Christians - Persecuted, marginalised or victims?

I have waded through a few emails, all of which have sought to show me how we are, rather than how I seem to think they are.

The first group seek to point out that Christians are marginalised in every walk of life. We are "No longer the force we were and are thus marginalsed and ignored." They were the biggest group, so I'll address them first . .

Think I've dealt with this (to death) but one last nail (hopefully) in this argument has to be that we are where we have, in the main, placed ourselves with our particular brand of 'authority'. Where we should have taken a lead, we have been silent (or worse still, sat on the fence and sold that special brand of fudge that Christians are so good at making). It is for this reasons that we are so rarely listened to.

There is 'stuff' going on all over the world and yet when Rowan (or some other Christian worthy) speaks it is rarely relevant or even accessible. Lives are in disarray and we re-arrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

If Christians are marginalised, how can it be that when I look at the things that are happening in our community, the prime movers, those engaged with the needs of the community, those who are in partnership with the local and county council, number a great many Christians?

At ground level, where the need is (and the work done) we see Christians engaged and welcomed, respected and supported by the secular world.

Could it be that we want to be marginalised so that we might garner the sympathy vote to bolster the less desired place we feel we occupy. Could it be that those who are marginalised most are those who do least and want the highest esteem?

Is that the model Jesus brings us? Nah, don't think so.

Jesus came to this world, God made man to 'serve', that is to be a 'servant' and we know that servants don't get the money, they don't get the recognition their services perhaps demands, but the reward is in serving (not being afforded 'rights' and not being listened to as an authority).

So, let's be honest and admit that we don't have the position, power, authority or deference shown to us that the clerics of days gone by had.

Halle-blinking-lujah! We aren't called to be the ruling classes, but the serving classes. The days of 'father knows best' have, thankfully, gone and now we look to partnerships and to being Church together.

If you want to prove you're marginalised, it's easy - just go out and find someone to make a point against - works every time.

But if you want to see just how respected and valued we (Christians) are - get off your behindside and engage with the needs around you, love the unloveable and serve like Jesus taught us.