An Implication - Class in the 2020s and beyond | Kirsten Birkett | School of Theology 2026

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak.

It's been a while since I've been in this lecture

theatre. Feels very familiar. Let me just read

to you what Matthew sent me. He said, consider

the issue of class and ethnicity, class and nationalism.

looking at how we speak theologically and practically

as local ministers, churches and individual believers

into our increasingly fraught and fractured wider

society. And that's just the first half. So no

pressure then. I can't possibly give you answers

to all of these topics, but what I'm going to

hopefully finish today with is just some reflections.

are arranged around these sorts of ideas as we

look at implications of some of the things we've

been hearing today. Well, contemporary British

society is very fractured, isn't it? It's fractured

around questions of class, ethnicity, nationalism

and identity. Economic inequality has widened

over recent decades, while public debate has

become increasingly polarised. Political discourse

frequently frames communities against one another.

Conflict has always made good television and

now it makes good social media as well. So we

get urban against rural, working class against

middle class, migrant against native -born, cosmopolitan

against patriotic. And social media just intensifies

the outrage. We often prefer simplistic narratives

over patient understanding. And so within this

environment, Christian ministers, churches and

believers are confronted with difficult theological

and pastoral questions. How should Christians

speak into a culture marked by resentment? and

fragmentation? How should churches respond when

national symbols such as the flag of St George

become contested signs associated with exclusion?

What should Christians make of movements such

as Unite the Kingdom marches, which claim to

defend national identity yet can also be seen

to communicate hostility towards outsiders? How

can the gospel be proclaimed without becoming

captive either to partisan nationalism or some

kind of dismissive elitism? Well, as we look

at class in the 2020s and beyond, I do want to

comment a bit on the rise of Christian nationalism,

which is certainly not limited to one class.

But in popular depictions, it is linked heavily

with traditionally working class and benefits

class cultures. And I also want to point out

these are not academic concerns. They're not

abstract concerns. I mean, they emerge in local

congregations. They emerge in neighbourhoods

where people experience insecurity about their

housing, about their employment. where people

are concerned about immigration, about cultural

change and political representation. Many working

class communities feel neglected, both economically

and culturally, and some perceive churches, universities

and political institutions as dominated by middle

class voices that are not listening to them.

At the same time, minority ethnic communities

often experience exclusion. racism and suspicion

in precisely those contexts where national identity

is being most loudly asserted. Churches are not

immune from these tensions. Congregations can

unconsciously mirror the caste divisions and

ethnic anxieties of the wider society. So the

challenge is not merely political but theological.

must ask what it means to confess Jesus Christ

as Lord in a society increasingly organised around

competing identities and grievances. The Gospel

speaks to these questions. It speaks to questions

of belonging, of dignity, of neighbourliness,

of justice and reconciliation. But the church

must learn how to speak these answers in ways

that are truthful, compassionate and attentive

to lived experiences. Christian witness cannot

be aligned uncritically with nationalism if that

means excluding those whom Christ welcomes. But

it can't dismiss concerns about national identity

if it is to not appear detached from concerns

about economic insecurity. The task of ministry

is always deeply complex and it seems to be getting

even more complex. Well, how do we understand

these questions of class and ethnicity? Questions

of class and ethnicity are deeply interconnected

in modern Britain. In public discussion, we can

treat them separately and they often are treated

separately, but people's lived experience demonstrates

that economic inequality and ethnic identity

frequently overlap. Working class white communities

can feel economically abandoned and culturally

mocked. while minority ethnic communities may

face disadvantage and racial discrimination.

And political rhetoric sometimes encourages these

groups to see each other as competitors for resources.

Class has historically been central to British

identity. We heard from Matthew this morning

the way in which industrialisation created strong

working class communities shaped by labour, locality

and collective solidarity. And churches often

stood physically and socially within these communities.

Parish churches and Methodist chapels provided

not only spiritual care but also education. welfare

and social cohesion. But deindustrialisation

in the late 20th century devastated many local

economies. Stable employment disappeared from

former mining towns, docklands and manufacturing

centres, and in many places this economic dislocation

produced generational unemployment, addiction

and poor health and social despair. At the same

time, Britain was becoming more and more ethnically

diverse through migration from Caribbean, South

Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. This diversity

has raised questions in a lot of people's minds

concerning national identity and social integration.

