Tim Chester and Steve Timmis wrote in their excellent book Everyday Church, “It’s easy for us Christians to feel discouraged when we read about the declining church attendance or see the growing secularization of our culture.”  The reverse was true for the church in the Apostle’s Peter’s day; Yes she was surrounded by a form of secularization, but the early church was in its infancy stage and growing.
The Apostle has a message for both the church in his day suffering under persecution and the church today as we feel the growing effect of marginalisation.  Wherever the follower of Jesus finds him or herself in church history, Peter has a word (inspired) for us; We have been “…given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (ch1:3f).  We trust that this short series will encourage you to live for Christ wherever you are.