Confessions of un-faith!

written by Stephan Joubert

“I don’t believe in God...”

“If only there is a God....”

“God doesn’t exist...”

How many times do we hear remarks such as these! It has become fashionable nowadays for people to confess their un-faith. Hollywood actors do it, sport stars do it, business people do it, schoolkids do it. For goodness sakes, even pastors and preachers do it.

Today everybody reads Richard Dawkins. Skeptics quote Stephen Hawking. Un-faith is the in-thing! Un-faith wins. People believe in un-faith to set them free from faith. Or something like that.

So, does this rise of un-faith mean that God is finally dethroned, or what?

Wait... what about a better question: Was Christianity ever meant to be encapsulated in static institutions across the world with a bunch of strange rituals and professional clerics? Is this "official" face of Christianity the correct one? Nope, I don’t think so.

The real church is made up of tribes of people all across the globe who passionately follow Jesus. Yes, they frequently meet in church buildings, houses, offices, pubs, wherever. But their meeting places and rituals are not what turn them into church! They are church because they love Jesus as Lord and Messiah. They are magnetic because they care for each another and for outsiders. Their love for Christ is translated into new relationships and constant deeds of kindness towards friends, strangers, outcasts, sinners and foreigners. First and foremost they are people of the Way. And, yes, they also thrive amongst un-believers. All those public confessions of un-faith don’t startle them too much. They know what they know. And they believe what they believe, in spite of the efforts of present-day evangelists of un-faith who feverishly want to convert others to their faithless views.