The Battle for Christianity

# We hear you... #

I grew up going to church -

it was part of the African-Caribbean tradition.

Back then, church was strict.

No cinema, no dancing and no pop music.

But times have changed. Across the country, churches are closing.

Less than three million people now go to church.

Whether it's beliefs, whether it's attendance at places of worship,

whether it's identity, Christianity is in decline.

And yet, it's not the whole story.

The empty pews are being filled by Christians from abroad.

It was a shock when we saw the numbers of, you know,

Polish people coming.

There are Christians challenging long-held beliefs.

72% of Anglicans under 35 are in favour of gay marriage.

It is not pro-Christian, it is anti-gay.

And others are going to court to defend them.

I do feel that Christianity is being marginalised in Britain.

Christians are speaking out.

Christianity is radical and it should be political as well.

And church is starting to look very different.

It's a time of transition.

I think we're starting to see a struggle now for the heart

and soul of Christianity.

I'm going to meet Christians at the forefront of this struggle...

We're not a political party, we're a family.

It's a family that bickers like crazy.

..to find out what it means for the future of Christianity in Britain.

We are at a time in world history where Christianity has

an enormous part to play.

We will see this nation come back to God.

For many people, going to church on a Sunday isn't what it used to be,

as I'm about to find out.

HUM OF CONVERSATION

-Hi, Dan, how you doing?

-Good to see you.

-So, this is where it's happening.

-This is Hillsong.

-That's quite a buzz out here.

-Yeah, we're just getting ready for the next service.

LOUD MUSIC PLAYS

CONGREGATION SINGS ALONG

This is Hillsong, a church which fills

London's Dominion Theatre four times over every Sunday.

That's more than 8,000 people.

HE MOUTHS

It feels like God's nightclub, with love songs to Jesus

and a message that teaches you how a relationship with God can

help maximise your potential. CHEERING

See you next week!

There's a task that is set before you,

so if we just say, "There's a task set before us."

There's our life. If I can say it like this, "Hey, just relax."

Cos it's not going to be your effort.

It's not going to be your might or your power,

however you want to look at it,

but it's going to be His spirit at work in your life.

Hillsong is from Australia.

It's part of the Pentecostal movement.

It feels to me like charismatic faith meeting

the aspirations of today's young people.

'Afterwards, I caught up with church pastor Gary Clarke.'

Do you think there's a battle for the soul of Britain?

Ooh! That's a big question!

Um... I don't know.

I wouldn't call it a battle. Um...

You know, it's... I think there is a...there is a...

a perception of church.

There's a perception of even Christianity

that... Public perception has so narrowed it down to

one or two singular, singular things.

And I think, if we're going to talk about a battle,

I think trying to show people that Christianity is relevant to every

individual's personal life. Um...

Then I think we've got a battle against that.

That's... That's for sure.

That was incredibly lively, energetic and youthful.

It's the kind of church I would have gone to 30 years ago

but now, at my age, I'm a bit old for it.

But I can see why young people are attracted to coming here.

Britain is changing.

Secularisation,

technology,

globalism -

they're all making their mark.

No surprise, then, that churches are also starting to look different.

One of the biggest changes in the last 60 years or so

has been the growth of multicultural Britain.

In some places, it has quite literally changed

the face of the church.

Immigration's made a huge difference to Christianity

in recent decades because, of all migrants to Britain, by religion,

Christianity is by far the largest.

On declaration of your faith in Christ,

we baptise you in the name of the Father,

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

TRANSLATOR TRANSLATES

At St George's in Barnsley,

they've had over 50 baptisms in the last year.

I want to get baptised because I want to be with God.

But they need a translator to assist at these baptisms

because so many of the converts are immigrants.

We baptise you in the name of the Father,

the Son and the Holy Spirit...

TRANSLATOR TRANSLATES

The translator at St George's is Sadegh - an Iranian refugee and

Christian convert who fled his home country for fear of persecution.

He's recently been appointed the church's Evangelism coordinator.

Father, show me one person to talk to, in Jesus' name, Father...

He goes out on the streets of Barnsley to talk to

people about God and the church.

God created us to be with him,

to receive this love and to give this love back to him.

Whoever believes in him shall not perish

but will have everlasting life.

'For years, I wanted to kind of

'reach out to town more spontaneously'

but never had the personnel, really.

I'm not like at all that and there's been no-one in the congregation

who's been like that.

And so I've been praying for years, "Lord, send us someone who's got

"that gifting to go out."

And Sadegh came to us as an Iranian translator.

-Thank you, my friend.

-Bless you. Bless you, brother.

