All Saints' Church, Evesham

Do you notice anything odd about the picture, above? It contains two medieval parish churches, next door to each other, and sharing a churchyard. The leftward is St Lawrence's, now redundant, and the rightward is All Saints', which still functions.

Historically the two were in competition seeing as it was as easy to attend the one as the other. All Saints' was once known for its puritanism, which affected the importance of its preaching and the plainness of its worship. In spite of this, it slipped into Anglo-Catholicism in the 1870s, with its ritualistic worship and de-emphasis on Bible exposition. I guess it essentially blended in to its surroundings, aping its neighbour and becoming another St Lawrence’s. Little wonder keeping them both open was no longer viable by the 1970s.

Ancient Israel, which was to be a light to the nations, should have been an exporter of divine truth. Instead, it imported the lies and idols of paganism, increasingly blending in to the godless nations around it. Little wonder that the Lord saw fit to deport His people for many years into the fetid lands they so much admired.  

In the sphere of sexual ethics, marriage and gender, we see many churches meekly absorbing the prevailing ideology and regurgitating it in their services and teachings. From such, the glory has departed; their redundancy is imminent and their closures determined.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

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