And I'm sure you can remember all the different

metaphors that have been used from... You know,

in what way do we expect people to integrate

into an existing culture? Economic hardship and

rapid demographic change sometimes occurred simultaneously,

particularly in poorer urban areas. And so in

such contexts, frustration about housing shortages,

overstretched public services or low wages could

easily become... It wasn't necessarily that the

problem was immigration, but it's so easy for

immigration to become the visible target of people

who are concerned about other things, about their

insecurity in various ways. Churches have often

struggled to address these realities adequately.

Some churches have spoken prophetically against

racism. while failing to engage seriously with

class resentment and economic insecurity. Others

have focused heavily on traditional national

values while neglecting the experiences of minority

communities. The danger in both cases is reductionism.

Human beings are never only members of one group,

yet social structures profoundly shape or how

we speak about social structures profoundly shapes

people's experiences and perceptions. Now theologically,

Christianity insists on the equal dignity of

all people because all are made in the image

of God. All people are in God's image, all people

are sinners, all people are in need of the redeeming

death of Christ. This challenges all forms of

racial hierarchy and ethnic supremacy. Christian

theology at the same time recognises the reality

of sin and the tendency in every human heart

to want to create an in -group and an out -group.

We want to have someone to look down on. That's

the essence of pride. And so humans will always

create ways of excluding someone to look down

upon. The New Testament church wrestled with

precisely these tensions. Early Christianity

brought together Jews and Gentiles whose histories,

customs and identities were profoundly different.

The Apostle Paul repeatedly confronted divisions

concerning status, ethnicity and belonging. In

Galatians 3 .28, he famously declares that in

Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave

nor free. This doesn't erase social distinctions,

but it rightly relativises them before the greater

reality of belonging to Christ. And importantly,

the New Testament vision of unity is not homogenising.

The book of Revelation imagines people from every

tribe, language and nation worshipping together

before God. Christian unity is not achieved through

forced sameness. And this has profound implications

for our churches. Congregations should neither

deny cultural difference nor permit such differences

to become grounds for exclusion or superiority.

So, as we experience these tensions, We've got

both tensions between classes and tensions between

ethnicities, and those tensions are sometimes

conveniently made to collide because that suits

political discourse. In this context, we get

the rise of something like Christian nationalism.

And nationalism is one of the most powerful forces

emerging to shape modern political imagination.

Now, at its best, something like nationalism

can express gratitude for shared history, a certain

cultural memory and a social solidarity. Love

of place, language and tradition is not inherently

sinful. Christianity itself values facedness.

Jesus was born into a specific people and culture.

The incarnation affirms that human beings do

belong somewhere. But nationalism becomes dangerous

when national identity is elevated into some

kind of ultimate loyalty. The 20th century demonstrated

repeatedly how nationalism can descend into exclusion,

xenophobia and violence. When the nation itself

becomes sacred, Outsiders become threats and

dissenters become enemies. In contemporary Britain,

nationalism is often entangled with class anxieties.

Many working class communities feel that the

political elites have ignored or despised their

concerns. National symbols such as the flying

of the flag of St George can therefore function

as assertions of visibility and dignity. Flying

the flag may express a desire to reclaim local

identity and pride in communities that feel economically

and culturally marginalised. But symbols don't

operate in a vacuum. For many minority ethnic

Britons, the flag of St George carries much more

ambiguous associations. Some people may see it

simply as an English national symbol. Others

associate it with football hooliganism, with

far -right movements or anti -immigrant sentiment.

Context matters enormously. A flag displayed

during a community celebration may communicate

welcome and belonging. It may be communicating,

come and join us. The same flag displayed alongside

aggressive rhetoric about migrants or taking

back the country. may communicate hostility and

exclusion. We need to attend carefully to these

ambiguities. It's too simplistic either to condemn

all expressions of national identity as racist

or to insist that national symbols are always

innocent. Christians are called to discern the

meanings that symbols acquire in practice. Movements

such as Unite the Kingdom marches similarly reveals

that sort of complex dynamic. Supporters may

describe such events as expressions of patriotism,

concern for social cohesion or defence of traditional

values. And I'm sure there are many people that

is genuinely all that they're thinking about.

But critics can interpret the same march as locals

for being exclusionary nationalism. or coded

hostility towards migrants and minorities. The

church cannot respond merely through slogans.

Instead, Christians must ask a deeper question.

