What are the things that distinguish authentic Christianity from popular superficial spirituality?

People seek a spiritual dimension in life for a variety of reasons. But the reality is that most of these are selfish reasons – we hope that buying into some kind of spirituality will be of some personal benefit to us. Of course, it often is, but the difference with an authentic Christian spirituality is that is takes the focus away from ourselves, and instead focuses on a world in need of transformation. It is about transforming ourselves, but ultimately about transforming the world we live in. These two are inseperable. Authentic Christianity is about the inner and outer life – about how our own lives are changed, and then how we live this out in our world.

In the light of the biblical mandate to take care of God’s creation, how seriously, and in what ways, should we be getting involved in ‘green issues’?

This is a big question that can’t really be tackled in a short answer. But I believe that ‘green issues’ are of huge importance to everybody, and are something Christians should be actively involved in. To simplify another complex concept, Christian spirituality (and specifically the kind of spirituality that appears in the Old Testament) is about a whole way of life, about having an attitude of worship in all we do and all we are. Looking after the earth is not merely a command from God to mankind (see Genesis 1:26) but also an act of worship. It’s also part of the kind of transformation I wrote about above – about wanting to see our world changed. Environmental issues do and will continue to affect all of us, and if we truly want to see a world transformed for God’s glory, we should take our involvement in environmental issues very seriously.

The whole lived life of Jesus clearly demonstrates the reality of the kingdom of God. Remembering the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words’, how are we demonstrating that we live as people of his kingdom?

There is a lot of debate amongst Christians about what it means to demonstrate the ‘kingdom of God’ to other people. Sometimes words are important, but often actions do speak louder. Jesus was always practical, demonstrating God’s love, mercy and forgiveness rather than just talking about it. Jesus’ miracles – healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, feeding the five thousand – can all be read as symbolic of the newness and fullness of life relationship with God can bring – God’s love and power demonstrated through action. It’s important for us to do the same, and love extravagantly in a world where generosity without gain is often a foreign concept.

I like how it is summed up in the often-quoted phrase from St Frances of Assissi:

“Preach the gospel always, If neccessary use words.”

The Reformation and Enlightenment periods saw the Christian church become marginalised and lose its voice in society. If we are confident that the church should be at the centre of our society, how can we go about helping it regain its siginificance?

I would suggest that the solution is a reimagining, or a return to a kind of Christian spirituality that makes sense for the time we live in. Christianity does make sense, but has often been shaped and framed into ways that no longer seem relevant for our world. The challenge is to demonstrate that actually, the Church is relevant and has a crucial role at the centre of society. A big way that the church can regain a lot of its place in society is by showing its important role in the kind of world transformation I’ve talked about in the other questions – If Christians truly take on the god-given mandate of social and global transformation, it should be clear that church still has a vital role in society, and has a lot to offer a post-Englightenment, postmodern age.

Tony Campolo urges us to make Christianity more than a ‘lifestyle of middle-class propriety’. How justifiable is his accusation and what can we do about it?

I would say Campolo’s accusaion is regrettably highly justifiable. The tradition is Christianity in the UK in recent years means that the Church is often associated with, and probably still largely made up of relatively wealthy middle-class people. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but this is far from the radical message of Jesus in the society he lived in. Jesus’ preaching was profoundly subversive, designed to challenge inequalities in society by faviouring the ‘least’ and shaming the extravagance of ‘religious leaders’.

This also gives the impression that the Church is there for nice, middle-class people to maintain their propriety – not for them to be transformed, and certainly not for them to transform the world around them!

True Christianity is not about propriety but is radical and life-changing. It is inclusive of everybody, not just the middle-classes. In fact, Jesus’ most powerful statements were his inclusion of the excluded, his love of the unloved.