Freedom Church

Freedom Church in Hereford occupies a former cinema of a somewhat art deco design. A large, charismatic gathering based on the American megachurch model and with strong links to such establishments, it has successfully planted similar congregations in Britain and abroad. The slick, professional and choregraphed worship style is rather different to our own, and the leaders of Freedom would surely chuckle when they realised that Wi-Fi was only installed at Salem Chapel this very month.

Freedom is an excellent picture of salvation. Christ frees us from bondage, from captivity, from penalty, and from our own sinful natures. The word chimes well with Western preoccupations forged in the shadow of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. On the other hand, its opposite is also a helpful, though less popular, image of salvation: possession. Roman people were more used to possession of a servant transferring to another rather than terminating altogether. To be owned by Jesus Christ, to be accounted as His, to have a role in His household, and to receive His provision, is wonderful indeed. So give me liberty, but never from the Lord Jesus; may we be free as a bird, but never to stray from His will.

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. Romans 1:1, NKJV

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