Who feels included with the imagined nation that

they're defending? Who feels excluded? What fears

and hopes are motivating participants? And how

does the rhetoric used reflect or distort the

gospel? One danger for churches is moral condescension.

Middle -class Christians may quickly dismiss

working -class patriotism as ignorant or xenophobic

without listening seriously to experiences of

economic insecurity, social fragmentation or

political abandonment. As one who was looking

on as an outsider during the Brexit vote, I could

see this happening over and over again. The demonisation

of the other side happened continually, but also

that each side accused the other ones of being

the ones who were demonising them. And conversations

would descend into it almost immediately. Given

that so many of our evangelical churches are

middle class, we have to be very careful that

that sort of condescension is not reflected in

the way we talk. That kind of dismissiveness

just deepens resentment and alienation. Christian

ministry requires attentive listening. We can't

dismiss these concerns about national identity,

but neither can we baptise nationalism in Christian

language. Throughout history, Christianity has

been used to legitimize national superiority

or imperial ambition. And when crosses and flags

become too closely intertwined, the gospel is

distorted. Jesus consistently refused political

messianism. Can't say that word. He refused to

become a political messiah. His kingdom transcended

political borders and welcomed outsiders. But

the tension is unavoidable in our current context.

Christians belong simultaneously to earthly nations

and to the kingdom of God. Augustine famously

described believers as citizens of both the earthly

city and the city of God. The earthly city will

be shaped by competing loves and power struggles.

while the city of God is ordered towards divine

love and peace. Christians can't withdraw entirely

from national life, but neither can they identify

the kingdom of God with any particular nation

state. And by the way, I would recommend reading

Augustine's The City of God, well, at any time

really, but especially right now. So as we speak

into this fraught situation, Let us pay particular

attention to the kind of language we use. How

we speak about these issues matters profoundly.

Language can heal or wound. In a polarised culture,

speech often becomes performative and adversarial

and social media only plays into this because,

frankly speaking, that's what's going to get

you the clicks and the likes. That is what is

going to propel the machine. Public discourse

rewards outrage rather than understanding, and

churches are not immune from this temptation.

So ministers are going to face pressures from

multiple directions. Some of the people in your

congregations will expect explicit political

alignment. And we'll see it as a portrayal of

the gospel if you don't explicitly align Christianity

with one particular group or party. Others will

demand neutrality and see it as a portrayal of

the gospel if you do connect with any particular

political view. And again, social media is just

going to amplify the conflict. So practically...

One thing this means is resisting caricatures.

It's very easy to portray all expressions of

patriotism as racist or all concerns about racism

as anti -British. And that kind of binary thinking

just obscures the complexity. Christian ministers

are going to have to cultivate a very nuanced

public language that acknowledges complexity

and resist. the temptation to give slogans and

clickbait. For example, churches can affirm that

many people display the flag of St George out

of genuine affection for their country and their

local community. Simultaneously, churches can

acknowledge that some people experience such

symbols as intimidating because of their association

with extremist movements. Both realities can

be true at once. And pastoral wisdom requires

holding these tensions together without collapsing

into the slogans. Similarly, Christians should

avoid language that dismisses entire social groups.

Now, I realise this is difficult. Sometimes terms

such as left -behind communities, white working

class, immigrant communities, they're convenient

shorthand. for the complex realities that we're

trying to talk about. But they can also flatten

human complexity. We should speak about people

first as persons made in God's image rather than

primarily as demographic categories. And we also

need to listen. Effective ministry begins not

with pronouncement but with... No, that's the

wrong thing to say. Sorry, I didn't mean to say

that. We need to listen to the communities we're

speaking into. Ministers who never enter working

-class estates or immigrant neighbourhoods will

struggle to have credibility speaking about either.

Churches need spaces where people from different

backgrounds can encounter one another as neighbours

rather than stereotypes. And churches are almost

uniquely positioned to be able to provide that

sort of hospitality. As we listen to people,

it requires attentiveness to pain because working

class anger is often rooted in real experiences

of neglect, of economic precarity and cultural

humiliation. And if you haven't experienced what

it's like to live on the edge, you don't know

just how stressful that is. So listen to people.

Minority ethnic fear is often rooted in real

experiences of discrimination and exclusion.

It's not enough to say, well, they prove that

there's no structural racism. I mean, that's

not the point. Those particular studies proved

one thing. But you have to listen to people's

actual experience of what it's been like to live.

