From September 22 through 24, Wycliffe College was pleased to host the Rev. Dr Michael F. Bird for a series of speaking engagements. From a rousing public lecture on Sunday night and an equally engaging address at the Principal’s Dinner on Monday, to a seminar with Advanced Degree Students, and the sharing of his testimony at a pastors’ breakfast Tuesday morning, Dr Bird challenged and encouraged his 200+ listeners to reconsider the call to discipleship and mission at the heart of the Gospel.
Bird is one of today’s most celebrated contemporary Christian authors. An Anglican priest, biblical scholar, theologian, and Deputy Principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, he has published over 30 books. His most recent book, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness In An Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (co-written with N.T. Wright) formed the basis for his talks at Wycliffe.
Lifting themes from this book, he spoke on the kingdom of God, Christian political witness, and the relationship between Church and State. No surprise then that Christian nationalism, the Christian roots of procedural secularism and liberalism, divine providence, useful forms of political engagement, colonization, empire, globalization, disability theology, liberal democracy, and discernment emerged as talking points both in his speeches and in the questions posed during the public lecture.
He addressed the weight of the “interesting, dangerous, dire, and terrible times” in which we live with an earnest call to bear witness to Jesus Christ by loving the Lord our God and loving our neighbour. Acknowledging that Church/State relationships will only become more complex, he named the tension within which most churches live. Understanding that Jesus is Lord and King, and that we are called to build for the kingdom of God, do we “withdraw from political engagement” and “stick to spiritual things and live under the radar,” (Romans 13) or do we “speak truth to power (Revelation 13)?”
For Bird, the more pointed question is one of discipleship and witness: “What do we do when power listens and invites us to step up?”
We must find something that inspires us, that moves us and then commit to it, he said. “The single greatest threat to the Church today isn’t liberal secularism. It’s the apathy and indifference of … people who are committed to Christ [only] up to the point where it’s convenient. Christ tells us to do hard, crazy, impossible things … and we do them because He’s asked us to do so!”
Read the full article on Bird’s visit in the upcoming 2024 issue of Insight magazine, published annually in November by Wycliffe College. This is a free publication distributed to Wycliffe College supporters. Email communications@wycliffe.utoronto.ca to subscribe.
