This article is an extract from Futureproof by Stephen McAlpine. In the book, Stephen examines secular narratives about purpose and authenticity, connectedness and progress, and compares them to the promises made by the Bible. He shows that the Bible offers a more satisfying, more realistic and more hopeful vision of the future.

For all of the bad press about the church in recent years, it is the church’s ability (at least theoretically) to deal with conflict through the forgiveness of the gospel that is missing from other forms of community. For relationships to be maintained—indeed, for them to strengthen and flourish over time—we need more than common external interests drawing us together. We need something deep, and something that is beyond our capacity to manufacture, because anything we can manufacture has the habit of wearing out or breaking.

The church founded by the apostle Paul in the city of Ephesus got off to a rocky start. You can read the story in Acts 19. Paul’s evangelistic endeavours were working well—too well. The townsfolk were turning to Jesus and away from pagan idolatry, and this was starting to affect the local idol-manufacturing business. The manufacturers had to act. They brought charges against Paul of fracturing the city’s unity—and in a sly move, the leader of the agitators, Demetrius, played the religious card:

And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty. (Acts 19 v 26-27)

The mention of Artemis—also known as Diana of the Ephesians—fanned the flames that Demetrius had fuelled. The temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The idol of her image was the temple’s main drawcard.