I have been taking a missions course this semester and it has been very thought provoking.
One thing that I can't get out of my head since Tuesday is this:
The top 3 factors that North American Christians don't go to the nations:
1. Self-Absorption
2. Fear (all sorts, ie. suffering)
3. Someone/Something given greater rule in our lives than Christ
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3 comments:
Wow. If you think about it, these 3 reasons are probably the main reasons we don't a lot of the things we should. I know fear holds me back a lot. FOM!
Good thoughts Dennis. I'm sure self-absorption, fear and idolatry all get in the way of obedience.
I notice, however, that many in the church have big questions revolving around "mission." A couple thoughts:
1. Does the idea of us (often white Christians) going to them (often non-white, non-Christians) carry imperalist overtones? For example, when the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq, Southern Baptists quickly saw that as an opportunity to send missionaries to evangelize. To me, this seemed insensitive at best. And so people are realizing that the role of power and politics in these things cannot be ignored...
2. Also many in the church are not satisfied with traditional understandings of the Gospel, salvation, mission etc. In many cases the push to rethink is coming from seeing the Bible in a fresh way. And so many young evangelicals find themselves in the awkward position of no longer finding evangelicalism offering satisfying answers to these questions...
Just a few thoughts, for what it's worth.
Blessings.
Hey Dennis,
Maybe if we read your blog a little more often we wouldn't be so "out to lunch" when you guys come to visit...
which all seems so funny when you consider how unoften any of those events actually happen!
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