But having seen his gifting, I just said, "I could see you doing this,

"please try it." And it's just been wonderful.

-Do you mind if I pray for you?

-Yeah.

Sadegh is bold in his faith.

You know, I was Muslim background but then Jesus saved my life.

To British tastes, his approach can seem unconventional.

# You're the Son of God, Jesus...

# You're the lord of lords...

# King of kings... #

'I'm not a good singer,'

but I don't care what people think. I'm not living for people.

I love people, but I'm living for God

and God uses any opportunity to speak to people.

Very good to see you. Jesus loves you.

'Did Jesus sit in the church?'

Jesus always went to people.

The ministry is outside, it's not inside.

# Come, now is the time to worship

# Come... #

The confidence of faith shared by immigrants like Sadegh has

changed St George's dramatically in the last ten years.

40% of the congregation are now immigrants.

We came to Barnsley 27 years ago, to an all-white congregation,

and Barnsley was 99% white then.

But 20 years ago, I felt God giving me

a vision of building a house of prayer for all nations.

We put a big banner up in front of the church saying,

"House of prayer for all nations",

and we've just had an influx of mainly refugees and asylum seekers.

Good morning.

Sadegh, and many of the other immigrants and refugees,

play a vital role in the running of the church.

I have an African honorary curate.

Five members of our PCC are from other nations.

Our Evangelism co-ordinator is an Iranian.

Our church warden is Argentinian.

They're really at the heart of our church life.

It's very hard to imagine the church without them.

# He can move the mountains

# He rose and conquered the grave... #

Christians from overseas bringing their spiritual fervour

to the streets of the UK is nothing new.

In the '50s and '60s, African-Caribbean people

brought their own tradition of street preaching called "warners".

These days, with Christianity in decline, the arrival of new

Christians can revitalise a church.

It can also be a challenge.

Certainly, the traditional church structures are having

to take immigration much more seriously.

They're having to listen to the people on the ground,

joining the churches in quite large numbers,

speaking a different language, perhaps coming from different

forms of worship and wanting to bring change.

It is shaking the church up.

If you look at the membership of the Roman Catholic Church in

this country, it would have shrunk enormously if it hadn't

been for the immigration that we've experienced from Eastern Europe.

By 2005, over a quarter of Catholics had stopped going to church.

HE SPEAKS IN POLISH

But around the same time, migrants from Eastern Europe

started coming to Britain for work.

They also wanted to go to church.

THEY SPEAK IN POLISH

This is St Simon's in Glasgow.

It's been providing a separate Polish mass

since Poles settled here after the Second World War.

But 12 years ago, it saw a dramatic change.

As soon as the European borders opened for those coming to work,

a lot of young people came.

They were just coming over in hordes.

The parish priest, suddenly, he was getting phone calls

from the police saying there are Polish people just coming

off the train and they think they've to come and stay here.

Now, there's two beds in there, that's all.

'It was a shock,

'when we saw the numbers of Polish people coming.'

It's a little church and it can only

hold approximately 200 people.

St Simon's now has four masses every weekend -

two in Polish and two in English.

They come to England and find churches that are converted

into clubs or university buildings, or other things.

And one young person said to me,

"This feels like English people have forgotten God."

CHATTER

So there's this real sense of almost of a loss

of the faith that they feel when they come here.

'The first year here was very dark for me.

'I was here on my own, I was deeply depressed,

'and I went on a pilgrimage and life changed for me drastically.

'My inner change was very deep and very radical when I met Jesus.'

THEY PRAY IN POLISH

As young Poles continue to arrive in Glasgow,

they bring with them a renewed spiritual energy.

-ALL:

-Amen.

Some of us are quite fresh, here in Scotland,

but I think we are invited by the Holy Spirit to cooperate with

Scottish people and take part in building Scottish Church as well.

I was maybe thinking we could do one night in English

because sometimes like I feel like I'm at work,

and I want to tell them about the meetings we have,

but it's very hard for me to invite them

if it's going to be all in Polish.

The church now has to work out

how to respond to the enthusiasm of these young Christians.

'It's a case of, although we talk about dwindling numbers

'and what have you, God is alive in the world.'

I think the challenge is for us to respond to him.

But what happens when Christians from overseas believe that

what God wants is different from the ideas of wider society?

As well as a passion for their faith,

when Christians come to Britain, they also bring with them

their values, traditions and beliefs.

Sometimes, these beliefs rub up against the values

of mainstream society.

In recent times, this has been the case

with so-called hot-button issues

such as abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage.

People who are coming into our country from parts

of the global south,

or the Afro-Caribbean churches,

are coming from more conservative parts of the world.