And Christian ministry can't afford to validate

just one form of suffering. Everybody has their

own forms of suffering. So how do we conduct

a local ministry in this kind of society? So

far, it's certainly pretty impossible. And local

ministers do have... a uniquely difficult position

in some of these issues. So unlike national commentators

or politicians, the local church leaders minister

among actual people whose lives intersect with

them daily. A single congregation might include

older working -class patriots, recent migrants,

middle -class professionals, unemployed young

adults, and people shaped by profoundly different

political narratives. In fact, we would like

it if our congregations included all those groups.

That's actually what we're aiming for. The minister's

task is not to silence disagreement artificially,

but to cultivate a community where disagreement

doesn't destroy fellowship. Now, this requires

theological depth as well as pastoral patience

and probably a good deal of moral courage. It

would be much easier just to serve one social

group at a time. A congregation can easily become

culturally middle class, even while proclaiming

universal welcome, just because it's easier to

stick with people like you. But remember that

we are called to be hospitable and hospitable

to strangers. And hospitable is not just friendliness.

Biblically, hospitality involves bringing the

stranger in. In practice, this may involve churches

examining whether their styles, their leadership

structures and social cultures unintentionally

exclude certain groups. Would a smoker feel comfortable

inside your church services? You need to deliberately

think of who are the people you would like to

bring in and what things might they feel uncomfortable

about. And sometimes you won't know until you

actually start talking to people about what it's

like walking into your church. Ministers have

to preach prophetically. against some of the

problems we're seeing. We must realise that racism

contradicts the gospel because it denies the

equal dignity of human beings created in God's

image and that class contempt similarly also

contradicts the gospel. Sneering attitudes towards

working class culture, towards their accents,

even towards their patriotism. are profoundly

damaging and often overlooked within educated

church cultures. Middle class good manners are

not the same as godliness. And this needs to

be addressed overtly because people just won't

realise. It's so easy if you've always been a

Christian in a middle class context to assume

that the nice people around you are models of

what Christians ought to be. But it's not the

same thing. The gospel will undermine any culture

and it takes work to work out what exactly is

the Christian culture that we're aiming for.

The issue of accents is particularly significant

in Britain. How people speak remains deeply tied

to perceptions of intelligence, respectability

and authority. Received pronunciation still carries

social prestige. while regional or working class

accents may be unfairly associated with ignorance

or aggression. And you can see this in the way

people's body language even reacts to another

individual once they hear the accent. Is the

body language reacting in attention, and this

is someone I need to listen to, or is it reacting

in, I'm now a bit suspicious of this person?

Again, these are issues that need to be addressed

overtly because people won't realise that they're

doing it. And ministers must create space for

difficult conversations. Avoiding controversial

issues is easier, but it allows resentment and

misinformation to grow unchecked. So churches

can become places where fears about immigration,

identity and economic insecurity can be discussed

honestly without descending into hostility. Oh

yes, I know what a big ask that is. I know how

difficult it will be to curate and to chair these

sorts of discussions. But the goal is not victory

in an argument. The goal is mutual understanding

and discernment. So studying the Bible, having

a shared meal, hearing people's testimonies,

these sorts of things are all part of helping

people actually encounter each other and listen

to each other rather than retreating into political

abstractions. And all of this needs to be grounded

in church discipleship. We're not just... creating

social action for the sake of it. Our primary

identity is not political, but spiritual. What

we are trying to do is create mature Christians

who know how to love. And so we need to gather

around the word before being engaged in public

controversy. This matters because it reorients

what our human identity actually is as sinners

in need of Christ. Christian unity is not just

sentimental and it's not just structural. Churches

proclaim a unity through the shared truth, the

truth that actually gives people identity and

actually teaches people how to relate to each

other. And that means that the church can create

an alternative community. So now I'm going to

talk for a bit about... the church as alternative

community. Because we're more than just commentators

on society. The church actually embodies an alternative

social reality shaped by the kingdom of God.

It gives people a new peer group to belong to

and to model themselves by. This is not withdrawal

from society, but a faithful presence within

it. Inviting people to church is astonishingly

powerful. I think it's easy for us to forget

just how radical a community a church can be.

Just by existing as groups of people with meaning

who show hospitality, we are being radical. Christian

communities witness powerfully just by being

Christian communities. In an age of fragmentation,

these sorts of communities are deeply counter

-cultural. Society increasingly sorts people

into homogenous groups based on, well, you know,

all the different identities they can be based

on. But churches possess the unique possibility

of gathering people who would otherwise rarely

encounter one another. But it's not automatic.

