The Post-Pandemic Church

I’ve just read Clifford Hill’s The Post-Pandemic Church. I have a soft spot for this man. He is a fellow Congregationalist and has even preached from our pulpit. He explains in his introduction that he had four other books on the go before feeling the urge to write this one. I’ll be frank: I think he should have continued with his other four.

His chapters essentially contain an exposition of the prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, describing and explaining the political and spiritual problems inherent to their days. He then takes these principles and applies them to Britain, especially in the wake of the pandemic. He suggests the Covid crisis is the most serious challenge to Britain since the Second World War. Those who lived through the 1970s’ oil crisis and the Cold War may well have thought the same. Time will tell if this crisis is as significant as Dr Hill believed back in April of this year when he published. He says the ‘effect [of the virus] is that of a social and economic earthquake, shattering the pillars of society upon which organised social and family life as well as economic activity are based’. I have the benefit of writing in the September of 2021; although the virus has changed the way we operate, I’m not sure I could describe it as an earthquake shattering society’s pillars. After all, society is still here in a pretty recognisable form.

He writes:

‘The religious leaders of Judah were held responsible for the tragedy that befell Judah and led to the Babylonian exile, and this principle of accountability is applied to the church in Britain today’.

Really? I think the first point is valid, but whether God punishes Britain because of its weak and compromised church is an assertion with little scriptural warrant. There are certainly grounds to criticise the weak church of our nation; he even cites one denomination which furloughed its clergy! But does God afflict Britain because the churches are in a poor state? Later on, he declares

God not only holds the institution of the church responsible for the state of the nation, but he also holds each individual who claims to be a believer in Jesus to have some measure of responsibility.

He rather unconvincingly quotes Luke 12:48 as his proof:

For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required.

He also refers to Ezekiel 33:5, which talks about people not heeding God’s warnings will be held responsible for their own fates. Though this may be applicable to national Israel, I do not see this principle of accountability being taught in the New Testament. Why does not Paul advise the Corinthians, Philippians and Ephesians that they are personally held responsibility for the levels of morality and godliness in their respective cities? We have a duty to proclaim Christ and His gospel, I agree. But this is not the same thing.

As previously noted, he rightly criticises and denounces the Toronto Curse as well as Californian Redding’s pernicious influence over the charismatic churches, and the self-appointed apostolic ‘schools’ that seem so popular in our time. Yet he indulges in a little charismatic authority-talk himself. He claims to have been part of ‘a gathering of men and women with prophetic ministries at Mount Carmel in 1986’. Why is his prophetic school more reliable than all the others which has sprung up in the past decade? Having offered his own explanation for the pandemic on page 183, he explains that

This word cannot be understood by most people who have no understanding of the word of God. Indeed, it is difficult for churchgoers to understand the meaning of the word unless they have had a personal experience of being filled with the Spirit of God.

I understand his explanation (“word”), I just don’t go along with it. Perhaps that means my own filling with the Holy Spirit was not quite sufficient.

Although I dare say he is an excellent sociologist, his classical history is open to question. He writes:

The life and ministry of Jesus took place a time of tremendous upheaval for Rome. It was a time of transition from the old Republic to the new Empire…the Roman Empire was slowly emerging from the old aristocratic structure of the Republic…

The old Republic fell -and the Empire was established- in 27BC. That is over two decades before Christ was even born. The second emperor, Tiberius, had been reigning about 15 years when He was crucified. The idea that this was part of some great transition period, mirroring the uncertainly and upheaval of our own times, simply does not stand scrutiny.

Dr Hill’s expositions of the prophets are good and the parallels he draws between the times of the Biblical writers and our own are often helpful and informative, yet some of his claims need better substantiating. I think he will be better remembered for his previous books than this one. 

Image by Queven from Pixabay