Power of God can help us tear down our ‘certificate of conformity’ to help others

I WENT into a church building recently and was intrigued to see that this particular church displayed on its noticeboard a “Certificate of Conformity”. It turned out to have something to do with the reliability of their fire extinguishers but it started me thinking.

It is tempting to view the church in this country as a familiar sight on the landscape, part of the establishment. We are, by and large, happy for the church to do its own thing as long as it doesn’t ruffle any feathers, allows us to pursue our own interests and provides us with a carol service to go to at Christmas. In many respects the church has acceded to these demands and so, over the years, has earned its own Certificate of Conformity!

Yet the origins of the church present a very different picture. Jesus challenged those who followed him to care for the poor and outcast, to abandon self-interest in pursuit of the values of the Kingdom of God and called people to live lives that demonstrated the power of God at work. The early church responded to this challenge and, filled with the Spirit of God, within a few years was making a remarkable impact on their communities. So radical were they that commentators of the time spoke of them as having “turned the world upside down”.

St Paul writing to the church at Rome urged them not to be conformed by the values of the world around them but to live transformed lives (Romans 12.2). This will happen, he says, not by each believer making more of an effort but by the power of God being allowed to change and redirect individual lives. Would Paul have a message for today’s church? “Stop conforming to the agenda of others, and ask God about his plans.”

Of course whether we are churchgoers or not we may all have written our own “Certificates of Conformity” at one time or another. Tearing them down and allowing our lives to be directed by God may not be comfortable but who wants to share the qualities of a fire-extinguisher?