Many churches sadly do reflect the segregation

of wider society. Congregations easily become

overwhelmingly middle class, ethnically homogenous

or politically uniform because it's just easier.

It's easier to be with people like you and it's

easier to walk into a group of people who seem

to look like you. So it's going to require intentional

effort. One practical implication involves leadership.

We've talked a bit about this today. Churches

do need to be conscious about seeking leadership

that reflects the diversity of the body of Christ.

Working class voices and minority ethnic voices

shouldn't just be included symbolically, but

genuinely. It's hard to do because in a context

where everyone's busy and resources are stretched,

it's much easier. to go to the person who by

their upbringing and background already has confidence

and public speaking skills and those sorts of

abilities. It's harder to see the potential in

someone who didn't grow up that way but can be

nurtured and taught to have those qualities and

be a truly biblical leader. But we have to do

that hard thing because otherwise, well, we're

not. being faithful to God's witness and we're

just going to continue to perpetuate our stereotypes.

So, yeah, genuinely raising up different leaders.

Another implication concerns mission. Churches

often focus outreach towards groups that resemble

the existing members. But the gospel constantly

moves to... the groups that are not the same

as the existing members. So if we're going to

look at ministry in more deprived areas, that's

going to require long -term commitment rather

than just temporary charitable projects. The

New Testament describes Christians as aliens

and strangers in the world, and that's an important

reality to keep hold of. Christians belong everywhere

and nowhere. And importantly, our mission should

avoid paternalism. Working class communities

and migrant communities are not merely recipients

of church benevolence. They possess gifts, wisdom,

and they need the gospel. Effective ministry

involves partnership, not just rescue narratives.

Don't just provide food for poor people, eat

with them. Talk with them. Get to know them.

Jesus redefined community repeatedly throughout

the Gospels. When he was asked, who is my neighbour,

he knew he was really being asked, who is not

my neighbour? And he responded with the parable

of the Good Samaritan, in which the hero belonged

to a despised out -group. The parable destabilises

our natural tendency towards tribalism by insisting

that neighbourliness transcends ethnic and social

boundaries. It transcends people like you. Now,

this does not require Christians to abandon local

or national attachment. It's okay to love your

country. It's even okay to be sad that it's not

the same as it used to be. That's okay. But it

means that these sorts of attachments must always

be subordinate to the command of love. A Christian

may value English culture, Welsh identity, Scottish

tradition, even Northern Ireland. But at the

same time, you have to reject hostility towards

outsiders. The problem emerges when Christian

faith becomes fused with nostalgic nationalism.

Nostalgia often idealises an imagined past of

cultural homogeneity and social order. Yet such

narratives frequently ignore the bad things that

happened and the fact that it kept on changing.

So we need to approach national history carefully

with truth rather than sentimentality because

every nation contains both beauty and sin. Gratitude

for one's heritage must coexist with realism

and it must also understand that all nations

will fall. This world is not ultimate. At the

same time, churches need to understand why national

identity appeals so strongly, especially during

periods of rapid change. Insecure society often

seeks stability through symbols of continuity

and belonging. And ministers who just dismiss

those emotional needs entirely risk alienating

people who already feel culturally displaced.

The only... What's going to be the solution to

this ultimately is remembering where does our

stability lie? It's never in a national identity.

It's in the God who is God of all cultures. He's

the only one who does not change, who will not

let us down, who is entirely trustworthy and

faithful. Not any nation, certainly not any government.

This all comes back to the call to practice hospitality.

It's hard, of course. Hospitality is messy and

hard work and scary. That's because people are

hard work and messy and scary. It's not easy

to do the day -to -day of getting to know people

and listening to people and being with people.

There are a million excuses. But what about if

I have to do this or if this is more important

or I just don't have time? But that's ministry

for you. What did you think you were getting

into? So what are some practical ideas we can

have to finish off with? How can churches and

individual believers respond practically within

our increasingly fractured society? Well, do

consider investing seriously in deprived communities.

