It was said that you can track the halt of the growth of Wesley’s Methodist denomination, when the last of his disciples finally stepped down from their donkey, and setup a church. The hundreds who emulated his model of going from village to village on a donkey to preach the good news, finally gave up and started churches. The movement ceased then (the last of these were in the US).

All we are left with then, is cultural Christianity. I’ve been travelling for the last month, and have been most intrigued by America. The church there is yearning for something new to happen, some way to regain its influence but they have no understanding of what that will be. Like so much of the Western church, we bend ourselves to just about everything to make us relevant – mostly by trying to regain our voice at the political table. In doing so, we usually manage to ostracise the very society we should be reaching.

I managed many discussions with many well meaning Christians, and when I explained that we were trying to fulfil the Great Commission, because that really is the only way we can influence society, you could see a dim recollection appear in people’s thoughts. Obedience in that area hadn’t really figured in the options.

Jesus knew what he was saying when he gave his disciples that command; he understood it was the fastest, even if it was the longest way to get to a movement of his disciples. That the impact would be lasting, even if at some stage it stopped as people grew tired of the work, and the influence on society from the ground up would be far more striking than the top down, who were never really interested in Jesus then and still aren’t today.

But he also knew it would be hard. As we struggle to see transformation in the West, we must remember that God is constantly working through us to achieve his ends, but nonetheless, the road ahead will be long and difficult. We must, we simply cannot though, quit. The devastating effects of cultural Christianity – of those who affirm to some generational tradition believing that is enough to get them to heaven cannot be overstated.

Young people, to say that God is relying on you to achieve the task is to undermine his Sovereignty, and yet there is a grain of truth in that statement. If not you, then who in your generation will fulfil his task? It will be difficult, but please don’t give up hope. Not ever. This is no time to get off the donkey’s back.