May 29, 2009
February 14, 2009
MISSIONS ROOTED IN POST- COLONIALISM
Since the modern era, the church has taken the reverse stance of the early church. Missions is seen in modern times as a movement from the civilized to the uncivilized, from the “haves to the have nots,” from the economically stable to the unstable. The enterprise of western world missions has clearly taken on an imperialistic framework for operations. Christianity itself becomes the problem as “so often Christian empires have taken over the symbol of the kingdom of God to justify the same kind of rule as that of the empires it was forged to oppose.”
It is precisely this attitude of colonialism that western missions must oppose and reject while promoting a post-colonial attitude towards other nations and people groups.
The attitude and position of colonialism is to the detriment and consequence of western missions and has hindered the gospel message. Most missions have adopted a cultural imperialistic mindset of colonialism, where the “Colonizing nations generally dominate the resources, labor, and markets of the colonial territory, and may also impose socio-cultural, religious and linguistic structures on the indigenous population”
Global missions must find a way to rid itself of a colonialist type mindset. They must rid the attitudes and assumptions of superiority in both morals and values and seek to learn from those abroad nationally. The tables must be turned on ideas such as one-way education, where the colonizing nation seeks to instruct or “indoctrinate” another less powerful country. Both countries must seek to learn from one another in a way that brings about change both nations.
Most people from outside the west are rejecting this trend of cultural imperialism. This is played out as Americans coming to bring their American culture, ideas, and even their religion in an attempt to colonize the other nations. America has exported in a sense the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of our culture.
Most nations are rejecting the ideas and culture of America and in turn rejecting their Christian faith as well.
The role of America in missions has drastically changed since it first began. While America was once seen as the dominant powerhouse of civilization, to which all nations wanted to become, their success story has been shattered in the area of world affairs. Instances such as Rwanda and Somalia, and not least in the Middle East to name a few have changed the world’s perceptions of America. According to a BBC pole conducted in 2007, the survey showed that “anti-Americanism is on the rise, and the more the US flexes its hard power – the more it deploys troops abroad or talks tough diplomatically – the more it seems to weaken its ability to influence the world.”
The United States’ attitude of only caring for itself and its own interests has radically changed how the world views the States.
One way this will be seen is by letting other voices come to the table of theological and ecclesiological discussions. Western thought and theology has dominated the discussion of what the church is and what they should believe. It’s not that this was a wrong approach to take, it was at least misguided and in the end incomplete. It was never intended in the mind of God that there would be one; single voice box to speak on His behalf, and it certainly wasn’t his intention that a single voice box would silence all other voices. God intended that all of His creation would declare His mission throughout the world. A community of voices is needed to accurately articulate the message of God.
The western portrait of God and theology is good, but it is incomplete. By its very nature the exclusion of other voices means that the picture is incomplete. Western church leaders and missionaries need to learn from their brothers and sisters in the Eastern Orthodox, South American, African, and the Far East traditions in order to paint a complete picture of God. If God is God of the entire world, then voices from across the globe have a vital and necessary voice to be heard. The notion of theological superiority that is prevalent throughout the West must be dismissed and an attitude of humble orthodoxy must be accepted.
February 12, 2009
MISSIONS ROOTED IN DISCIPLESHIP
Global missions must utilize the mission of the church as declared by Jesus in the Great Commission is to make disciples of every nation, not converts. The true understanding of Jesus’ command was that His teaching would provide “the structure of discipleship to which he made summons.”
The distinction between convert and disciple is at best naïve and at worst a failure to fulfill the church’s mission.” A convert is a disciple. The distinction between a convert and disciple is a false distinction. The call to follow Jesus is a call to discipleship. The church is the place where “discipling” (verb) takes place amongst disciples (noun). It is interesting to note that the usual terms for evangelism are not present in the great commission. Words such as “preach”, “win”, “convert”, have their Greek cognates, but Jesus chose to use the word “disciple” a more simple term meaning to make students of. The correct picture of this word to imagine is a student sitting around a teacher, not a person walking down an aisle.
It is this process of “discipleing” that allows the church to fulfill its mission by making students of Jesus from every nation.