Evangelical Bible preaching churches are overwhelmingly

middle class. Well, of course, it's good when

middle class people are saved. Everyone needs

to be saved. But it means that the good Bible

preaching faithful churches tend to be in middle

class suburbs. Can a person without a car get

there? Those sorts of practical concerns have

to be considered when we're thinking about our

mission, our church planting, about where we're

going. We need churches where people are. It's

too easy to stay in the nice churches with people

like us. We need to go and live and plant churches

with the people who don't have that contact.

Churches can teach political humility. No political

movement perfectly embodies the kingdom of God.

Christians should resist both cynical disengagement

and total ideological identification. We don't

withdraw from society, but we don't think the

politicians are going to save us. The church's

loyalty to Christ remains primary. Believers

should practice disciplined speech. Social media

encourages reactive outrage and tribal signalling.

But Christians should model patience, factual

honesty and refusing to dehumanise other humans.

And remember, we are against gossip, but what

exactly does that mean? And when was the last

time your church taught the congregation what

gossip is and how to avoid it or other sins of

speech? This includes challenging misinformation

and conspiracy thinking. Fear and resentment

often flourish through distorted narratives about

whatever group it is what we're currently feeling

afraid of. Christian commitment to truth requires

careful discernment. And churches should equip

believers theologically. Many Christians lack

the frameworks for thinking about nationalism,

race and class beyond the partisan media narratives.

And preaching and discipleship needs to address

these issues directly. It's not going to happen

automatically. In other words, we need to know

more doctrine. We need to understand what the

gospel celebrates, what the gospel challenges

in any culture. We need to understand a doctrine

of the fall. We need doctrine of suffering and

its significance. We need to understand eschatology

and how not to over -realise it. Most of all,

we need to understand that life now is preparing

us for eternity, and so eschatology will tell

us what really matters now. The local church

can't solve every structural problem within society,

but it can become a sign of another possibility.

So, what of the future? Despite the seriousness

of current divisions, Christianity remains fundamentally

a religion of hope. The gospel doesn't deny human

conflict. It doesn't deny that there's prejudice

and injustice. In fact, it tells us why those

things are there. But through Christ, God reconciled

to himself all things, whether on earth or in

heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Sinful humanity can be reconciled to God. And

this flows out in reconciliation between communities.

Paul writes in Ephesians that Christ has broken

down the dividing wall of hostility between peoples.

Through the cross, enemies may become members

of one household. Now, of course, the church

has often failed to embody this vision fully.

Christians have participated in racism, in imperialism,

in class oppression and nationalist violence.

And sometimes it happens because Christians are

too willing to go with the flow to accept whatever

the moral majority decides is the morality of

the time. Honest acknowledgement of these failures

is necessary. But the gospel is still true. In

contemporary Britain, hope can begin in small

and local ways. A parish meal where refugees

and lifelong residents share their stories with

each other. A congregation where accents associated

with different classes are equally valued. A

minister willing to listen patiently to fear

without endorsing prejudice. Churches choosing

knowledge of God. over culture war rhetoric.

Now, such practices can appear very small, but

the kingdom of God often begins in these small

acts. Importantly, Christian hope is grounded

not in optimism about human nature, but trust

in God's transforming grace. Left to ourselves,

we will drift towards tribalism and resentment.

But the gospel interrupts this pattern by creating

new forms of belonging. We've already talked

about the vision in Revelation 7 -9 where John

sees people from every nation, from all tribes

and peoples and languages. And this is reflected

in the reality of our churches. We can gather

people from all tribes and peoples and languages.

And they come not because they're naturally alike.

not because they naturally get on, but because

they have all received mercy. And that vision

challenges contemporary society profoundly. Modern

culture often teaches people to define themselves

primarily through opposition to others. But we

know that identity is received as a gift through

relationship with God. The longing that so many

people are showing for something real, something

understandable, something stable and something

trustworthy is a longing for God. We need to

preach what the truth is and where it's found.

We also need to preach that the perfect world

won't be found yet. No social system will heal

the problems of sin. That's been the major problem

of, well, since the Enlightenment, certainly

throughout the 20th century. We cannot build

heaven here on earth. Whatever political system

we have, whatever laws we have, whomever we let

into the country or exclude, it will not be perfect.

The answers do not lie here. The church's calling

in a fractured society is faithful witness. We're

called to speak the gospel. It's the gospel that

saves individuals. The gospel undercuts and subverts

any culture. and will challenge any culture.

Therefore, go, make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and

the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe

all that Jesus commanded us, and he will be with

us to the end of the age. Thank you.