A Changed Perspective, A New Resolution
Happy New Year! The past year seems like it flew by so fast. I say that every year. Here's to a New Year with new resolutions!
Recently I've been listening to a lot of the Urbana 2007 Conference and it's been great. I was listening to a talk from an African preacher on The Global Church from Dec 28th and it was very interesting. Some interesting things that he mentioned were:
> At the beginning of the 20th Century there were 9 million Christian converts in Africa and at the end there were over 360 million. He pointed out that there were over 70 million world wide Anglican Episcopal Christians in the world, and that there were currently more Anglican Christians in Africa than in ALL of Europe and the USA together. I might also add that the Anglican Episcopals in Africa are more conservative than the ones Europe in the USA, espeically when you look at how we ordain homosexuals and approve civil unions in some of our churches here.
> He said in Kenya 80% of people claim to be Christian and that 34 % profess Christ and that equals all of Europe.
> There are more missionaries sent out of the "2/3 world" area then out of the West, and the same is happening in Asia and South America with growth and sending of missionaries.
> In 1900 there were 80% of Christians that lived in the West, today over 75% of Protestant Christians are found in the non western world, and 70% of evangelicals live in the non western world.
I've heard and read how scholars are saying that Christianity is dying, but it's because they are only looking at Western numbers and forgetting about Christianity in the Southern part of the world. The realization is that Christianity is no longer a Western religion. Africa is the FASTEST growing region in the world for church growth with over 23,000! converts a day, and over 8.5 million a year according to the national church growth dictionary. Compare this to the United States of America where we are said to LOSE about 6,000 members a day in our churches.
The center of Christianity is shifting to the 2/3 world, especially in Africa. This isn't something I'm hypothesizing, it's happening. The Church is on the move.
The shift is changing, America is the 3RD largest mission field in the world. We are second only to India and China. We are unable to engage and evangelize our own people. The African church is in the forefront of sending missionaries to do church plants in the USA. This I think is awesome. There is something about our western models that isn't quite working. I'm not bashing every church in the west here..but I'm liking this shift. As we send missionaries from the West to other countries, we should also be accepting and bringing in other missionaries from these other Southern countries. Christ's body is interdependent. The West has a great strength in that we like to solve problems, but we can't go into other countries with the idea that we are going to "fix" them. We need to be listeners and learners, and eager to bring in missionaries from other countries to learn from them and let them fulfill the Great Commission here in the West.
Along with this shift has come a new shift in my thinking as a Christian living in the United States of America. Yes I believe the church is global, yes I believe we need to train pastors and teachers in 3rd world countries especially so false teaching doesn't trickle in, yes there is still ag great need for the Church in the West to use it's gifts overseas. However, take a good hard look and you'll see that it's not just the 10/40 window that needs evangelized, it's also the 3rd largest pagan nation in the world..the USA.
As I look ahead at resolutions for the new year, this year and in the years to come I am committing myself to engaging the culture I'm in and evangelizing the people I live and come in contact with more. We don't need to jump ship, live in a hut in the 10/40 window and see poverty to see broken people and lost souls. We just need to take a good hard look into the eyes of the people we come in contact with everyday and have a passion to share the love of Christ with them. I've asked for the Lords forgiveness recently in my neglect of doing this over the years, my eyes have been open and my calling is becoming more clear. My passion for the church around the world hasn't changed, but my passion for my own culture and people where I live has. Listening to this preacher from Africa and hearing his passion for his culture and his people is so encouraging. As easy as it is for us to hear others talk about their culture and get passionate about other cultures, I think we need to funnel that passion into our own culture where we live and eat everyday, while still keeping a global mindset. Are other parts of the world in need for USA missionaries to still, "GO"...yes, but the United States is still in great need for people to stay, and focus their efforts here. As I continue to live daily in my culture, I see myself leaning more towards this.
Maybe we need to ask ourselves, "If I were a missionary just plopped into the middle of the USA, how would I go about my business?
I would love and appreciate anyones comments on this whether you agree or disagree, or just any thoughts in general. I know the Lord speaks to different hearts in different ways. Have a blessed week.
Recently I've been listening to a lot of the Urbana 2007 Conference and it's been great. I was listening to a talk from an African preacher on The Global Church from Dec 28th and it was very interesting. Some interesting things that he mentioned were:
> At the beginning of the 20th Century there were 9 million Christian converts in Africa and at the end there were over 360 million. He pointed out that there were over 70 million world wide Anglican Episcopal Christians in the world, and that there were currently more Anglican Christians in Africa than in ALL of Europe and the USA together. I might also add that the Anglican Episcopals in Africa are more conservative than the ones Europe in the USA, espeically when you look at how we ordain homosexuals and approve civil unions in some of our churches here.
> He said in Kenya 80% of people claim to be Christian and that 34 % profess Christ and that equals all of Europe.
> There are more missionaries sent out of the "2/3 world" area then out of the West, and the same is happening in Asia and South America with growth and sending of missionaries.
> In 1900 there were 80% of Christians that lived in the West, today over 75% of Protestant Christians are found in the non western world, and 70% of evangelicals live in the non western world.