And as...generations pass, we are observing very interesting patterns

as to how these groups of people become part of British society.

The fastest growing Christian movement in the world

is Pentecostalism.

In the UK, the fastest growing church is part of that movement.

# My God is awesome... #

Yes, he is awesome!

# Awesome... #

There's no-one like him, he's awesome!

# Awesome... #

The Redeemed Christian Church of God began in Nigeria

and came to Britain in the late '80s.

# Awesome... #

It has almost 750 churches nationwide and over 50,000 members.

As long as we refuse to give the heavens any rest,

as we pray to God in prayer, not for our will but for him

to bring his will to pass.

Pastor Agu is confident the church can attract even more people.

'The goals for the future'

are to expand the church,

to reach more people, to reach people from other ethnic groups,

especially when you exist in a multicultural society.

I'm optimistic that we will see this nation come back to God.

# You do glorious things

# You're a faithful God

# Awesome is your name... #

That was a great example of Pentecostal worship.

It was lively, it was engaged, practical and full of hope,

and that's why it works.

Jesus tells a parable...

Many Pentecostal Christians

regard the Bible as the literal word of God.

In this country, that can sometimes be at odds with

our more liberal society.

I want to know how Pastor Agu navigates the potential conflicts.

How, then, would you engage with the issue of same-sex marriage from

the context of the Bible and the traditions of the redeemed church?

Our message is one of love. We don't judge, we don't condemn,

we love everybody,

but we have a worldview that comes from the Bible

and so that worldview is that we believe that

monoga...monogamous marriage between a man and a woman

is God's definition of how the family should exist.

Can other people have views that are opposed to that? Absolutely!

Will I respect other people's views? Absolutely!

Am I going to condemn or judge other people's views?

That's totally un-Christian. I can live with many different views,

but in the same way I would expect that people would also

respect my own position and my own worldview.

And given that there are these different positions within

the Christian church on these big issues,

do you feel that there's a struggle for the soul of Christianity

in Britain, where Christianity will go in the future?

Well, I feel that, that...certain sections of society

would love that struggle to exist and would love to highlight

the differences, and I say to them, "The beauty of our faith is that we

"can have differences about issues, but we agree about certain things."

Let's just stay united about the foundations of our faith

and let's focus on what we can do together,

and let's respect each other's positions where we differ.

But in truth, this is an issue that's already dividing

Christians in this country.

It's pulling the faith in two different directions,

with both sides feeling compelled to make their case.

I was raised in the Pentecostal movement,

but I've shifted my ground on some of its conservative theology.

I'm comfortable with a more liberal

interpretation of what the Bible is saying for our society today,

but I know Christians of all different churches

who wouldn't agree. Some are even prepared to go to court

to defend their personal convictions.

The Christian Institute has a legal defence fund to help

Christians in court because their religious beliefs have

brought them into conflict with the law.

A couple who run a hotel in Cornwall have been told they broke

the law when they refused to let two gay men to share a room...

The appeal hearing in the so-called "gay cake case"

was halted this morning...

The judge said that social attitudes in Britain had

changed over the past 50 years and it was inevitable that laws

would cut across some people's religious beliefs.

I do feel that Christianity is being marginalised in Britain.

The kind of cases that we've been involved with

are major precedent-setting cases,

which will have implications

for years to come, where religious liberty is the primary issue...

and where the ruling, in that particular case, will have wider

consequences for the freedoms of Christians generally.

One of the Institute's most recent cases has been helping to

defend the McArthurs, who own Ashers Bakery in Northern Ireland.

"Ashers does not discriminate against anyone..."

The McArthurs refused to make a cake

carrying the slogan "Support Gay Marriage".

It was for a campaign to change the law in Northern Ireland.

We took issue with the message on the cake and not the customer.

We certainly felt that what it said was against what the Bible taught.

This is my life, this isn't something

I do at church.

You know, if people think that's culturally

irrelevant then that doesn't matter to me.

What matters to me is that I live my life, as best as I can,

in accordance to God's commands.

The customer they turned away

approached the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

It helped him to commence legal action against the McArthur

family and Ashers Baking Company.

The cake and the money isn't important,

it's whether or not someone like Gareth can walk into a shop,

or a hotel or a restaurant, and wonder, "Can I be served here

"because they might have a different religious opinion than me?"

The McArthurs lost the case and were found guilty of discrimination.

They were ordered to pay damages.

We've no regrets about what we've done.

There is a marginalisation.

There is an unhealthy scepticism about Christians,

about aspects of Christian belief.

It is not pro-Christian, it is anti-gay!

