Welcome to Resistance & Renewal. This website is about how the Christian faith relates to transformation and social justice.
It is called Resistance & Renewal because we believe that following Christ involves resisting many values which are commonly accepted in the world today. But it also means being renewed by God’s transforming love.
It means resistance because we are called to stand against the injustice, selfishness, consumerism, hatred and apathy we see around us. In doing so, we stand in a tradition of Christians who have taken risks to bear witness to what they believe in the face of opposition. Our course will not always be popular, or even understood. The cross of Christ is a continual reminder of the reality of discipleship. Jesus calls his followers to be people of resistance and not simply cave in to the values of the world around us.
However, the way of Jesus is also the path of true renewal. Authentic faith goes beyond just deconstruction: we are not simply to be angry about the state of the world as if we have no hope. Christ’s life embodied a love and grace which was transformational, especially to those who were poor and marginalised. And of course Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story: His resurrection is the basis of our hope and new life.
The explosion of joy that came from that empty tomb 2000 years ago transformed a ragamuffin bunch of no-hopers into a community with a message which turned the world upside-down. That message continues to transform people today. In a small way, we want the articles and posts on R&R to be illustrations of a continuing tradition of radical, compassionate Christian activism.
The 10 most popular posts since R&R started in April 2011 have been:
- The unpredicted tinderbox: 3 factors which fuelled the riots
- Stop poisoning our communities with these marriage break-ups websites
- An Atheist’s encounter with Rob Bell – by Ronnie Stockton
- Why churches manage their staff badly
- “Dad, you’re a nicer person without your iPhone”
- Marital affairs, Facebook and non-violent protest
- The joys of a dirty weekend away – Greenbelt 2012
- Why I switched off facebook today
- The word babysitting should be banned – by Tom Kuhrt (aged 8)
- When helping the homeless doesn’t help (full article)
Interested in contributing an article to Resistance & Renewal? We do not mind controversial articles or carrying pieces we personally disagree with – we believe a good debate is important on these kind of issues.
About us:
Jon Kuhrt…works for the West London Mission, leading their work with people affected by homelessness, offending and chronic addictions. He, his wife and three children are part of Streatham Baptist Church in south London and he is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement. He doesn’t like cricket, he LOVES it! Follow on twitter @jonkuhrt or email mrjonkuhrt@gmail.com
Jonathan Chilvers…leads a homeless project in the middle of Leamington and is part of Jubilee Church Leamington. He is a Green Party County Councillor in Warwickshire. Jonathan loves his wife and his two beautiful daughters. Follow or contact him via Twitter: @jonchilvers
The authors of articles on Resistance & Renewal write in a personal capacity and unless otherwise stated, the articles do not represent the views of any of the organisations listed.
Jonathan Chilvers
Jon Kuhrt
R&R Guest writers
Hi Jon, I’ve been reading around your blog for a while now and share a lot of your sentiments! Perhaps you might like to read this blog post I wrote a while ago – I’m sure you’re up with Tom Wright’s theology on social justice – http://quirkycase.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/the-dangers-of-a-spiritualized-gospel/ I’d be interested to know what you think, especially about how social justice and the ‘spiritual’ gospel cannot be divorced from each other. Thanks!
Thanks for sending this link to me and I enjoyed reading it.
I was struck by your comment ‘Rather, the two go hand in hand, at best not separated at all, at least in theory. How this works out practically is, of course, another matter.’ I think how we actually do this bringing together is the key task facing the church – how it integrates the explicit message of God’s love – the verbal exchange of the good news – with the more implicit outward working of that love through social action and social justice. We need to do this in practice – I have found that a concern for social justice is the best way to share faith– if you are prepared to be brave and speak up when opportunities present themselves (which I have found they do) and not go all soggy theologically and pretend everyone believes the same thing. So all the best in finding practical ways to hold these things together – it makes reading Tom Wright even more enjoyable and nourishing! Thanks and God bless, Jon