It had been an incredible adventure
complete with all the ingredients of a good short-term mission trip; a good
case of Montezuma’s, a unique view of the pointy end of an AK47 rifle as a nice
policeman and his comrades tried to rob us, and to top it all off, a scuffle
with a truck load of soldiers who had accosted one of the church kids intending
to beat the coconut juice out of him. It
had been a memorable journey and gave me plenty of new reasons to pray for our
missionary friends.
In the middle of that experience I found
myself, one particular beautiful sunny day, in a car traveling across a large
city with my hosts, a national pastor and his wife. Away from the group we enjoyed a lively
conversation as the salty Caribbean air wafted through the open windows. I guess all the Mango and Papaya had gone to
my head because for a moment I thought it would be interesting to inquire about
the challenges of hosting groups of American teenagers. It was all the permission my friends needed and
the floodgates opened.
I had escorted numerous groups on
short-term trips over the years and quite a few to this very location. Over time I had come to think of myself as a
rather seasoned mission leader having experienced just about every challenge
you could run across as a mission trip pilot.
Suddenly however, it felt as if I’d opened the door to a room I hadn’t
seen before, like I was looking at my culture from the outside in rather than
the inside out. Much of what I heard was
actually positive but some things were not so much. I wanted to shut the door but my curiosity
was nudging me forward. I knew I needed
to hear this - for my group, for myself.
That conversation was a turning point, an eye opener and I have paid
closer attention to these issues since.
This is
not the only conversation like this I’ve been a part of having spent quite a
bit of time in foreign places with our Christian brothers and sisters. I’ve been welcomed into their homes and I’ve
sat at their tables. I’ve spoken in
their churches and eaten their unfamiliar foods and I’ve tried to listen to
their strange music. In many cases they
are very different than you and I and yet there’s one great thing they share in
common with us. When, because of their
sin, they realized their need of a Savior it was that same pool of grace from
which you and I dipped that they received what they needed; that grace that comes
only from Jesus Christ. Be sure that some
day when you and I are on the other side and we are standing together singing
praises to the Almighty God we will be standing right alongside these brothers
and sisters in Christ.
For many
years Christianity has been shaped by western influence but this is
changing. By chance you already knew
that Christianity and Evangelicalism in particular are shifting globally,
moving south of the equator and to the east.
Current statistics show that Christians in America represent about one
tenth of the world Christian population.
Maybe that doesn’t seem particularly odd to you but remember that at the
turn of the previous century western Christianity represented nearly half of
the Christian population worldwide.
Still much of the missionary resources both financial and personnel come
from the west. So for now, while we
enjoy the flimsy sentiment that we define Christianity for the world know that
the opinion makers, those that will shape Christianity in the future, are now
living on distant shores.
As with
so many things in life the only way you get an understanding of something is to
get a good look at it from the outside. These
are the things I’ve learned about American Evangelicalism from spending time
with others across the way. So here’s a surprising
view of the way it looks from the outside in and what our friends think about
us.
First, American evangelicalism isn’t
required for the evangelization of the world.
They actually don’t think you need to come and
evangelize their people. It’s not that
they mind you doing it, in fact they probably assume you are already sharing
your faith on your job and in your own neighborhood. While they are aware of the fact that they
probably owe their Christian heritage to some of your forefathers they don’t
need you to evangelize their people because they are doing this themselves.
In many
places in the world such as India and China the movement of Christianity is
spreading, not because of western missionaries or even because of the work of local
pastors but because lay people are telling their friends about Jesus. The pattern in India for example is often
that churches are planted by lay people long before a pastor is even acquired.
Once I
was asked to speak at a remote tribal church in the jungles of Asia. I was told that no western missionary had
ever come to their village. Getting
there involved a twenty four hour plane trip from the states, then an overnight
train ride up to a town at the edge of the jungle, then a two hour car ride to
a remote mission outpost followed by a motorcycle ride on a path through the bush. After an hour and a half of being slapped in
the face by the tangled underbrush we rounded a bend and a small group of
thatch roof huts came into view. It was
obvious which hut was the church by the sound of the worship which was already
in progress.