This is not simply about some form of religious intolerance

or a closing down of religious expression.

This is about when you enter into the public domain,

and you choose to trade as a commercial enterprise,

you're ruled by the laws of the land.

If we coerce the McArthur family into promoting a point of view which

is completely opposite to their own, who else will get coerced?

Will a Muslim printer be told

that he has to print cartoons of Mohammed?

I do think you are going to see more issues going to the courts to see,

as it were, how different kinds of communities and different parts of

our society are going to find new ways of living together,

and that won't be easy, that's for sure.

The McArthurs are continuing their battle

and appealing the court decision.

I don't think there should be

a pick-and-mix approach to Christianity.

Don't be afraid to take your Christian stand

because we've learned that God is with you, in all of it, and he

gives you the grace to stand against these trials and these challenges.

The way forward is...is not for the church to simply imitate

the society around us.

The way forward is for the church to be the church,

to follow Christ, to follow the teachings of the Bible.

When Christians with orthodox views speak out on social issues,

it's problematic.

Society no longer speaks the same language.

It doesn't understand the religious context

and all it hears are prejudiced, outdated views.

BELL RINGS

For lots of young people,

Christianity is now morally objectionable.

They don't want something to do with churches which don't

believe in human rights and the equality of all human beings.

If churches want to attract the next generation,

some believe they have to become more tolerant.

I went to a very high-class school in Buckinghamshire to

preach at a confirmation.

As I got into the pulpit, I heard him say - "There you are, Edward, I

"told you it would be a ruddy bore. Even the bishop's got his iPad out."

LAUGHTER

So we'll see how we can do this afternoon!

Bishop Alan Wilson is one of those urging a more tolerant future.

'72% of Anglicans under 35

'are in favour of gay marriage.'

Well, in a culture like that,

how long do we think we can keep this up?

'I think that will become increasingly unsustainable.'

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, through your goodness

we have this bread to set before you, which earth has given and human

hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.

'I think it is possible that'

Christianity will become more sectarianised,

more sort of balkanised into little groups of people who don't really

understand one another but know what's wrong with everybody else.

I think that would be a very sad future for Christianity.

The tradition we have in the Church of England is of having

all kinds of different views and faiths and passions

being dealt with on a basis of justice and love and equality,

and I would hope that we can stay with that

and be that kind of a church.

But it's not only on social issues that the church has found itself

clashing with society.

The Church of England says it's bewildered by a decision

by leading cinemas not to screen a Christmas advert featuring

the Lord's Prayer.

# Give us this day... #

..our daily bread...

..forgive us our trespasses...

Last year, the company responsible for showing cinema ads

refused to show this Lord's Prayer film.

..but deliver us from evil...

..for thine is the kingdom...

..the power and the glory...

The company has a long-standing policy of not accepting

political or religious advertising.

-Amen.

-Amen.

News of the decision sparked a national debate.

I think the furore around the Church of England prayer advert

was really interesting.

It showed that there was a lot stronger support for

the Church of England as a public church

than we perhaps thought there was.

I found the reaction to the ban intriguing.

No-one seemed sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

It's just emphasising the idea of praying, in general,

it doesn't actually have to be for Christianity,

but it can be for different religions.

There's a question mark on whether these religions

should be allowed to promote at that level.

For me, this is blatant salesmanship.

At one level, it is blatant salesmanship,

but obviously the more people that are engaged in religion the better.

The Church of England misrepresented the situation.

The advertisers concerned do not accept any political or any

religious advertising of any sort.

The British Humanist Association has been caught out by the same rule.

The difference is we didn't try and manufacture a media story

out of it, to try and get public sympathy on our side,

because we're just not that desperate.

I want to know what the head of the Church of England,

the Archbishop of Canterbury, made of the fuss.

Regarding the Lord's Prayer advert,

was that a bit of clever politicking by the Church

to get a response because bans are good for business sometimes?

I wish we were that clever!

No, it wasn't. No, it was...the first

I heard of it was someone rang me up and said they've...

the cinemas have said they can't show it.

And I was slightly baffled by it, really.

It's not controversial,

it's not condemning people, so it was slightly baffling

and odd that they should feel it was worth banning.

In one newspaper I read,

where you said that you thought Britain was becoming anti-Christian,

or is it just a case that the church has moved more to the right?

More conservative?

I don't remember myself saying that the church should be

anti-Christian, I think the press may have put that in.

I don't think the church has moved particularly to the right,

or to the left. I think that's...

I think that's a false way of looking at it.

The church is neither right nor left.

It identifies with the Kingdom of God,

which is both right and left...

in different ways, and doesn't really fit on a political spectrum.

