Merely Pew-Fillers

I happened to be watching the inauguration of Dr John Sentamu as the 97th Archbishop of York, and was quite struck by the incisiveness of his inaugural sermon. Here’s a snippet:

The late Canon David Watson, … said twenty-four years ago, “Christians in the West, have largely neglected what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The vast majority of Western Christians are church-members, pew-fillers, hymn-singers, sermon-tasters, Bible-readers, even born-again believers or Spirit-filled Charismatics – but aren’t true disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we were willing to learn the meaning of real discipleship and actually to become disciples, the Church in the West would be transformed, and the resultant impact on society would be staggering.

He further went on to say

The scandal of the church is that the Christ-event is no longer life-changing, it has become life-enhancing. We’ve lost the joy and power that makes real disciples, and we’ve become consumers of religion and not disciples of Jesus Christ.

And it’s interesting what he had to say about how Christians should interact with other faiths:

Christians, go and find friends among Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, agnostics, atheists - not for the purpose of converting them to your beliefs, but for friendship, understanding, listening, hearing.

And here's a small clip from his speech: