequently ignore the bad things that
happened and the fact that it kept on changing.
So we need to approach national history carefully
with truth rather than sentimentality because
every nation contains both beauty and sin. Gratitude
for one's heritage must coexist with realism
and it must also understand that all nations
will fall. This world is not ultimate. At the
same time, churches need to understand why national
identity appeals so strongly, especially during
periods of rapid change. Insecure society often
seeks stability through symbols of continuity
and belonging. And ministers who just dismiss
those emotional needs entirely risk alienating
people who already feel culturally displaced.
The only... What's going to be the solution to
this ultimately is remembering where does our
stability lie? It's never in a national identity.
It's in the God who is God of all cultures. He's
the only one who does not change, who will not
let us down, who is entirely trustworthy and
faithful. Not any nation, certainly not any government.
This all comes back to the call to practice hospitality.
It's hard, of course. Hospitality is messy and
hard work and scary. That's because people are
hard work and messy and scary. It's not easy
to do the day -to -day of getting to know people
and listening to people and being with people.
There are a million excuses. But what about if
I have to do this or if this is more important
or I just don't have time? But that's ministry
for you. What did you think you were getting
into? So what are some practical ideas we can
have to finish off with? How can churches and
individual believers respond practically within
our increasingly fractured society? Well, do
consider investing seriously in deprived communities.
Evangelical Bible preaching churches are overwhelmingly
middle class. Well, of course, it's good when
middle class people are saved. Everyone needs
to be saved. But it means that the good Bible
preaching faithful churches tend to be in middle
class suburbs. Can a person without a car get
there? Those sorts of practical concerns have
to be considered when we're thinking about our
mission, our church planting, about where we're
going. We need churches where people are. It's
too easy to stay in the nice churches with people
like us. We need to go and live and plant churches
with the people who don't have that contact.
Churches can teach political humility. No political
movement perfectly embodies the kingdom of God.
Christians should resist both cynical disengagement
and total ideological identification. We don't
withdraw from society, but we don't think the
politicians are going to save us. The church's
loyalty to Christ remains primary. Believers
should practice disciplined speech. Social media
encourages reactive outrage and tribal signalling.
But Christians should model patience, factual
honesty and refusing to dehumanise other humans.
And remember, we are against gossip, but what
exactly does that mean? And when was the last
time your church taught the congregation what
gossip is and how to avoid it or other sins of
speech? This includes challenging misinformation
and conspiracy thinking. Fear and resentment
often flourish through distorted narratives about
whatever group it is what we're currently feeling
afraid of. Christian commitment to truth requires
careful discernment. And churches should equip
believers theologically. Many Christians lack
the frameworks for thinking about nationalism,
race and class beyond the partisan media narratives.
And preaching and discipleship needs to address
these issues directly. It's not going to happen
automatically. In other words, we need to know
more doctrine. We need to understand what the
gospel celebrates, what the gospel challenges
in any culture. We need to understand a doctrine
of the fall. We need doctrine of suffering and
its significance. We need to understand eschatology
and how not to over -realise it. Most of all,
we need to understand that life now is preparing
us for eternity, and so eschatology will tell
us what really matters now. The local church
can't solve every structural problem within society,
but it can become a sign of another possibility.
So, what of the future? Despite the seriousness
of current divisions, Christianity remains fundamentally
a religion of hope. The gospel doesn't deny human
conflict. It doesn't deny that there's prejudice
and injustice. In fact, it tells us why those
things are there. But through Christ, God reconciled
to himself all things, whether on earth or in
heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Sinful humanity can be reconciled to God. And
this flows out in reconciliation between communities.
Paul writes in Ephesians that Christ has broken
down the dividing wall of hostility between peoples.
Through the cross, enemies may become members
of one household. Now, of course, the church
has often failed to embody this vision fully.
Christians have participated in racism, in imperialism,
in class oppression and nationalist violence.
And sometimes it happens because Christians are
too willing to go with the flow to accept whatever
the moral majority decides is the morality of
the time. Honest acknowledgement of these failures
is necessary. But the gospel is still true. In
contemporary Britain, hope can begin in small
and local ways. A parish meal where refugees
and lifelong residents share their stories with
each other. A congregation where accents associated
with different classes are equally valued. A
minister willing to listen patiently to fear
without endorsing prejudice. Churches choosing
knowledge of God. over culture war rhetoric.
Now, such practices can appear very small, but
the kingdom of God often begins in these small
acts. Importantly, Christian hope is grounded
not in optimism about human nature, but trust
in God's transforming grace. Left to ourselves,
we will drift towards tribalism and resentment.
But the gospel interrupts this pattern by creating
new forms of belonging. We've already talked
about the vision in Revelation 7 -9 where John
sees people from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages. And this is reflected
in the reality of our churches. We can gather
people from all tribes and peoples and languages.
And they come not because they're naturally alike.
not because they naturally get on, but because
they have all received mercy. And that vision
challenges contemporary society profoundly. Modern
culture often teaches people to define themselves
primarily through opposition to others. But we
know that identity is received as a gift through
relationship with God. The longing that so many
people are showing for something real, something
understandable, something stable and something
trustworthy is a longing for God. We need to
preach what the truth is and where it's found.
We also need to preach that the perfect world
won't be found yet. No social system will heal
the problems of sin. That's been the major problem
of, well, since the Enlightenment, certainly
throughout the 20th century. We cannot build
heaven here on earth. Whatever political system
we have, whatever laws we have, whomever we let
into the country or exclude, it will not be perfect.
The answers do not lie here. The church's calling
in a fractured society is faithful witness. We're
called to speak the gospel. It's the gospel that
saves individuals. The gospel undercuts and subverts
any culture. and will challenge any culture.
Therefore, go, make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe
all that Jesus commanded us, and he will be with
us to the end of the age. Thank you.