I am so glad the “real theologians” are standing up. Glenn Melville’s article on a Christian worldview for today clearly articulates what quite a few of us have been thinking and expressing for some years.

The lifeboat theology (Heaven-bound for eternity) has rendered the gospel irrelevant in the minds of most people.

If sin, spiritual salvation and a future in heaven is the whole gist of the gospel it has no connection to real life. The dualistic, sacred/secular dichotomy of thinking, so common in Western thought, both in and out of the Church, can be attributed at least in part to this deficient theology.

On the other hand, a theology of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, both now and in eternity, motivates us to make a difference in this world and demonstrate a relevance of the gospel to the world.

Readers may like to ponder the fact that the predominance of the former theology with its sacred/secular divide has come hand-in-hand with the prevalence of state education in the last 100 years or so. When the move to have secular (non-sectarian) education came to the Western world in the 19^th century, some Christian leaders warned that it would lead to the separation of life from the Christian faith.

And so it did, and secular came to mean not just non-sectarian but completely non-religious. Generations of Bible-believing Christians grew up thinking the Bible was not relevant to all of life, particularly the public sphere.

I am not suggesting that Christian schools are the answer. Despite the fact that most Christian schools were set up with a Kingdom of God applied to all of life philosophy, many families with an escapist theology saw them as a way to put their children in the life boat. Sadly, some teachers in Christian schools still think with this deficient theology. But Christian schools with a Kingdom of God theology have their part in the answer.

We must get our theology right first. Then we must live it. We need to apply the principles of the Kingdom to all of our own lives. Then we are in a position to apply them to the public spheres of life. And we need to raise our children to think and live likewise. Let’s work out our relationship to Christ into all of life and so fulfill, albeit in part, the prayer, “Thy kingdom come in Earth as it is in Heaven.”

– John Norsworthy
Secretary to the Executive, NZ Association for Christian Schools