After my
eyes adjusted to the dark interior I noticed there was a strange absence of
men. After the service had ended a
leading woman of the church initiated a conversation with me through the help
of a translator. It was then I realized
why the church was made up of mostly women; this woman had begun the church
with the help of her peers who she had brought to Christ. She shared how they had prayed for ten years
for two things; for a pastor to lead their congregation and for a foreigner to
come and preach the gospel in their church.
They introduced me to the young man who had recently been called as
their pastor - a man they were sharing with two other congregations. Then she turned to me and said that I was the
other answer to their prayer. All I could
do was stand there, my hand covering my open mouth, sobbing, realizing that it
was me. Once just an ordinary kid on the streets of a Chicago suburb. How did I get here? How did I get selected
for this, how can I be their answered prayer?
Oh, how I wanted to preach that message over - how I wanted someone else
to be their answered prayer.
So while
they’re not depending on you to evangelize their people they would probably
welcome conversations with you about how you share the gospel message in your
own contexts and among your own people. And
there are numerous other needs they have that you could fill that would assist
the movement of Christianity in their communities such as medical clinics and
water purification systems and computer training.
Second, you don’t actually need the donuts and
coffee. After seeing so many
thriving churches abroad I realize that there are many things our churches
could actually get along without. You
don’t really need paid staff and certainly not the costly programs. Most of Christianity through the ages existed
without these things and we too could actually have church without all of that;
without a paid pastor without the fee for the soccer camp and yes Christianity
can even exist without the donuts and coffee. Our foreign friends are wondering - if coffee
and donuts and HD production are required to attract people to church, then to
what have we really attracted them? Have
we invited them to a relationship with Jesus, to a communion of saints, or just
to the donuts? Have we actually called
them to the same Christianity that was there in the beginning, the one where
relationships were everything and, by the way, the one that was thriving as its
adherents were dying by the sword and over fires?
Here’s a
thought, how about a month without the doughnuts, a sort of fasting
experience. Consider using the money you
would normally spend on donuts and coffee and send it off to someplace where
our friends are without water and food, we’re all a little too portly anyway. You’ve seen the news reports so I know you’re
not that surprised, we Americans are overweight and if you traveled to many of
the foreign places I’ve been it would not be that unusual to hear someone
comment that you’re fat, even if you happen to think you’re not. So let’s consider a doughnut fast and spend
some time reflecting about others in need of the basics and perhaps we might even
drop a few in the meantime.
Third, God doesn’t need us. It’s true that this great worldwide advance
of Christianity which has taken place since World War II has been carried out
primarily by western Evangelicals. Yet
it seems our culture is in decay and within the soup of this slump is a general
moral decline. As a result much of the
focus of Christianity seems to be how to get America back on track. Here’s the surprising news; Christians in
other places aren’t waiting and hoping for America to once again become a
Christian nation and save the world – assuming it ever was a Christian nation.
Christianity
actually does rather well in places where democracy is unheard of. And for my southern brothers in Christ this
may surprise you but Guns and God are not both necessary for the spread of
Christianity and neither is a Christian America necessary for the salvation of
the world. Surprisingly, the places
around the world where Christianity seems to be growing are much more hostile
to the gospel than even our own culture. Scripture tells us that he owns the cattle on
a thousand hills. He made it all; he
created the world, the universe and Jesus Himself said that he would build his
church. He can accomplish his will by
whatever means he chooses.
Still, God needs us. Not in the sense that he can’t do it without
us but in the sense that he wants his followers, all of his followers, to
participate in the work. We are the
church and that means we are to be his hands and feet, not after we get the
country back in order but before (and while) and perhaps even if we never
really do get it back. Maybe the best
way to think of ourselves is as Christians first and Americans second.
So for
what it’s worth consider these thoughts.
Take to heart that we are part of an amazing movement of God. It’s his work and it’s incredible to think
that he allows us to participate in what he’s doing.
Doug Brown is a pastor and writer and speaks on
issues facing the church and her leaders.