These cruel and systematic attempts to blot out the Church only served to bolster it. It might be expected that the murder of so many believers dealt a massive blow to the early Church, but nothing could be further from the truth. When pressed to do so in order to save his life, he uttered the unforgettable words, ‘Eighty and six years have I served Christ and He has done me no wrong how then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?’ Irresistible growth Perhaps the best-known of the early martyrs is Polycarp, the aged pastor of the church at Smyrna, who was burnt at the stake in the middle of the second century because of his refusal to blaspheme the name of Christ and declare, ‘Caesar is Lord’. She suffered periods of intense persecution, during which countless numbers of Christians, young and old, male and female, were martyred, a large proportion of them in the most brutal and barbaric circumstances imaginable. Fiery trialįor the first three centuries the Church faced considerable opposition, firstly from the Jews and then, famously, from the Roman Empire. However, the experience of the early Christians challenges this assumption and gives us much to ponder. Many Christians are alarmed at what they see and fear that the loss of her protected status and the growing threat of persecution spell disaster for the future of the Church in the UK. It is important, therefore, that we address the issue of how the Church is to interpret these developments and appropriately respond to the impending situation. What’s more, there is a discernible note of hostility in the air towards the gospel message, and increased persecution of Christians seems inevitable.
It is clear that the Christian faith no longer enjoys the privileged and protected status it once did in public life. Despite David Cameron’s repeated claims that the UK remains a Christian country, the legislation that has been passed in Parliament, together with the less than flattering picture that is painted of the Church in the national media, tell a very different story. The last few decades have seen a dramatic shift in the way in which Christianity is perceived in the United Kingdom.
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