Despite that, there is a well-documented tension between

where the church is, in terms of its ethics and its concerns,

and where society is.

Church, at its best, is in constant engagement with society

and listening very carefully.

We are, within the church,

learning to listen better to one another

and to discern what the right way forward is.

We're not a political party, we're a family.

And if part of the family is struggling,

then you want to encourage that part of the family.

I like the family analogy.

Is it sometimes a family at war?

Oh, it's a family that bickers like crazy.

Some argue through sulking quietly in different rooms,

and others go out in the back yard and shout at each other.

Anglicans tend to be more like the latter, if I'm really honest.

Um...but...

the work of the spirit of God is to bring renewal and revival,

among many others things, in each part of the church,

and, if we're obedient, we seek to enable each part of the church

to flourish, as you do in a family.

I hope the Archbishop can hold his church family together

as it tries to work out the right way to move forward.

Now, more than ever, in our diverse nation, we need a broad church.

Perhaps the biggest struggle

facing most churches is how to fill the empty pews.

Some take a bold approach.

If the pews have been deserted by older people,

should the focus now be on the up-and-coming generation?

Hillsong UK has been attracting a younger crowd since 1999.

To get its message across, it invests in technology

and approaches that speak to young people.

So we're here, at our warehouse in south-east London.

South-east London, mate.

Dan Blythe is the youth and young adult pastor.

This is our Bermondsey, south Bermondsey campus,

it's one of five campuses and this is just the stage, pretty basic,

but all of these lights are just getting

ready for the Fearless presentation, just working out different settings

and programming, all that technical stuff,

which I don't have a clue about.

-Hello. Welcome to Fearless. My name's Dan.

-My name's Charlie.

This show comes right out of the youth and young adult ministry

of the Hillsong Church, London.

Dan is responsible for a new project called Fearless Generation.

It aims to inspire young Christians to conquer their fears

and lead successful lives.

For our young people who have this serious fear of failure,

fearing that they're going to fail at school, fail their friends,

fail their parents, I just thought, "Well, let's start

"talking about this, show what the Bible has to say about it."

And so, from that, we got asked to start a TV show.

But we called that Fearless,

and then we called the clothing label Fearless,

and then we've been asked to do a radio show now,

which we're calling Fearless as well.

But we want to encourage them to be part of a fearless generation,

where, every day, no matter what they fear,

they actually can put their faith in God and overcome that fear.

Dan and his team are putting together

a presentation for Hillsong leaders.

It's more of a live concert than PowerPoint, featuring dancers,

smoke machines and lasers.

Look, we're just giving it to you, Lord God.

As we step into rehearsals, Lord God, we're not

stressing about a track issue, Lord,

we're not stressing about a styling issue,

we're not stressing about the fact we've not sung this

song for a few months or not danced these steps before, Lord.

And so we come before you, Lord, with praise, Lord, with Thanksgiving.

And we give it all to you in the name of Jesus.

-Amen.

-Amen.

Sweet.

..fear no evil.

Faith allows us to fear God,

be in awe of his might...

It will eventually be performed for young adults in prisons and schools.

..true faith in our God will always overpower fears,

doubts and insecurities...

Dan believes that presenting God's message in an accessible way

for young people is key to the future of the faith.

We stand bold, we stand courageous,

we stand victorious, a fearless generation,

If you were actually to ask me, "Why do some churches grow

"and some churches not grow?" I'd purely just put it down to whether

we can communicate this gospel of grace in an effective way that young

people, or anyone who's listening, can actually understand it.

I guess, for me, being slightly older now,

and as the older generation in our church,

our job is to make sure we remain sacrificial in style.

So right now, sure I love this style,

but in 30 years' time, 40 years' time,

you know, when I'm grey and rocking around, whatever,

will I then be open to whatever the young people do then?

It might not be my preference, but will I be willing to

do that so that the next generation can hear a message of grace?

I'd say, yeah, hopefully, because that's what it's all about,

innovating the method not the message.

# ..my saviour... #

A lot of the churches like Hillsong will appeal more to

young people at a certain stage of life and energy, and dating,

and it fits with where they are.

It certainly doesn't mean they're the future of

where everything else is going to go.

# ..we are here for you... #

But it's not only Hillsong that's offering

Christianity in a more contemporary setting.

To counter the declining numbers, the Church of England's

got its own new strategy called church planting.

# Almighty God of love

# We welcome you in this place... #

Latimer Minster is one such church plant.

In the past three years, it's seen massive growth.

We started with a small group of us in my sitting room

about five years ago,

then we got this farm in 2012.