This means endeavoring in discipleship as the primary means of missions, where people encounter spiritual transformation, that transforms their lives, families, and communities. Christianity must be rescued back from its privatized and individualized arenas and take center stage in the life and community of the world. A renewed sense of discipleship as essential to global missions is necessary for a successful future.
MISSIONS ROOTED IN JUSTICE
Global missions causes one to be aware of the happenings around the world. Here mission movements in North America are connected to mission movements in Brazil and other parts of the world. These unique missions movements are united under the umbrella of global missions. Being united they are aware, interested, and active in participating with one another. This may mean sharing resources, aiding with training, or standing up for a cause. One such cause that the global mission initiatives must stand up for is justice for all of humanity. For too long the issue of justice has been divorced from the church primarily as a result in reaction to the social gospel. That relied too heavily on the issues of social justice. The western church in its reaction to the social gospel has completely left the arena of social justice. Nothing could be farther from a biblical understanding of the mission of the church.
The life of Jesus shows that issues of social concern are essential to the body of Christ. If that were not enough, the words of His half-brother James, in his epistle states that a true following of God results in the care of orphans and widows, two primary areas of social concern in the first century. The issues of social justice and the gospel should not be played against each other. Social justice is but a means to show that we love those around us. One cannot deny social justice without denying love. The church needs to return to the arena of social justice for the sake of the validity and integrity of the gospel.
Can we truly engage in missions without bringing justice or using discipleship?
January 6, 2009
Today was our first full day in Israel complete with class and a “excursion.” Today we were introduced to the class and some introductory comments about the nature of Historical Geography. After lunch, we headed out to take a tour of the “Old City” in Jerusalem. The Old City is divided up into four sections of the city. There is the Christian Quarter (which is actually has a majority Muslim population), the Armenian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. From here, we were able to see a lot of the cultural and daily life aspects of living in the Old City. We were also able to visit the Church of the Holy Seplecur and from two places we could see the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall. We even had a chance to see from a distance, the Mount of Olives. I guess we will be going there on Saturday. We ended the evening by reading Psalm 122 sitting upon a rooftop overlooking the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall. It was a great evening watching the sunset over the city of Jerusalem. I’ve posted my thoughts on the day and put a few pictures at the bottom.
Jerusalem is the epicenter of the religious world as it birthplace for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Jerusalem shares an interesting and troubling position in the world. Each of the major religions lays claim this city as its own. This in turn leads to obvious conflict and tensions between all groups. In a surprising way, there is a lot of give and take between the groups to live at certain level of peace within city. This is what first impressed me. To have such groups with radically different ideologies living within feet of each other, and having a relatively “peaceful” existence. While there have been and are examples of conflict between this groups, I would have thought there would have been more conflict because of the close proximity of the groups.
Another thing that impressed me was the compactness of the city. In fact, the author of Psalm 122 describes the city this way. The city is filled with roads diverging every which way and there are no really main branches to the city’s set up. One could easily get lost while navigating through the commercial sections of the city. Each street is filled with booth after booth from a hanging raw lamb to Menorahs and Israeli bumper stickers. In a positive sense, they have really maximized every area of this city. Unlike malls in the States where such space is clearly wasted.
Geographically, what impressed me the most was the Hinnom Valley. This valley played an important role both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The Hinnom Valley was known in Old Testament times to be a place of disaster. It is debated whether there was child sacrifice at this location. Either way, the Hinnom Valley was known as a disturbing place, a place to be avoided. It is this imagery that Jesus picks up in the gospels to describe Hell. When Jesus sought to convey the reality of Hell he used a geographical setting that each of his listeners would have been familiar with. Today, one would be hard pressed to describe the Hinnnom Valley as Hell. Currently as I type this, I can see the hinnom Valley out my window. Today, this valley it is filled with houses, apartment complexes and hotels. It is vastly changed in appearance since the time of the Old and New Testament times.
Picture List: Click on Pictures for a Full Size Image
1. Dome of the Rock
2. The Wailing Wall
3.The Mount of Olives
4.Church of the Holy Seplecur
5: Same
6: The Dome of the Rock at Night
7:The View from my window at night