I've heard and read how scholars are saying that Christianity is dying, but it's because they are only looking at Western numbers and forgetting about Christianity in the Southern part of the world. The realization is that Christianity is no longer a Western religion. Africa is the FASTEST growing region in the world for church growth with over 23,000! converts a day, and over 8.5 million a year according to the national church growth dictionary. Compare this to the United States of America where we are said to LOSE about 6,000 members a day in our churches.
The center of Christianity is shifting to the 2/3 world, especially in Africa. This isn't something I'm hypothesizing, it's happening. The Church is on the move.
The shift is changing, America is the 3RD largest mission field in the world. We are second only to India and China. We are unable to engage and evangelize our own people. The African church is in the forefront of sending missionaries to do church plants in the USA. This I think is awesome. There is something about our western models that isn't quite working. I'm not bashing every church in the west here..but I'm liking this shift. As we send missionaries from the West to other countries, we should also be accepting and bringing in other missionaries from these other Southern countries. Christ's body is interdependent. The West has a great strength in that we like to solve problems, but we can't go into other countries with the idea that we are going to "fix" them. We need to be listeners and learners, and eager to bring in missionaries from other countries to learn from them and let them fulfill the Great Commission here in the West.
Along with this shift has come a new shift in my thinking as a Christian living in the United States of America. Yes I believe the church is global, yes I believe we need to train pastors and teachers in 3rd world countries especially so false teaching doesn't trickle in, yes there is still ag great need for the Church in the West to use it's gifts overseas. However, take a good hard look and you'll see that it's not just the 10/40 window that needs evangelized, it's also the 3rd largest pagan nation in the world..the USA.
As I look ahead at resolutions for the new year, this year and in the years to come I am committing myself to engaging the culture I'm in and evangelizing the people I live and come in contact with more. We don't need to jump ship, live in a hut in the 10/40 window and see poverty to see broken people and lost souls. We just need to take a good hard look into the eyes of the people we come in contact with everyday and have a passion to share the love of Christ with them. I've asked for the Lords forgiveness recently in my neglect of doing this over the years, my eyes have been open and my calling is becoming more clear. My passion for the church around the world hasn't changed, but my passion for my own culture and people where I live has. Listening to this preacher from Africa and hearing his passion for his culture and his people is so encouraging. As easy as it is for us to hear others talk about their culture and get passionate about other cultures, I think we need to funnel that passion into our own culture where we live and eat everyday, while still keeping a global mindset. Are other parts of the world in need for USA missionaries to still, "GO"...yes, but the United States is still in great need for people to stay, and focus their efforts here. As I continue to live daily in my culture, I see myself leaning more towards this.
Maybe we need to ask ourselves, "If I were a missionary just plopped into the middle of the USA, how would I go about my business?
I would love and appreciate anyones comments on this whether you agree or disagree, or just any thoughts in general. I know the Lord speaks to different hearts in different ways. Have a blessed week.
posted by Brandon Zangus at
11:52 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Brandon,
It was good to hear from you.
I'll be honest, I scanned your post so my comments might not align nicely within context but I'll try:
It's bittersweet in a way to hear about Christianity spreading so fervently in third world countries but not somewhere like America. And I think status plays a big role in the process. When Jesus came he was the friend of the poor, third world-type (to be very general about the matter) so it's not surprising to me that Christianity is found to be favorable in those countries. Also, I think it says alot about the power of small home churches and persecution; these two factors always seem to help Christianity spread lilke wildfire. I've often wondered whether we don't need to try and adopt the home church method again here in America (I'm not a fan of big churches at all, personally). In our country I think we have too much of an us vs them mentality when it comes to our faith. We try too hard to be not of this world at the expense of the type of relationship that is required to truly teach people about Christ. Persecution vs. comfort; it's an interesting dynamic. And I know that you're not solely talking about areas where Christians are persecuted but let's face it; that's the case in far too many places than we'd like to think about.
Brett, I haven't thought much about the idea of a house churches until you mentioned it. I do know one fellow out here who was involved in one for all of college and he loved it.
It's also interesting that the most explosive growth of Christianity in our own time has taken place in the likes of the People's Republic of China where its only expression has been the illegal, underground house church (more recently the Peoples Republic has installed a government-licensed "Three Self" church in an effort to control a movement that decades of political repression has failed to contain). My buddy out here really believes in house churches and the hope they give for renewal.
I wonder if Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar. Maybe that's a bit bold, I know He would "engage" the culture where they're at..just my thought though.
I think house churches can offer an incarnational approach to mission that's refreshingly simple. This requires no great resources or buildings, no slick marketing plans and no highly talented people. In incarnational mission the gatherings exist to support the believers as they move out in mission rather than being seen as the place to bring people to. While attractional churches will continue to dominate the landscape of the Christian world, I think there's hope for house churches with an incarnational approach to mission that takes both gospel and context seriously and sends Christians out as missionaries. Incarnational ministry can be accomplished in a non house church setting as well I know, but the house church setting seems to set it up well. I like how you think.
Brandon, thanks for the contact info and stopping by on my blog. I hope you are experiencing God's blessing in ministry. Keep in touch. Happy New Year.
Blessings,
Ben Kendrew
1 Cor. 15:58
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