And there's about 400 people

for whom this is their main church community now.

Vicar Frog Orr-Ewing started the Minster on a run-down fruit farm.

It's gradually being renovated to create a purpose-built

missional community.

There'll be housing for the clergy, worship spaces and a working farm.

Our hope is that, over the next couple of years,

we will be building a wooden barn

and that will be our eventual home as a church.

But in the meantime, we're meeting in the tent.

This sermon is about finding sense in the world.

We are now looking at Galatians chapter three.

'There is no doubt that starting new churches'

has been a crucial way

in which churches have grown in the last 30 years.

It's seen as a model that works,

that can be sent out across the country,

and that energises existing populations.

Last year, the church appointed a new bishop with

the job of supporting church planting.

So what I want to do today is talk about -

just the next half an hour - church size dynamics. So...

Bishop Ric Thorpe runs courses for would-be church planters to

learn how to make their new churches more appealing.

..great sense of worship, of ministry,

you can go out and do social transformation and so on.

There is definitely a new movement of people who

are saying, "Actually, how can we do things

"in a culturally relevant way?"

We are seeing a lot of younger people loving a more

contemporary style of music, loving that relevant preaching and so on.

I think I wouldn't say at the detriment of other styles

that are different, but clearly that is making a difference.

THEY SING

We love this place.

I think, when we first arrived,

we'd never felt more welcomed in any church, in any kind of community.

# ..you are holy... #

It's quite difficult to put into words.

It's just you feel it.

You can just get lost and just enjoy the Lord's presence.

Everyone's looking for purpose and meaning, but when you come

here you feel like you get that meaning with, like, a capital M.

# ..you've been saved through the ages... #

But not everyone is convinced by this apparent religious revival.

Some are worried that the intensity of worship

can actually put people off.

The more kind of noisy and trumpeted the revivals have got

since the '50s, the more Christianity has fallen.

Most people don't want enthusiastic religion.

Most people want to go about their ordinary lives

and they want religion as a framework, as a support,

something that they can turn to,

something that gives them orientation,

but it's not their primary identity.

And they're actually quite frightened of really

enthusiastic religion.

It seems a bit crazy, to them.

I don't think there is any sense in which church planting can be

said to be reversing church decline,

but there is a correlation between church plants being often

the ones that are still growing.

There is more to these churches than just lively worship.

Also key to their success is a programme of social action -

finding ways to meet the needs of the local community.

In London, there's a church that's shown how important

social engagement can be.

Members of Holy Trinity Brompton have helped to plant 29 new churches

across London and beyond.

Its vicar is Nicky Gumbel.

How important is social justice as part of the new move to

engage with the wider world?

I think young people

are passionate about justice issues,

you know, people are passionate about issues to do

with trafficking and resisting that appalling trade

that is going on at the moment.

People are passionate about homelessness.

They're passionate about the people who are at the very

bottom of society, in the sense that they're in prison,

and often people who...who've...who are really struggling with life.

So what would you make of this comment that the nation has

become more anti-Christian,

is that something you find resonance with?

I think it's kind of been rejected now by young people

and I think they see the positive,

they see the churches doing the homeless shelters,

they see the churches are the ones who are volunteering

in society, the ones who are wanting to make a difference, the ones who

are meeting the offenders when they come out of prison

and looking after them, and caring for them,

and I think they're very attracted by that.

To find out more, I'm visiting Birmingham.

And hopefully there'll be lots of time for you to say hello to

people and meet some new people, so you're very, very welcome.

We're excited you're here

and we're excited for what God's going to do tonight here.

OK, so we're going to worship together.

I'll pray and then Josh is going to lead us in our worship.

THEY ALL SING

Last year, Tim Hughes and his wife Rachel

came here from Holy Trinity Brompton.

Working with the Diocese of Birmingham,

they've set up a new church plant.

We want to make a difference in this amazing city of Birmingham

and people are excited about that,

that's attractive for people to be a part of.

The new church is just round the corner from Broad Street -

the hub of the city's nightlife.

So Tim is spending a night with the Christian City Pastors,

who lend a hand to its night-time crowds.

City Pastors is a project

that's been running for about five years now,

set up as a voluntary project,

comprised of volunteers, 58 of them,

from 16 churches across Birmingham.

Tim is looking to see how members of his church

could help this city centre ministry.

For us, as a church at Gas Street,

the whole thing is about encouraging young people

in our congregation to be confident about who they are

in their faith and the mission.

You know, our mission and our calling as Christians is to be good

news and so things like City Pastors are amazing.

That's what I see them doing, just bringing hope, life,

safety and a caring presence.

