Being brave...
...and kind
Peter Lynas discusses how engaging with culture and speaking into the public square involves both bravery and kindness.
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s I travel across Northern Ireland and the wider UK, spending time with different church communities, I’m struck by a recurring theme. Whether I’m speaking with church leaders or everyday believers, I keep hearing the same deep concern: how do we speak truth and hope into a culture that often feels post-truth and increasingly devoid of real hope? Many Christians are wrestling with how to be salt and light in conversations that are deeply contested and emotionally charged. Let’s be honest – there’s no denying that we’re living in the midst of a powerful secular tide. Our culture is facing significant challenges. We see a generation shaped more by what they see than what they hear, more influenced by feelings than by truth. Personal experience has become the ultimate authority, and many are being encouraged to look inward for identity rather than upward to the One who made them.
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Herald June 2025
As followers of Jesus, we are called to be good news people in a bad news world. In a time when confusion seems to reign and truth is often seen as relative, the church must not lose its voice or its courage. Too often, there’s a temptation to reshape Scripture to fit the culture, but our calling is the opposite – to change our culture with the transforming truth of the Word of God. This moment in history demands both courage and compassion. We need to be braver in standing for truth, and kinder in how we live it out. The world is watching – not just what we say, but how we say it. In a generation hungry for meaning, our authenticity and love will open doors that arguments alone cannot.
We need to be braver in standing for truth, and kinder in how we live it out.
A missional moment But it’s not all challenge. As I travel, I’m also hearing remarkable stories of renewal. More and more people – especially young men – are making the life-changing decision to follow Jesus. And this isn’t just anecdotal. Recent research from the Bible Society makes for extraordinary reading. Its 2024 update to polling first conducted in 2018 shows a 50% increase in the number of people in England and Wales who identify as Christian and attend church at least once a month. The most dramatic growth is among 18–24-year-olds, where numbers have jumped from just 4% to 16%. The increase is even more pronounced among men and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The data paints a hopeful picture: the church in the UK is getting younger, more diverse, and more male. Bible engagement is also on the rise – Bible sales have surged by 85% over the past five years, with the Good News Bible
