MISSION IMPROBABLE

Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury made an important statement in Malaysia about the purpose of Christianity. “Our mission”, he declared, “is not to conquer the world, to subdue others… our mission is to draw people to the company of Jesus; new words to speak, new thoughts to think and new love rising in their hearts.”

If the church really did take that as its starting point, and if it fully recognised that Jesus was crucified by precisely the kind of religio-political system it has historically been tempted to impose, a huge amount could change in its life, and in the life of the world.

It isn't too much to ask. But it is still an awful lot.