Particularly as people get intoxicated, if you have maybe

groups of girls that have come out together, they get separated

inside a club and we find somebody on their own just sitting there.

What do you do then?

Well, we're obviously looking out,

we're constantly looking out for those kinds of people,

anybody that's in a vulnerable situation at all.

We're here to be Jesus' hands

and feet on the street and to care for people.

Before long, the City Pastors are called into action to help

a woman who has had one too many.

Do you want to try and get a taxi home

or have you got some money to get home?

Well, the police came up and they just noticed this lady maybe

looking a bit intoxicated, and asked Mark and Jo to have a chat.

At the end of the day, she didn't want to go into a taxi,

so she has walked off, but we have informed police camera

and given a description, so police cameras around the city can

keep an eye on her if she walks around.

So at least that gives us peace of mind,

within certain boundaries,

that someone will be keeping an eye on her.

Tim hears how the presence of the City Pastors is

welcomed by the night-time revellers.

I really do think, from my personal point of view, it's a good thing

because...every now and again, there's people like myself

that have a little bit too much to drink,

and it's good to have people that think, "Let's get you home."

The thought of getting Gas Street

and all our congregation and different people involved

in that, I think, can be really, really exciting moving forward.

Community action is a good way for a church to

demonstrate its Christian compassion,

so it's not just new churches that want to get involved.

The wonderful thing about it is it's, on the whole,

not been centrally organised.

It's been at the local level, in parishes, in chaplaincies,

all round the country,

people saying, "We need to get together and do something."

It's the overflow of God's love.

In Bolton, Dave Bagley is the founder of Urban Outreach.

It's a Christian organisation that brings together churches with

local businesses and volunteers.

Over 25 years, he's developed a thriving business that helps

thousands of people every year.

In the last couple of months, Dave's begun a new project

in a local church, called The Storehouse Pantry.

It's a different kind of cooperative food bank.

We're on our way now to drop off the food that we've collected

from the warehouse...

take it up to The Hope Centre, Johnson Fold.

It's what would have been a council estate.

It is in the top 1% areas of deprivation in Bolton and so it's

kind of a place where there aren't so many people dreaming big dreams.

We need to do it before it rains again.

-No guarantee.

-Not really, no.

In here...is the pantry.

Here we have Steve, he goes to part of St Peter's...

getting ready for it opening.

-Morning.

-Morning.

In a normal food bank, there will be

a specific allocation of food

and it's all packaged up into a box or into bags.

The difference with this project, as opposed to say a food bank,

is that...there is choice.

I've got two, is that all right? Mum and me.

So, people become members, there's a membership fee,

£2.50 a week, to cover the cost of fresh groceries that we buy,

and then they make choices about the food they would like to take away.

It's not just parcelled up and there it is, take it or leave it.

That is absolutely gorgeous, really good stuff.

It's a freedom of choice.

They help themselves to items from the shelves, it's colour-coded.

I think you get six yellow items, four red and five green.

And they're allowed to come in and help themselves once a week.

That's it. It really is that simple.

I'm done, yeah. Now I need a weightlifter!

The Storehouse Pantry is a joint venture between

Urban Outreach, St Peter's Parish

and Bolton at Home Housing Association.

I've never really worked with a church so closely as I have

on this project and people have their reservations,

don't they, about working with churches?

But I've found it really inspiring working on this project.

A few times I've actually thought,

"Ooh, I think I might be a Christian!"

VOLUNTEERS CHEER

I didn't know I was! I'm not saying

I am, I'm not saying I am, but it makes you think about Christian

values and how they are in my everyday life

without me identifying them as such.

Ravioli, it's Italian, isn't it?

'If they come to church, that's great.'

If they don't, that's fine as well.

There's no ulterior motive in terms of getting them into church.

We just want to be there for people.

We want to be there for our community

and show them the love of God.

-Sugarsnap peas, it's gotta be.

-What about parsnips?

No, he's not keen on them.

-He likes every other veg apart from parsnips.

-Right, OK.

I'm not Christian at all. I don't have any beliefs in anything.

It's each to their own is my view, but...

I just like coming because it's just friendly people.

Friendly and lovely people - that's why we come. We love it.

Some of the people who are coming to the pantry would have never have

come to the church, but the door should be open.

If you're a church, surely you want people to come and learn

about Christ, or whatever your messages are?

But you have to have an open door to do that.

I think that we are at a time in world history

where Christianity has an enormous part to play.

It doesn't need to get into the mud with politics, it needs to

get into the front rooms of people who don't come out of those

front rooms because life has just become too hard.

They've been knocked down and knocked down.

So I see that there is a pioneering

opportunity for the church because there's a group of people

we can touch and help and assist,

and I don't think we have even begun.

For me, social Christianity is where the church is at its most

vibrant and brilliant.

It's not just about believing, but about doing.

But I also think it's the job of Christians to go further -

to ask radical questions about what's causing problems,

to ask society how it got itself in this position in the first place.

Rather than wait for the church to act, a growing number

of Christians are choosing to take matters into their own hands.

They're not afraid to mix up their religion with politics,

tackling some controversial subjects.

Here's one I prepared earlier.

One such Christian is Marksteen Adamson.

He's spent the past few months photographing refugees

in the UK and abroad.

I want you to grab the barbed wire just around your head

and squeeze it together, like, take three of them

and squeeze them together, and then just lean them

-up against your forehand.

-The same as...

Yeah, so like a...like a crown of thorns.

So, Hekmat, if you come and stand on the other side, over here.

He's creating a modern version of the Stations of the Cross -

a traditional way for Christians to mark the Easter story.

So, if you hold those three, yeah.

Yeah, that's it.

Perfect.

Marksteen wants to use his photos to raise

awareness of the suffering of refugees.

'I feel proud of being a refugee.'

Some people feel ashamed.

It's not a shame.

It happens all over the world because of war.

OK, look over my head.

The barbed wire for me represents the situation that Hekmat is

still in, which is that he's still waiting for his wife

and son to come over. You know, his journey is not over yet.

He might be in the UK but it's not over yet.

And the thing about Hekmat's face is that he's got real hope in his face.

He's very optimistic. He's a very optimistic chappy, anyway.

Marksteen is the creative director of a company that devises

brand strategy for global businesses.

-We've got the stations and on one side we've got the cross.

-Yeah.

At his Cheltenham headquarters,

he's meeting with the editor of a Christian magazine.

There's something about the innocence of the kiss in this one...

-Yeah.

-..which is a counterpoint to the fact

the kiss was used for a betrayal.

The photos are going to be shown

in the magazine's Easter edition.

Taking that suffering that Jesus experienced

and sort of broadening it out and showing how it's reflected

in everybody's suffering, whatever their race,

religion or background,

is a way of showing how that story is relevant to us all today.

To reach a wider audience, there will also be an exhibition

and billboard adverts in London.

-A lot of glue.

-HE LAUGHS

For this modern Stations of the Cross,

Marksteen's chosen a site close to the underground station.

I think it's important that it's out in the public because I don't

want it to be seen as a church project or an institution project.

This is about the people getting together

and doing something special,

so it has to belong to the people,

which is why it's going to be outdoors.

I really like the way that you're tidying up the edges!

I'm only doing it because you're here.

-If you weren't here...

-You'd be slapping it on, wouldn't you?

HE LAUGHS

Hopefully, this will start to open people's eyes to how we can

help and how we can make a difference.

Well, I just would say he's in trouble of some kind.

It's a provoking poster. Trying to get a debate.

I dunno, it reminded me of Jesus for a minute

because of the barbed wire...

Thanks, buddy. I really appreciate it. It looks really good.

He has got glue on his hands.

Church activity shouldn't be in church.

It should be out of church, in the community,

and it's the right thing to do.

Being cosy, inside a church,

and being quite inward is the wrong thing to do.

And this is definitely one way of getting something out there

that people can connect with and understand,

regardless of their faith.

I think Christianity is radical

and it should be political as well, sometimes.

Um... I think, for too long, the church has been seen,

and sometimes acted,

as an institution which meets for an hour on a Sunday

and you don't really hear or see of in the rest of the week,

but I don't think that's what the church was ever intended to be.

Most agree that the Christianity many of us grew up with

in this country is disappearing.

Of course, the churches will still continue their decline,

but it's not the end of the story

and there is still a lot more that could be done.

New expressions of faith are replacing old traditions.

There is a renewed spirit of hope,

not in our own abilities, but in the work and presence of God among us.

After all I've seen, I'm optimistic about the future.

For 2,000 years, Christianity has survived

and adapted to its changing surroundings

and that's what's happening again, right now.

I think the phrase "a quiet revolution" is a very good way

of describing British Christianity.

The Christianity that's emerging is more diverse.

There are Christians who are liberal and others who are not.

HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Christians from overseas...

APPLAUSE

..joining Christians closer to home.

I think it's going to be harder to define,

it will be more diverse, and perhaps it's going to be more interesting.

I believe we're going to see and hear a lot more

about Christianity than we have done in Britain for quite some time.

If you thought you could ignore the faith, and its believers,

those days are probably long gone.